Budget Upgrade

I'm trying to upgrade a 9450 quad system w/ 8 GBs of 800 mhz RAM and a nVidia GT 280 card on which 1trk of HDV and 1 of AVCHD- scaled and CC'd- play but will stall when scrubbing and/or jumping around on the timeline. Editing for a non-profit, I'm trying to upgrade with limited means.
I'm working with the CS5 Production Suite and I'm looking at getting a new CPU, either a SandyBridge 3820 or an IvyBridge 3770k and an appropriate Mobo, a x79 or 77 model. Plus newer RAM (16GBs). I'm trying to keep this at around $800-900.00 and maybe a bit later upgrade the GT 280 card. And hoping that a guy who's primary tech experience has been adding HDD's like me can pull this off.
Any suggestions would help. Thanks- Eric.

Eric, if you currently have an adequate power supply and case and an absolute minumum of two or three decent 7200 rpm drives you should be able get by with a significant upgrade in processing power. It of course will not be the best for upgrading down stream. Do you have a MicroCenter any where near you? They have some great deals if you can walk into a store. Or do you have friend or relative near one?
i7-3820 $230
GA-X79-UD3 $240
RAM Memory $140
The GA-X79-UD3 does not have an HDV compatible IEEE-1394 Firewire port, so you will have to pick up one. The X79 boards are fussy on memory but since this is a low-end X79 board it only has four RAM slots and I am guessing you may not be overclocking, it should be cheaper and easier to find compatible memory. Here is one example of Gigabyte's approved memory for this board from their web site. You should fill all four memory slots for optimum performance
This is not what I would buy, but with your money constraints it should be about a middle of the road scoring system with our PPBM5 Benchmark. There is one i7-3820 that has been tested it is rated (today) as 161 out of 921 submitted results. It is slightly overclocked but only has 12 GB of RAM so you can roughly see what you might expect in performance.

Similar Messages

Quicksilver 2002, best AGP card that I can use ADC port?

I currently have a 2002 QS 933mhz, and would like to add Core Image support. However, I am kind of on a budget, and need to still be able to use my 17'' ADC studio display. I'm okay with having to tape pins 3 and 11 if necessary, but I need the card to be able to power my display. Any suggestions?

For budget performance increases, and for overall system performance enhancement, with minimal effect from Leopard, I would stick with the Radeon 9800.
For more serious gaming, skip the Radeon, and get the Geforce 6800 GT.
Processors have a lot to do with video playback.
A "budget" upgrade, would be the OWC 7455 based 1.467 GHz processor (1.5 GHz in a 100 MHz system).
That processor has a 2MB L3 cache, and would help a lot with video applications and total system performance.
A 7447 processor upgrade doesn't have a L3 cache, but a larger L2 cache, and higher clock speeds make for a good upgrade. A 1.7 GHz processor will provide video performance equal to/ or better the 1.467GHz, and perform better on other apps because of the increased clock speed. 7447 processors are also cooler running, and have lower power requirements, as compared to 7455 processors.
The top processor family, and upgrade, a 7448 2.0 GHz processor, is really a performance buy. A 1MB L2 cache is faster than any L3 cache, and the architecture of the 7448 processor provides great increases in processor performance as compared to either the 7447 or 7455 processors.
The 7448 is also the coolest running, and has further reductions in power requirements as compared to the 7447 processor.
For all processor upgrades, check OWC.

