| Re: OT: recommendations for high preformance workstations [message #53892] |
Wed, 09 May 2007 08:25  |
Christopher Thom
Messages: 66
Registered: October 2006
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Member |
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Quoth David Fanning:
> Mirko writes:
>
>> It is interesting that there were no mention of Sun or IBM machines
>
> Yeah, or VAX/VMS either. ;-)
*shudder* The last time I used a VAX, I crashed it at 2am and had no way
to control the telescope I was using, and no support except for 7 ring
binders of the VMS Users Guide (or whatever). That exciting little
adventure leads me to recommend against using them, though of course I may
be somewhat biased. :-)
cheers
chris
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| Re: OT: recommendations for high preformance workstations [message #53894 is a reply to message #53893] |
Wed, 09 May 2007 08:00  |
Mirko
Messages: 20
Registered: April 1999
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Junior Member |
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On May 8, 5:35 pm, JD Smith <jdsm...@as.arizona.edu> wrote:
> On Tue, 08 May 2007 06:47:50 -0700, Mirko wrote:
>> Good morning group,
>
>> I am buying my next linux workstation, and other than dollars, are there
>> other parameters that I should take into account? My main unknown is
>> vendor. Our company likes Dell very much, but I wonder whether HP or IBM
>> machines are better engineered or built for scientific computations.
>
>> I am looking for a 64-bit dual processor (dual or quad core) with about
>> 8GB. I will be running Fluent (and IDL) on it, and Fluent can take
>> advantage of parallelized architectures. So far I have never looked into
>> IDL's features for running on parallel machines.
>
> I'd skip the big names and try a linux-specific workstation provider
> like ASL labs. Tested and guaranteed linux hardware compatibility
> (especially important for video cards), and pre-installation of any of
> a dozen Linux distributions. And for the high end, pretty affordable
> too. For ~2k you can get a quad core Intel chip @2.4GHz, 4GB, 1.5GB
> HD, and a fast NVidia card.
>
> JD
Thank you to you all.
I don't think I can be an expert for chipsets.
I went to the Scientific Computing magazine, as they give annual
awards, but that list was not very enlightening.
I will take a look at linux-specific vendors.
As for my data point, I have been using Dell's here at work (dual
processor workstation and a beefy laptop). We do not seem to have
much problems. Here and there, things go wrong, but our IT staff gets
them fixed pretty quickly. Our company buys preferentially from Dell
- they have some kind of a deal with them.
It is interesting that there were no mention of Sun or IBM machines so
far.
Mirko
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| Re: OT: recommendations for high preformance workstations [message #53906 is a reply to message #53894] |
Tue, 08 May 2007 14:35 |
JD Smith
Messages: 850
Registered: December 1999
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Senior Member |
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On Tue, 08 May 2007 06:47:50 -0700, Mirko wrote:
> Good morning group,
>
> I am buying my next linux workstation, and other than dollars, are there
> other parameters that I should take into account? My main unknown is
> vendor. Our company likes Dell very much, but I wonder whether HP or IBM
> machines are better engineered or built for scientific computations.
>
> I am looking for a 64-bit dual processor (dual or quad core) with about
> 8GB. I will be running Fluent (and IDL) on it, and Fluent can take
> advantage of parallelized architectures. So far I have never looked into
> IDL's features for running on parallel machines.
I'd skip the big names and try a linux-specific workstation provider
like ASL labs. Tested and guaranteed linux hardware compatibility
(especially important for video cards), and pre-installation of any of
a dozen Linux distributions. And for the high end, pretty affordable
too. For ~2k you can get a quad core Intel chip @2.4GHz, 4GB, 1.5GB
HD, and a fast NVidia card.
JD
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| Re: OT: recommendations for high preformance workstations [message #53911 is a reply to message #53910] |
Tue, 08 May 2007 12:35 |
David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
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Senior Member |
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Christopher Thom writes:
> I would second that. I have had only terrible experiences with dell tech
> support, both in the US and australia. They actually actively hindered me
> from solving technical problems created by their cutting corners on
> hardware.
