Thinking about updating the computer I use for photo processing. I'm thinking about buying a Dell Studio minitower. What are you guys using? Feel free to go into detail about your hardware and software and why you chose your system. Thanks.
Core 2 Duo 2.4 ghz
4gb RAM
nVidia 7900 GS
150gb VelociRaptor HDD for applications and the OS
500gb HDD with 32 mb cache x3 for storage
Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit
Photoshop CS4
Next year, when the prices drop, I plan to upgrade some components, specifically, the processor to the new Intel Core i7 with more memory which wll necessiate a new mother board. Probably a new video card too.
My current system is extremely stable and quite speedy too. However, I find CS4 to be more demanding of resources and my current motherboard won't allow the use of more than 4gb of memory, hence the upgrade plan.
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3
Chip: Athlon Phenom quad core
RAM: OCZ 4GB
Video Card: Visiontek 3870 512mb
Internal HD's: 2 SATA 500GB Western Digital's
External HD's: 2 Maxtor 500GB's + 1 Lacie 500GB Mini Home Disk
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 206BW 22"
I am cheap so I use onboard sound!
Photshop CS3, Lightroom 2.1 and PhotoMechanic
Oh yeah, I have a Toshiba Satellite I use for work when I am on assignment.
Intel D975Xbx2 system board.
Intel Core 2 Quad 2.8GHz
4 GB RAM
Windows XP pro for now.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 512MB (This thing is FAST)
512 GB SATA HD
SATA DVD burner
OS: Windows Vista SP1 Ultimate 64-bit (superbly stable)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4
Chip: Intel Q6600 quad core overclocked to 3.4GHz, Scythe Ninja2 cooler with two 1200 rpm fans (fast but quiet)
RAM: 2 x 4GB Patriot DDR2 6400 5-5-5-12 (2GB per module)
Video Card: nVidia 9600GT 512MB (overkill)
Internal HD's: 2 x 640GB Western Digital in RAID1 for Image files, 3 x 320GB Seagate 7200.10 for: 1. Lightroom database and Photoshop scratch drive, 2. System files C-drive , 3. Backups and Vista page file drive
External HD's: Various SATA drives in Vantec NexStar 3 eSATA enclosures for external backups
Monitor: Apple 23" Cinema Display
Monitor Calibrator: i1 Display
Photoshop CS4, Lightroom 2.1, Noise Ninja (latest), DxO 5.3 (waste of $'s - lousy raw converter)
Mac Pro
8-core Xeon 2.66GHz ea. (there is no such thing as a Mac Pro "Core Duo").
4gb Ram
2tb RAID-0
1tb System Drive
OS X 10.5.5
Virtual 64bit Vista
Virtual 64bit Ubuntu (Linux)
eMachines
3GHz Intel
4gb RAM
1TB Drive
Win2K Server, XP Pro Dual Boot
Home made 64bit AMD 3800+
4gb RAM
1tb RAID-0
500gb system drive
Win2K Server, XP64 Pro Dual Boot
Dell Precision 410
Dual Xeon 1GHz
2gb RAM
1TB RAID-5
350gb system drive
Win2K Server
Dell Precision 410
Dual Xeon 1GHz
2gb RAM
1TB RAID-5
350gb system drive
Win2K Server
Dell Precision 650
Dual xeon 3.06GHz, with HT architecture (looks like 4 cores)
4gb RAM
2TB RAID-5
650gb System drive
Win2k3 Server
Dell Precision 650
Dual xeon 3.06GHz, with HT architecture (looks like 4 cores)
4gb RAM
Robotic DVD Writer BU System
DAT and Quik tape BU systems.
650gb System drive
Win2k3 Server
There's a bunch more here too but I would have to actually plug them in and hook them up to start using them. The above 7 are ready to go - just push the power button.
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.6 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
OS: 10.5.5
External display: Dell 2408WFP
eMachines
3GHz Intel
4gb RAM
1TB Drive
Win2K Server, XP Pro Dual Boot
Home made 64bit AMD 3800+
4gb RAM
1tb RAID-0
500gb system drive
Win2K Server, XP64 Pro Dual Boot
Dell Precision 410
Dual Xeon 1GHz
2gb RAM
1TB RAID-5
350gb system drive
Win2K Server
Dell Precision 410
Dual Xeon 1GHz
2gb RAM
1TB RAID-5
350gb system drive
Win2K Server
Dell Precision 650
Dual xeon 3.06GHz, with HT architecture (looks like 4 cores)
4gb RAM
2TB RAID-5
650gb System drive
Win2k3 Server
Dell Precision 650
Dual xeon 3.06GHz, with HT architecture (looks like 4 cores)
4gb RAM
Robotic DVD Writer BU System
DAT and Quik tape BU systems.
650gb System drive
Win2k3 Server
There's a bunch more here too but I would have to actually plug them in and hook them up to start using them. The above 7 are ready to go - just push the power button.
Remove the hard drives, boot them from floppies, and build a nice render farm. I would do something like that but my wife made me get rid of all my "non-essential" hardware when we moved.
Intel V8 Duo Xeon 2.66 ghz Quad Core(s)
xvn5000 server/workstation
32 GB FB-DIMM RAM
6 tera byte combo RAID 0/1.
XP x64 Pro server 2003 service pack 3
Canon i900 pro photo printer
Canon ipf5000 large format photo printer
1. Intel XBX2 Mobo
Core 2 E6300 overclocked at 2.8Ghz
Geforce 7900GS (overclocked and with Zalman heatsink)
2Gb low latency Corsair RAM
2 x 300Gb + 1 x 500Gb SATA drives
Chieftec mid tower + expensive 430W PSU
WinXP Pro + Fedora Core linux (using vmware)
2. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
Core 2 quad Q6600 (not overclocked) with Scythe Ninja cooling
Ati 2400 (silently cooled)
2Gb low latency Corsair RAM
4 x 200Gb (IDE) + 2 x 120Gb (IDE) + 3 x 300Gb (SATA)
Akasa eclipse 62 case with 120mm "silent" fans everywhere. Enermax 500W PSU
Fedora core linux (FC7 currently)
Number 1 is my desktop. Number 2 is my server, firewall/router and also does some computational chemistry stuff for me now and again.
I used to be a bit like Bifurcator, but not quite so bad (though some of my friends were). Threw all my old kit away a couple of years back and centred on fast quiet boxes.
dan727 wrote: Remove the hard drives, boot them from floppies, and build a nice render farm. I would do something like that but my wife made me get rid of all my "non-essential" hardware when we moved.
Hehe... Well the DELL ones are remnants of past render farms for Maya, Houdini, LightWave3D, Motion Builder, and Digital Fusion. There were 24 DELL Precision 410s seen as 48 nodes and later 8 DELL Precision 650s seen as 32 nodes. Before those there was a rack of 48 DEC Alpha 533's seen as of course, 48 nodes. I still do some CG for the occasional film or high profile commercial like Sony and etc. but mostly I'm retired. My wife was the motivation behind me and since she's passed on I've not really found the desire.
Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz processor
3GB RAM
nVidia 8800 video card
2 250GB drives
Windows XP Media Center edition
I'm running multi GB files through photoshop CS3 on this machine from scans of 4X5 film. It does fine with lightroom and photoshop on DSLR images. It can get a bit slow on the 4X5 files. It was a huge improvement from my previous pentium 4 computer.
I still do some CG for the occasional film or high profile commercial like Sony and etc. but mostly I'm retired. My wife was the motivation behind me and since she's passed on I've not really found the desire.