After downloading OS X Mountain Lion, my mac has become very slow

After downloading OS X Mountain Lion, my mac has become very slow and takes a bit to shut down programmes. What can i do to bring it back up to the speed it was when i had OS X Lion

LouieAustin wrote:
After downloading OS X Mountain Lion, my mac has become very slow and takes a bit to shut down programmes. What can i do to bring it back up to the speed it was when i had OS X Lion
Though I wish it were true, it is unrealistic to put 200+ new features into OS X and expect Mountain Lion to run faster and more efficient than Lion on the same hardware. I moved up from Lion to Mountain Lion. Mine is slowing down, but not very slow, as you mentioned. Safari and Mail are simply swine on launch. Check the following:
Patience. If you are impatient and detail alters your mood, take your MBP to the Apple Genius bar.
CPU. If you have a supported, but older MBP, your CPU may be showing its age.
Memory. 4GB or 8GB in your MBP? Mountain Lion drinks more than Lion and if you run multiple large memory footprint applications, 4GB will be a performance bottleneck. My HD3000 graphics takes 512MB. Check the System Information report for your memory. Is it OK?
Compatibility. Sometimes, hardware peripherals and applications are not entirely compatible with a new OS release, and divert OS performance to system log entries. A symptom is a large (> 2GB) system log file at /var/log/system.log. I just discovered a bad USB hub this way. Unplug everything and evaluate your performance again. Zero [ # > /var/log/system.log] the log file if you have the permissions.
Permissions. Launch Disk Utility and verify/repair Disk Permissions on your Mountain Lion disk. While there, might as well Verify Disk too.
Preferences. Sometimes, older preferences do not play well with upgraded application compatibility for a new OS release. It might be worthwhile to delete the specific preference and its lock file from Lion.
Caches. As routine, just before I shutdown the system, I will move the contents of /Users/name/Library/Caches to the Trash. I tolerate Adobe Flash and use their preferences panel to delete all Flash content. Then on reboot, I delete the Trash. Application performance improves as a result.
File Directory. Everytime that I upgrade OS X and run the retail Disk Warrior 4.4, it reports 25% storage fragmentation. Repairing and rebuilding the File Directory always restores noticeable I/O performance.
Storage. If within your budget, upgrade to an SSD. Otherworld Computing has MBP SSD solutions.
Applications. Some non-Apple applications may need recompilation for Mountain Lion, or behavior may be questionable. I compile my own MacVim editor from github sources. The same 64-bit binary that was compiled with XCode 4.3 on Lion, misbehaved on Mountain Lion. Rebuilt it with XCode 4.4 and worked fine.

Hard drive Space vs RAM

So I was originally planing on getting 100gb hard drive and 1gb of ram, Now I think I will get 60gb and 2gb ram. I have a 200gb external drive, so I think I'm covered on storage. This will be my first mac, is this a good setup. Also I am getting a airport express for only audio and wireless printing, is that a good idea. Thanks.

Look like you already get it set on your mind, and all I can say is get it done...
I myself prefer the original HD setting and an external HD since I use external HD a lot.
And for memory, I prefer jump to the bigger one and skip those stagering upgrade that leave your 2 x 512 mb wasted if you decided to do another upgrade to 2 x 1 Gb Ram.
And I like airport express, but it is a bit pricey, but on the other side since it is frm apple it will giving you easier setup since it designed to be used intregated with all apple product.
Just read couple post or maybe some user can give you better and cheaper wireless and audio solution.
But if you have un-limited budget, upgrade the memory as priority and upgrade the HD also, and that is one of many MacBook user wildest dream.
Good Luck.

