Workhorse for less than $500

[pepper_john]

If one wants a Dell or HP notebook, go for the very high end. My company of 7k employees is a basically a Dell/HP shop and the quality of both Dell/HP notebooks has dropped a lot recently, especially the HP probooks. Even the Dell latitude has a lot of problems. Many of my coworkers run matlab over-night on them only to see them shutdown because of overheating.

On the other hand, the Dell desktops are very solid but they are less portable.

 

[johnkurtz]

Quote from WinstonTJ:

Every computer manufacturer has different levels of parts. Dell has everything from throw-away (or garbage) to top of the line servers. Dell's Precision line is essentially server-grade hardware in a robust desktop/workstation chassis. There is a massive difference between the machines & hardware that run Intel's Xeon CPU's and the regular "retail" CPU's.

HP has a factory outlet too... HP's workstations are just as robust but HP tends to 'option out' higher than Dell - meaning that HP usually comes with faster clock speed CPU, more memory, etc. Also for example, a Dell machine (take the T5400/T7400) was only available to be shipped with a 3.16ghz CPU whereas the similar HP machine (xw8600) could be purchased with a 3.2ghz CPU (dell = xeon x5460 vs. HP = xeon x5482). It may seem like a small difference but the x5482 is a far better CPU than the x5460... so I'll buy the cheap Dell & put the better CPU in it.

The difference is something made for home/retail vs. small business vs. enterprise.

To put it another way the difference is like trading on a home/retail platform (like etrade, schwab, scottrade, etc) vs. an IB or entry level prop firm vs. being colocated and getting direct data feeds.

Thanks for the info. However, I believe wholeheartedly my personal build i7-3930K, ASUS P9X79 Pro, 16GB G.Skill DDR-1600 and Crucial 64 GB SSD will blow away a DELL T5400. My build is superfast! And cheaper too!

 

[saxon22]

I could purchase T5400 for $500 (even less). You show me a place where your machine can be had for that money and I will buy two.

It is not about the latest and greatest 2K machine. It is about buying precisely the kind of rig you need and not a dollar more.

 

[Pekelo]

Quote from saxon22:

I want a PC that is not the latest and greatest but the most reliable.

Well, for $300 you won't get the greatest new machine, but you will get a new machine that has its specs the same or better as your old machine, it will have at least a year warranty, and basicly any new machine should run 2-3 years without problems.

So again, I don't see the point of getting an old machine. Reliability is something you just have to try and see. Recently I have read a thread and several people mentioned Asus as undervalued and very reliable....

Also, with an older machine you might get an older OS, and 3 years down the road, that might not be an advantage...

Here is an example, $500 plus a little shipping. Tell me you can beat its specs with an old machine:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220163

 

[mgookin]

Quote from johnkurtz:

What makes DELL so bulletproof? Do they utilize "special" components in their builds? How is their RAM, motherboards and HD's so superior to those from high quality brand manufacturers such as ASUS and GIGABYTE for instance?

I just don't get it

If you're up to building your own and it works well for you, have at it.

For somone looking to buy a good computer from a good company with good sales and good support, Dell Small Business is the way to go, even if you don't have a business. They really go the extra mile with USA based sales, service & support.

 

[johnkurtz]

Quote from saxon22:

I could purchase T5400 for $500 (even less). You show me a place where your machine can be had for that money and I will buy two.

It is not about the latest and greatest 2K machine. It is about buying precisely the kind of rig you need and not a dollar more.

For about $600 (before graphic/vid cards) you could put together this build that includes i5-2400 (one hellva processor), ASROCK Pro mainboard 4 PCIE slots for your graphic cards, 650 W power supply, 64 GB SSD, and 8 GB 1600 DDR. All new brand components. Fast as hell. Smoke a T5400, i imagine!

 

[WinstonTJ]

Quote from johnkurtz:

Thanks for the info. However, I believe wholeheartedly my personal build i7-3930K, ASUS P9X79 Pro, 16GB G.Skill DDR-1600 and Crucial 64 GB SSD will blow away a DELL T5400. My build is superfast! And cheaper too!

I'm calling your bluff on price, that's a $600 CPU, $500 used, $300 motherboard, $250 used, $100 SSD and $100 in RAM for 6 cores and 12 threads (and you must keep the thing in a case and i'll bet you needed a PSU). Best case you are talking about $1,200 in parts.

You can get a T5400 for $500 all day long.

that newegg link is to a garbage computer - i'll tale a $500 P490 up against that all day long.

 

[johnkurtz]

Quote from WinstonTJ:

I'm calling your bluff on price, that's a $600 CPU, $500 used, $300 motherboard, $250 used, $100 SSD and $100 in RAM for 6 cores and 12 threads (and you must keep the thing in a case and i'll bet you needed a PSU). Best case you are talking about $1,200 in parts.

You can get a T5400 for $500 all day long.

that newegg link is to a garbage computer - i'll tale a $500 P490 up against that all day long.

yes, i spent about 1400 on the base sys before adding 3 dual graphic cards.

But the i5 sys i outlined just above could be built for about 600, and would smoke an old used T5400 i'm pretty sure of it. What do you think?

 

[easymon1]

Quote from pepper_john:

If one wants a Dell or HP notebook, go for the very high end. My company of 7k employees is a basically a Dell/HP shop and the quality of both Dell/HP notebooks has dropped a lot recently, especially the HP probooks. Even the Dell latitude has a lot of problems. Many of my coworkers run matlab over-night on them only to see them shutdown because of overheating.

On the other hand, the Dell desktops are very solid but they are less portable.

Prevention of a wasted matlab run and the loss of associated result might be worth a dose of compensational prevention.
I worked with a flock of scientists and in the midst of deep thought common sense could go overboard. Ventilation is key. Perhaps Matlab has a thermal transfer app that highlights surrounding environmental hinderances. lol.
Placement of a unit amid stacks of crap, journals, newspapers, industry rags... or too close to a wall happens often enough. An inch of air beneath the unit and a clear exhaust escape help. A dust and clean is worthwhile too. Some apps offer cpu governors to limit % cpu applied. All this is compensation for suboptimal performance, I'll grant you that, but until IT dept hauls in the bulletproof stuff, ...

 

[WinstonTJ]

Quote from johnkurtz:But the i5 sys i outlined just above could be built for about 600, and would smoke an old used T5400 i'm pretty sure of it. What do you think?

I'm not going to lie - there is a big difference between DDR2 and DDR3 just as there is a big difference between 45nm and 32nm architecture - but when I say big I think it's misleading because so many tasks are mundane and trivial on a computer. What is the difference between "super fast" and "lightning fast"??

Most of the HFT servers I host are actually Intel Atom CPU's because all they need is a dual core and 4-6GB of RAM. Most people get a hard on for RAM and CPU cores - most people use less than 25% of their machine's capacity.

I've never owned an i5 so I can't speak to them. The nice thing about the Dell & HP workstations is that Xeon processors work in pairs - which allows you to take a single older CPU and double it - right down to L2 and L3 cache. I go through so many Xeon x5060 CPU's that there is a pair at the top of my keyboard right now. *** sorry these are x5080 - 3.73ghz... but 4mb of cache is small... how about when you combine two and now you have 8mb of cache, 4 logical and 4 hyperthreads - for less than $50.... for the money you simply can't beat it.