>
> They do often come out as the cheapest option...but do your homework
> carefully, down to the chipset level at least. It may just have been a
> confluence of unlucky circumstances for me, but i swore off buying their
> computers. YMMV.
Just another data point. I *always* buy DELL computers (for
myself as well as for the college students in the family) and
we have never been disappointed with them in any way. I've
always found their service, when I've needed it, to be
fantastic.
Now HP. There's a company I won't buy anything from unless
I absolutely have to. :-(
Cheers,
David
P.S. I guess everyone uses bodies in India for customer
service, but if I have to have one more bone-headed
conversation with an HP service technician I'm sure I'll
give up computing forever. Can't they PLEASE just listen
to the customer instead of going through each step of their
damn script every friggin' time I call!
And in the end, it's always "and then get into the guts of
your operating system and tear this little thing out". Uh,
sorry, I don't think so. :-(
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
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| Re: OT: recommendations for high preformance workstations [message #53913 is a reply to message #53912] |
Tue, 08 May 2007 08:58 |
Jean H.
Messages: 472
Registered: July 2006
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Senior Member |
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Mirko wrote:
> Good morning group,
>
> I am buying my next linux workstation, and other than dollars, are
> there other parameters that I should take into account? My main
> unknown is vendor. Our company likes Dell very much, but I wonder
> whether HP or IBM machines are better engineered or built for
> scientific computations.
hum... Dell... we have nothing but problems with them... every computer
we have (a dozen) had some problems within 2 years of purchase
(motherboard, fan, memory etc) and the service is worst than bad (in
Canada at least)....
> I am looking for a 64-bit dual processor (dual or quad core) with
> about 8GB. I will be running Fluent (and IDL) on it, and Fluent can
> take advantage of parallelized architectures. So far I have never
> looked into IDL's features for running on parallel machines.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mirko
If you find the "perfect computer", please post it here.... our lab is
looking for buying this kind of beast now...
Jean
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| Re: OT: recommendations for high preformance workstations [message #53960 is a reply to message #53911] |
Thu, 10 May 2007 14:16 |
George N. White III
Messages: 56
Registered: September 2000
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Member |
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On Tue, 8 May 2007, David Fanning wrote:
> Just another data point. I *always* buy DELL computers (for
> myself as well as for the college students in the family) and
> we have never been disappointed with them in any way. I've
> always found their service, when I've needed it, to be
> fantastic.
>
> Now HP. There's a company I won't buy anything from unless
> I absolutely have to. :-(
Dell is almost 3 different companies, depending on whether you are
a small business or individual or a large organization, buying servers
or desktops, etc.
We have a bunch of Dell Optiplex P-III machines that won't die. Recently
purchased Dells (Optiplex GX-260 -- GX-270) were delivered with parts
missing, and have failed early and often. Getting replacement parts
has been a struggle (wrong parts shipped, paperwork messed up, etc.).
I read that some large companies are now asking for 4-year warranties
because some many systems fail at 3 years + epsilon.
--
George N. White III <aa056@chebucto.ns.ca>
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| Re: OT: recommendations for high preformance workstations [message #54097 is a reply to message #53893] |
Tue, 22 May 2007 16:51 |
Andrew Cool
Messages: 219
Registered: January 1996
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Senior Member |
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On May 10, 12:07 am, David Fanning <n...@dfanning.com> wrote:
> Mirko writes:
>> It is interesting that there were no mention of Sun or IBM machines
>
> Yeah, or VAX/VMS either. ;-)
>
> Cheers,
>
> David
>
> --
> David Fanning, Ph.D.
> Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
> Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming:http://www.dfanning.com/
> Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
David,
Last I heard there are still satellites whiizing around above your
head running VMS on board.
(perhaps Wayne can confirm or deny that/)
Good reason to have faith in VMS reliability... ;-)
Our systems people say that when our Alpha/AXP boxes die, they won't
be replaced. Trouble is, they're not dying - they just keep plugging
away!
Cheers,
Andrew
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