[share]Share with you my experience of upgrading PC with zero budgets

I saw an article on Mobile01 and thought it’s quite interested, so here I translate it.
To share with everyone
http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=488&t=4250581
Share with you my experience of upgrading PC with zero budgets
It is believed that many people have the same experience like me, a 3-years-old PC which probably work but unbearably slow. No need to mention that when playing games, it lags all the time.
Now here I want to share an incredible easy way to upgrade your PC; what’s more, it’s free! No need any cost to make PC performance up!!
(you may say: ”What’s wrong with you?! I just wanna play a PC game, rather than mod PC. okay!?)
No worry please~ It’s the era of smart end users! For sure a higher C/P is a basic requirement. I am just talking about a better performance; it not must be along with extra costs. If you have this kind of concern, then “overclocking” may be the answer for you. In one word, overclocking (OC) is tuning you computer beyond the limit to an extreme performance. So that you have a surprising user experience just like bought a new PC without any cost.
Ok, it’s enough! I won’t boast of too much knowledge of overclocking because I don’t know much about it actually. (a truly overclocking….. means tuning voltage/ clock etc. OMG, who knows?! ahhahaha)
In fact I’m only talking about a button! Only one you need to do hold out your finger and press down the button, how easy it is. And then you can feel it get smoother when playing games.
This is what I’ve done. I make an experiment on Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, let's have a comparison of their differences.
First of all, let’s preview the configuration of my own PC:
Motherboard - MSI Z97 GAMING 5
Graphics card – MSI N750 Ti GAMING 2GD5/OC
CPU - i5-4690K 　
Power supply - CoolerMaster (1250W)
HHD - WD 3TB
Memory - WINTEC 1333/4GB DDR3
This is a close up of the model name. cause not every motherboard has this feature.
Let’s open CPU-Z on OS.
Then you can see this is Intel 4960K 3.5G, an original CPU without tuning.
Launching the game of Age of Empires II: The Conquerors HD version (single team of 500 people). BTW, it seems to reveal your age if you also know this game! Saying Age of Empires, which was the bomb of RTS games at that time.
Till here, does there anyone recall the days of the eight guys’ gang war?
Ops! I’ve told too much nonsense. Now I am showing you the differences of OC in the heavy loading condition of 8 teams with 500 people (stand-alone ver.).
Look at the bottom at left corner, you can see the Fraps number of 18. Merely 18 fraps when I tries 500 people per team. Yes, it’s true! A terrible number no wonder it lags over and over. Unbearable….. I can’t wait to try OC to see if it will be helpful.
So, let’s see how to use the easy OC feature- OC Genie.
To boost, press Del and get into BIOS. There is a button at the left upper side, click it and it will turn to red. F10 to saving and leave BIOS. and then re-boost the computer. That’s all.
(You can see a virtual button -OC GENIE. Just click it!)
(Click it and it will turn to red. F10 to saving and leave BIOS. and then re-boost the computer. This is the time to check CPU-Z now!)
(CPU clocks from 3.5G to 4G. which means you earn 15% performance for free!)
Let’s test with Age of Empires II: The Conquerors HD version (single team of 500 people), the same as the previous condition.
Impressive!! It becomes 27 fraps. Feel the smoother motions than before!!
Then, I’m going to check online game! Although Lineage II is not really popular now, I use it for the test because online game usually heavier loading and has higher requirement on PC spec.
The following two screenshots are the original one before OC (Default).
And check the below 2 pictures, those have better FPS improved after use OC Genie.
To summarize my test, here I listed the results to show how OC Genie did.
Through the chart you can find that on the condition of extremely heavy loading, the performance improved significantly. Thus, I think you can feel the differences when playing those games with complex computing such as Age of Empires or Starcraft II.
As for the normal MMRRPG games, OC Genie also contributes almost 15% of performance up. And it even optimized the pictures.
This is my test report of an easy way to make PC performance up and free of money. Share with you guys and wish it is hopeful for you
Thank you ~~~~!!

Z97 GAMING 5 is a nice motherboard. 3 of my friends are all using this one, and me too! To those who are searching for a new gaming motherboard, I highly recommend this one!

Budget custom report in ECC 6 Upgrade

hi
my company has just upgraded to ecc 6 on monday.
i have ran a budget report (Custom) and the actual amounts column is not being updated, everything else is.
can anyone help me please.

Hi,
Could you please give me the phase in which you encounter the error and what doyou mean by after completing SPDD and After SAP Downtime please elobrate.
Regards,
Iqbal

Why upgrade from Former Budgeting to Budget Control System (BCS)

Dear experts,
My customer had upgraded his system to ECC6, and still uses the "Former Budgeting".
I want the customer to consider implementing BCS instead.
Please let me know where I can find the list of differences between FB and BCS, and the advantages of this act.
Regards,
Y.G.

