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"Is it worth upgrading to a Xenon?" (#3541)
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mikeschn  
#1 Posted : Friday, January 14, 2011 5:22:18 PM(UTC)
mikeschn

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Does anyone run a Xenon? Has anyone ever done a comparison between a Xenon and say a QuadCore?

The bottom line question is: "Is it worth upgrading to a Xenon?"

Mike...
ViaCAD Pro 12 on Windows; Viacad Pro 14 on Mac
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posh.de  
#2 Posted : Monday, January 17, 2011 5:45:04 AM(UTC)
posh.de

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Xeon CPUs are targeted to servers and optimized in reliability and handling of much work memory in connection with error correction, i.e. no advantage for running a single-core based application as 3D modelers on a workstation.

the fastest CPU is currently the brandnew Core i7-2600K w/ an extended TurboBoost (= dynamic. over clocking of one core).

a (recent) SSD can enhance the user experience too.

hth,
Norbert
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NickB  
#3 Posted : Monday, January 17, 2011 12:57:14 PM(UTC)
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I wouldn't bother with a server class Xenon processor. Take Norbert's advice and go with the fastest Core i7 you can get. I have an Intel X-25 SSD installed in my system, and the performance increase is significant, particularly for launching Shark - under a second, and opening large (50 MB +) files. Drives with a SandForce controller should be even faster. The other big speed increase comes when you use a decent graphics card. Norbert always recommends the professional cards, but a good gamer card like a Nvidia GTX 460 with 1 GB of RAM should make rotating large assemblies, and complex models super smooth.

As of ACIS V20 it looks like the Windows version is tread safe and able to use multiple cores http://doc.spatial.com/index.ph...tes/R20#Thread-Safe_ACIS . I don't know if this has been enabled in Shark yet, but it should be coming pretty soon. The Mac version of ACIS appears to be several releases behind.
Shark FX 9 build 1143
OS X 9.5
3.6 GHz Core i7, 8GB, GTX 760 2GB

matter.cc
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Tim Olson  
#4 Posted : Monday, January 17, 2011 4:41:13 PM(UTC)
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>>The Mac version of ACIS appears to be several releases behind.

Mac/Unix ACIS builds are created from the same source code as the PC version.

But some features in the common code are not supported such as threading, 64 bit dlls, CATIA v5, & Inventor on the Mac build. Some will never be supported (CATIA v5) whereas some are hopefully a matter of Spatial scheduling (64 bit & threading).

Tim
Tim Olson
IMSI Design/Encore
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posh.de  
#5 Posted : Tuesday, January 18, 2011 5:19:24 AM(UTC)
posh.de

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Originally Posted by: NickB Go to Quoted Post
Norbert always recommends the professional cards...

officially, even this not anymore :D
Originally Posted by: NickB Go to Quoted Post
...but a good gamer card like a Nvidia GTX 460 with 1 GB of RAM

with the faster 256bit memory interface (instead of 128bit) preferred.

and keep in mind that these cards do require roughly 150-160W in peak, therefore your power supply unit should be capable in delivering this, i.e. at least ~300W in total.

Norbert
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zumer  
#6 Posted : Tuesday, January 18, 2011 9:50:39 PM(UTC)
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I came across a release posting for a "mobile workstation" called the Eurocom Panther 2.0. Top end everything (six-core 3.33 GHz Xeons with 24 Gb DDR3 and Radeon HD6970M, anyone?) crammed into a BIG laptop, 5+ kg. You can probably roast cows with them, too. Makes an Alienware look like a netbook. Remember when Silicon Graphics used to use custom silicon and everyone used to swoon over their stuff?
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Tem  
#7 Posted : Thursday, January 20, 2011 11:37:25 AM(UTC)
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The only reason to upgrade to a multicore xenon would be for quicker renderings (if your render app uses multiple cores) and analysis apps (science and FEA/engineering stuff). Otherwise, the advice above should is good.
I have a dual xenon (quad core) with 16GB ram, it renders quickly, and does animation work pretty well too. The only drawback is the GPU, its an old RAdeon 3870 with 500mb ram, some day I might upgrade it to an nvidia Quadro, but that is expensive and the benefits would be more for when it is used as a PC, not so much with the Mac side.
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posh.de  
#8 Posted : Thursday, January 20, 2011 11:58:47 AM(UTC)
posh.de

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Originally Posted by: Tem Go to Quoted Post
The only reason to upgrade to a multicore xenon...

there is no reason for a Xeon (not Xenon, that's something from the other company), a recent Core i7 is much cheaper and often faster than Xeons because based on the latest die revision resp. manufacturing process.

Originally Posted by: Tem Go to Quoted Post
...some day I might upgrade it to an nvidia Quadro...

not required for Shark, a GTX460/470 delivers much more bang for the buck and OGL support is regularly sufficient for mid-range modelers.

Norbert
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