Hi Yaakov,
You can look at this link:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp60_sp/helpdata/en/7b/981b57da056c48904c8a9c0df67b51/frameset.htm
Basically, the main advantage is more flexibility in availability control and key figures reporting. However, you should also consider the fact that Former Budgeting is not supported anymore by SAP in terms of developing new features; all the development is done now only in BCS.
Regards,
Eli

Upgrading to high speed internet enhanced with budget local phone service?

Searched for this issue but can't locate anything on here. I have gotten conflicting information on this by phone and online chat. When I click on "Order Now" for High Speed Internet Enhanced (29.99) it takes me to the bundle page where it wants me to add TV service and upgrade my phone. All I want to do is upgrade to enhanced from the regular High Speed (19.99).
I don't know which dept I was connected to 1st on the phone, but her system wasn't allowing her to order it for me. She referred me to E center who wasn't sure and asked the online chat people sitting near him who said I have to upgrade my phone as well to get enhanced?
Is this true? I need to have a regional calling plan to upgrade to High Speed Internet Enhanced? Instead of paying an extra 10 bucks a month, it jumps to an extra 25 to 30 per month.
Does anyone else have budget phone service with High Speed Enhanced?

Step one: Visit http://www.giganews.com/line_info.html and post up the Traceroute the page shows, if you wish. Be aware that your non-bogan public IP Address will show up. It might shown up as the final hop (bottom-most line of the trace) might contain a hop with your IP address in it. Either remove that line or show only the first two octets. What I'm looking for is a line that mentions "ERX" in it's name towards the end. If for some reason the trace does not complete (two lines full of Stars), keep the trace route intact.
For example this what I saw when I was using Verizon
    news.giganews.com
    traceroute to 71.242.*.* (71.242.*.*), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
    1 gw1-g-vlan201.dca.giganews.com (216.196.98.4) 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms
    2 ash-bb1-link.telia.net (213.248.70.241) 39 ms 7 ms 7 ms
    3 TenGigE0-2-0-0.GW1.IAD8.ALTER.NET (63.125.125.41) 4 ms 4 ms GigabitEthernet2-0-0.GW8.IAD8.ALTER.NET (63.65.76.189) 4 ms
    4 so-7-1-0-0.PHIL-CORE-RTR1.verizon-gni.net (130.81.20.137) 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms
    5 P3-0-0.PHIL-DSL-RTR11.verizon-gni.net (130.81.13.170) 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms
    6 static-71-242-*-*.phlapa.east.verizon.net (71.242.*.*) 32 ms 32 ms 33 ms
Step two: Can you provide the Transceiver Statistics from your modem?
#3 If you don't know how to get that info:
a) What is the brand and model of your modem?
b) If you have a RJ-45 WAN port router connected to it: What is the brand and model of the RJ-45 WAN port router?
#4 If you have a RJ-45 WAN port router connected to the modem, even if you know how to get the Transceiver Statistics from the modem: What is the brand and model of the RJ-45 WAN port router?
If you are the original poster (OP) and your issue is solved, please remember to click the "Solution?" button so that others can more easily find it. If anyone has been helpful to you, please show your appreciation by clicking the "Kudos" button.

Budget for cucm upgrade to v8.5

Hello,
Please help me to find out the budget for an upgrade.
I have CUCM v7.0.2 and cluster with two MCS7835I servers. There are about 1800 phones. I need upgrade to CUCM v8.5.
As I know there is no direct upgrade. I need upgrade first to v8.0. Do I need to pay for this step version?
There is such a mess in cisco documents with cucm licensing (for me at least). I used this document
http://www.cisco.com/web/partners/downloads/partner/WWChannels/technology/ipc/downloads/ip_comm_og_ucl_based_1021.pdf
We dont have UCSS.
Is anyone can give me part numbers for this upgrade. I would very appreciate this.
Thanks.

It would be best to discuss this with your account team, they can help you with the budget and part numbers questions.
From sofware compatibility matrix it shows you can indeed not directly upgrade from 7.0(2) to 8.5(1). Though upgrades within the same major release can be done with the downloads from CCO. So you can do an intermetiate step to 7.1(3) or 7.1(5) release. From there you can do a direct upgrade to 8.5(1) though for that you would indeed need to purchase the upgrade (as it is a major upgrade from 7.x to 8.x)

It's upgrade time..... 870A-G54 need budget RAM advice

My Neo4 Platinum SLI board recently died. (Yes, it's been kicking good all this thing.. )
Counting how well my previous MSI board did, I have been leaning towards another MSI board. And lo and behold, some research led me to the 870A-G54 board.
To make sure I dot my I's and cross my T's, I wanted to ask you folks two questions....
1) My power supply is an OCZ Modstream 520w. With a Phenom II X2 550 running stock, should this be fine?
2) What would be the best ideal budget RAM to get? I want to start with 2 Gig. I plan on adding more later.
See, I am able to spend around $250ish for this upgrade.
Any help would be totally appreciated!! Thanks!

Quote from: Mark on 14-June-10, 00:26:24
The second one you linked to is DDR2 and the board only supports DDR3.
I've heard AMD chipsets can be picky about RAM and that it's best to get RAM with looser timings or AMD approved RAM. I would say this would be a safer bet in terms of compatibility: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148194
That's not to say the RAM you have linked to won't work; I'm just trying to help you select something that won't present any issues.
And of all those I listed I was not stuck on one or the other.
At this point I am about less muss, less fuss. I appreciate the insight and thank you for the tips.
I think I have all the parts picked out. I will drop an update once it is built and resurrected.
Thanks!!

Laptop upgrade - low budget disk setup

Hi,
I have read many great posts in this forum about this topic (especially about disk setup byHarm Millaard ). However, I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the data. My laptop is quite old and weak (maybe too weak) for Premiere Pro/After Effects in terms of usability. Before I start investing in new PC, I would like to give my current one a try. I am wondering if proper disk setup (scratch disk) would make a difference.
My budget would allow me to choose one of the below options:
a)one external ~128 GB SSD drive (USB 3 or eSATA),
b)one 7200 rpm external HDD (USB 3 or eSATA), eventually TWO
c)other disk setup suggestions within such budget?
d)other non-disk setup suggestions?
I produce 1080p videos, up to ~5 minutes duration.
My current laptop specs:
Dell Studio 1555
Processor: Core 2 Duo 2,4 GHz
RAM: 4GB
1 HDD: 500 GB 7200 rpm 16 mb cache sata
1 external 1TB 5200 rpm HDD USB 3 (I use it for backup at the moment)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 512 MB
eSATA
USB 3 (will use a epxress card with USB 3)
Thanks in advance,
Kamil

....when I first started...trying to edit HD content with PPro CS4, I had a laptop like yours. At the time, I didnt know ANYTHING and foolishly BELIEVED the "minimum requirements" listed by Adobe to use PPro. I wound up pulling my hair out as NOTHING would work...EVERYTHING froze up. Then, I started reading HERE on this forum posts by Harm Millard, Bill Gherke, and others about what REALLY was needed to run this professional level software.Temporarily, I discovered I could " transcode" the highly compressed ORIGINAL clips into another codec that the laptop could edit. This is something you can try with the free Cineform codec, available at GoPro website.
However, your machine is TERMINAL....a remnant of the past...you need to take it to a FIRING RANGE and yell PULL as you throw it into the air and witness its destruction via a loud shotgun blast !!! What you want is to edit NATIVELY the original footage in an easy manner. PPro has since improved GREATLY...now, its entirely 64 bit and has MANY improvements that have improved performance SIGNIFICANTLY.
You are going to need an i7 machine that is hyperthreaded,that runs over 3 Ghz, that has 32 GB system memory,that has a good NVidia graphics card,7xx series,or, better. Then,fast storage is a great help with performance. Using ONE quality SSD for OS, programs and pagefile is a MUST. Windows 8.1 is BEST because it does NOT have the memory limit of Windows 7 Home premium of 16GB, and HAS better support for USB 3 devices. Just get a new machine ...you can do FINE with a Haswell laptop with memory maxxed out and Crucial M550 SSDs in it,( 2 drive bays)...AND the 7xx series, ( or better), mobile NVidia GPU.
Or, build a new Haswell E based desktop machine....the mid- level CPU is affordable with great 6 core performance.

Upgrading an 8 year old G4 Desktop on a budget - is it worth it?

Hi all.
I have an 8 year old G4 desktop (with DVD burner) and 17" flat panel display. Both are in immaculate, time capsule condition. After some extensive traveling the last few years, I recently got them out of storage and was hoping to trade them in or sell them to upgrade to a laptop for easier mobility, etc. Looking at the resell prices on eBay, it seems that people can hardly give these machines away. I was hoping to be able to trade in the G4 Tower and maybe get $200 towards a 3-5 year old MacBook, but am uncertain how realistic this is.
Some people are suggesting to keep the G4 Tower get an external terrabyte drive, an airport card (no wireless here!), a fan (it's loud) and an XLR and 1/4" cable audio/video interface for music-making and lossless audio conversion stuff.
It seems like it may be a lot of money to invest in a nearly 10 year old desktop. However, I do like the idea of a solid workstation, but am I being a luddite here? I would still need to purchase an audio interface for a laptop too.
Any suggestion or thoughts? Your help & advice is appreciated.

In terms of buying a laptop, is portability a necessity or a preference for you? If you checked eBay, you might find a used Mac mini for about $500, such as this recent listing that sold for $470. You could connect your display to it, although an ADC connector would need the adapter previously mentioned. An Intel processor-based Mac mini would be much faster than your G4, but not offer the upgrade potential options that a mini-tower has. You didn't indicate which model G4 you have, but you might be able to sell it for more (than you'd get at eBay), if you were to sell it locally through Craig's List.

I have a budget of $2,200 and I don't know what to buy; The MacBook Pro 15 inch for $2,199 or the MacBook Pro w/ Retina Display for $2,199. I LOVE playing games but I don't know which one would play games faster.Take note that I wont upgrade anything.

The MBP w/ Retina Display is 2.3GHz but the other without Retina Display is 2.6GHz. So I don't know which one would play games absolutely flawlessly. I wont have the screen resolution so high on the games though. So can someone reply and tell me which one I should get and why?

Mac's are generally not 3D gaming computers and laptops especially are not because 3D games require a upgraded video card to take advantage of newer games and more feature rich updates.
Only the Mac Pro can one change the video card, if one can find a upgrade for it.
If you really love 3D gaming, a Windows 7 3D gaming tower is your machine.
http://www.cbscores.com/index.php?sort=ogl&order=desc
3D gaming on a Mac is sort of a second hobby, it's rather short lived as one can't replace the video card once a year, only with a new machine purchase.
Most 3D games are for Windows anyway and Apple almost demands OS X be upgraded to newer verisons annually now, so that sort of throws a monkey wrench into a Mac gaming rig with software upgrades and all. On the other hand Windows 7 is supported for a decade.
Mac's just don't work well with 3D gaming, perhaps a Win 7 tower and a iPad or something.

System upgrade z77 based machine - new Disks/SSD + new graphics card £1500 budget

Hello all, I've read so many threads I am totaly confused now over how best to upgrade my machine. I'm a photographer moving into DSLR shooting and editing on premier pro. My machine is 2 years old and I think OK to upgrade but many threads and current suggestions are for current latest processors and I want to get a balanced machine. I currently have 4 drive as raid 10 for my programs OS, and a mirrored drive for media files but I obviously need to change most of this. I dont do any after effects(currently) but often use the multi cam editor and 4/5 viceo tracks on a timeline. I've got 32G of ram. I think I need possibly SSD OS/progs, several fast drives and a compliant video card. My PSU is 750w and I have 10 drive bays in a huge case. PLease help!

My personal opinion is that you are stretching it a bit. DSLR footage is pretty difficult to handle and requires some horsepower. Using it with 5 shots in a multicam situation is extremely taxing on the system, especially on the CPU and memory.
If I were to go from scratch, I would go for a 2011 platform with an overclocked i7-3930K CPU and a dedicated raid controller, but you have a Z77 with a quad core. Assuming you don't want to change platforms now, I would suggest:
Overclock your CPU to around 4.5 GHz.
Use 32 GB 1600+ memory.
Use a GTX 650 Ti Boost or GTX 660 video card. It makes no sense to go higher than that on this platform.
There is no sense in going for a dedicated raid controller on this platform, since it reduces your video card performance by around 10-15%, due to the lack of PCIe lanes and you want that video performance for the multicam processing.
You are between a rock and a hard place. The Z77 platform has severe limitations for what you want to do, but the X79 platform carries quite some costs. I don't envy your position.
Experience is that marvellous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

Time to upgrade to Xserve-Advice Please

Hi,
I'm currently the default "IT" guy at my company. We are a small company without any kind of dedicated IT department. We started out 15-20 years ago with a single Mac and have grown throughout the years. We now have 16 stations with 4 of them being PCs. At first we had our network setup with a simple file sharing setup. When we need to share files, each computer would connect with which ever other computer we needed to. This worked ok for a while but then we had the problem of archiving all of our data. I would manually compile everyone's work on a specific project and back it up to an external hard drive. This was not the most efficient solution, but it was effective and we used this method for many years. We've recently expanded our business to include Maya work which is done on PCs. At the same time we introduced 2x 2TB Lacie Ethernet network storage devices. Now I have everyone working within the same folder on the Lacie drives. This makes my life easier as far as archiving. Part of the problem I've got now is with the PCs. We've had them for a few months now and I've never really gotten them fully integrated into our environment. I have a single PC at home, but the work environment has always been completely Mac based. Meaning I have some PC knowledge but really none as far as networking goes. I know that we need to get a server to accomplish a couple of different things.
1) Better integration of PCs and Macs
2) Improved Rendering for Maya (PC based Maya)-We are going to implement a render farm into the mix as well- we are currently looking at a Boxx system and an SGI system as well
3) Central Storage with backup
4) Improved speed (with the Lacie storage devices, there is some slowdown when first connecting)
5) Remote login--i.e. something like the ability to login from home and set up a render over the weekend
I would prefer to go with an Xserve because of my familiarity with Mac products. My problem is that when I look at the specs for the Xserve, I really don't know what anything is. I have no idea how to price anything for the boss.
It makes me feel like I am getting in over my head, but at the same time, I am confident enough in my abilities that if I get the correct system set up, I should have no problem administering it for our needs.
A) I imagine I'd want to go with the 8 core to start with
B) What kind of performance boost-and in what areas-would I get with upgrading to the 2.93 or 2.66 GHz?
C) I imagine I should get the most RAM we could fit into the budget?
D) what is the Solid State drive? Do I need it?
E) I can have 3 hard drives. How many do I need? why would I need more than one?
F) Extra power supply..I understand why this makes sense
G) XSan? what is it? do I need it?
We currently also only have everything connected via ethernet. What's the deal with Fibre channel? Do I need to install a Fibre channel card in each workstation plus run all new wiring? If so then this is a very pricey deal and way unrealistic as far as budget at this time.
I'm also wondering about the render farm. Will either a Boxx system or a SGI system integrate well with an Xserve when rendering PC Maya files? Would there be an option to configure an Xserve as a render farm? If so could I render PC Maya files on it?
Sorry for the long winded post. I'm lost and need some help from some experts. Hopefully there is someone out there who can lead me in the right direction.
Thanks for your help.
Phil

Hi
My two cents.
+I know that we need to get a server to accomplish a couple of different things+
Apart from load balancing etc you don't really mention anything that either a 3rd-Party product might provide and what you've already got in place.
+1) Better integration of PCs and Macs+
With the environment you're describing you don't specifically need a Server for this although it depends on what you want to achieve.
+2) Improved Rendering for Maya (PC based Maya)-We are going to implement a render farm into the mix as well- we are currently looking at a Boxx system and an SGI system as well+
Perhaps XGrid might fit the bill?
+3) Central Storage with backup+
Depending on what Configuration you choose (Standard, Workgroup or Advanced) this could be easily achieved with what's already built in to the Server OS. On a side note the XServe is not the Server. The OS is. OSX Server can be installed on any qualifying hardware. The XServe is dedicated Server hardware built specifically to perform a Server (with all that that means) role. Redundancy is built-in. With what you're describing perhaps a suitable MacPro would be better?
With the XServe you have to consider a rack as well as noise if a rack is not an option.
+4) Improved speed (with the Lacie storage devices, there is some slowdown when first connecting)+
This is probably due to the fact the drives are connected to a client machine and OS that is now not coping with the amount of client access required. I'm guessing someone is also working at that client mac?
+5) Remote login--i.e. something like the ability to login from home and set up a render over the weekend+
This might be possible with XGrid although you might have a real problem with bandwidth
+I would prefer to go with an Xserve because of my familiarity with Mac products. My problem is that when I look at the specs for the Xserve, I really don't know what anything is. I have no idea how to price anything for the boss.+
+It makes me feel like I am getting in over my head, but at the same time, I am confident enough in my abilities that if I get the correct system set up, I should have no problem administering it for our needs.+
Leopard Server is a whole new ballgame and if not approached correctly Apple's marketing slogan of "No IT Required" may seem like a sick joke
+A) I imagine I'd want to go with the 8 core to start with+
If you have the budget get the best you can afford
+B) What kind of performance boost-and in what areas-would I get with upgrading to the 2.93 or 2.66 GHz?+
This would depend on what you want and what you're expecting. You won't really know until some time has passed. Besides how could you compare it? Unless you buy and bench test them both you can't really know? It might be possible you know someone who has exactly the same environment as you, doing exactly the same work and wanting exactly the same solution. However if you use google you should be able to find some performance bench test results? Whether they're applicable to your environment is another question.
+C) I imagine I should get the most RAM we could fit into the budget?+
See (A)
+D) what is the Solid State drive? Do I need it?+
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP511
http://www.apple.com/xserve/features/storage.html
http://blogs.computerworld.com/newapple_xserves_offer_additional_ssdbay
+E) I can have 3 hard drives. How many do I need? why would I need more than one?+
See (A). To be honest only you would really know? With the optional Apple RAID Card you could have 3x1TB Drives as a RAID 5. This provides some measure of redundancy (which is not a back-up) as well as performance. However you could as easily use a MacPro that has the 4 drive bays. Potentially 3+TB of Storage. A simple rule of thumb would be: How much data do I have now? Does the Storage I have now cope with it? Will the amount of Data grow over time? Do I have enough storage to cope with that growth?
+F) Extra power supply..I understand why this makes sense+
The XServe can be built-to-order with two PSUs providing redundancy. You should factor in a UPS as well. You don't want a power cut to potentially ruin all your data?
+G) XSan? what is it? do I need it?+
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/xsan/XsanGettingStarted.pdf
I think this would be way too much in terms of your environment as well as your budget. However read the pdf and come to a reasoned judgment.
+We currently also only have everything connected via ethernet. What's the deal with Fibre channel? Do I need to install a Fibre channel card in each workstation plus run all new wiring? If so then this is a very pricey deal and way unrealistic as far as budget at this time.+
No to the first two questions. Read the XSan pdf.
+I'm also wondering about the render farm. Will either a Boxx system or a SGI system integrate well with an Xserve when rendering PC Maya files? Would there be an option to configure an Xserve as a render farm? If so could I render PC Maya files on it?+
I have no experience of either of the two products you mention. Perhaps someone who does may post?
Does this help? Tony

Budget Upgrade

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