Killer machine

[macinc]

I forgot to mention the drawback to RAID1 is that you use 2 drives but because of the redundancy, you only have the storage space of one drive, whereas in RAID0 you have the full capacity of both drives.

 

[jkleinhans]

With the fancy words aside, here is a respectable illustration of RAID0

As you can see...if you lose disk A, you're going to lose 1/2 your data and therefore the array will no longer be any good. The performance gains (while using WD Raptor drives) are worthwhile, but I wouldn't count on its reliability. I have my user keep working copies local and backup to our network drives (which is in a RAID5 SCSI array). RAID1 is mirroring

I must say though, that dual opteron is absolutely insane. The user seems very happy with its performance and newly implimented dual monitor setup.

I don't use raid myself 'cause I don't really need it (I auto back up to an external HD), and I usually only work on AD by itself. I did get a WD 10k raptor HD which I am happy with, but there again, I don't feel much of a speed gain over a 7200 sata.

You will once you throw two of those puppies into RAID0 I did this on my home machine and it loaded Command and Conquer Generals (very HD intensive) in 1/4th the time, and it increased my 3dMark03 score from a 5000 to 6000 (AMD 64). Might want to try it out if you get the opportunity again especially since your critical data is backed up.

Jon

 

[bscott.arc-tech.com]

Coming in a little late, but I've been away. I have some comments on Dell that may be useful to others:

I've had bad experiences with Dell support. I've also had bad experiences with everybody else's support. If you want to avoid companies that have ever had a bad situation, don't buy a computer. Disgusting, but true.

I suspect the number of unhappy Dell customers has more to do with total sales volume then anything else. Freaking everybody has a Dell these days. 10% of a larger number of PCs yields more unhappy people then 20% of a much smaller number of PCs.

At my current job, we always buy the Gold Tech Support and the extended warranties. We also buy only the "business" products: OptiPlex, Latitude, Precision. No Dimension or Inspiron models. Yes, this costs a few hundred extra per unit. It is absolutely completely worth it. When I call for support, I get right through to someone who speaks English, knows what they are doing, and is eager to help. If something breaks down, Dell is here the next day with a new part. By the time the warranty expires, the machine isn't worth repairing or upgrading.

I build my home PC from parts, because my home PC is as much about tinkering as it is about using a PC. At the office, I buy from Dell. One is for work, one is for fun.

All my opinion, of course.

 

[rbrian]

Re:

As you can see...if you lose disk A, you're going to lose 1/2 your data and therefore the array will no longer be any good. ...
Jon

Well - you don't actually lose 1/2 your data - you actually loose it all!

(Ask me - My Raid 0 package had one drive go south this past march - sent me into a mess of a panic - new drivers got it up again and in a rush of backing up data and burning to DVD - my system drive went south! No extra money to buy another system drive meant - I had only one idea - split the Array drives and reformat / install OS on on the better one = no access to data on either drive!) Robert

 

[jemmej]

A Raid 0 array provides minimal beneftis for the typical user (even a typical CAD user) and as you can see, is actually MORE prone to failure and data loss. If ANY drive in an array goes down, the data is toast! EACH file gets striped to each drive in specific size chunks. If you don't have all the chunks, you can't put the files back together again.

More advanced RAID techniques provide error checking and data protection but at a higher cost to the end user (more drives for the same ammount of "virtual" space). I've found that a standard file server arrangement with regular back-ups is still the most economical means of mass storage for me personally. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Jim

 

[macinc]

For those that could use the benefit of dual processors, but can't afford the expense of an AMD Opteron system, the AMD Athlon64 X2 series cpu looks real nice. It has a dual processor core, and performance is very close to the Opteron series with multithreaded apps. On single threaded apps (such as AD), each core performs as well as it's single core counterpart. The best part is that if you have a socket 939 board and your manufacturer has a bios update for it, the X2 will plug right in, and it has the same power requirements as a single core.
If you have a socket 939 board with two PCIe slots, for $450 you can pop in an X2 3800 ($300) and an extra 6600GT ($150) vid card and you can have AD running on dual monitors on the left, SW on dual monitors on the right and both apps running at full steam, and showing people how much of a better deal Alibre is than SW

 

[marc]

I bought a BOXX Technologies System

After researching the high end machines from Xi, Tri-Star, and Dell. The best value came from a company in Austin, Texas. Boxx Technologies. I went with a single hard drive because of the advice of a data recovery friend of mine who owns http://www.tlsi.net He is getting an average of 6 months out of a hard drive, now he uses them more actual hours than the typical designer. He said it is not a question of if, but when a hard drive is going to fail. Be prepared and back up. Mirroring on my last computer saved me a ton of time because I lost two drives within a year. I have since become more disciplined about backups and use an external for that. I ran the RAID 0 and lost a drive. You are done! RAID 0 has performance benefits on programs that hit the hard drive a bunch, but in FEA and CAD design, I think that you need processor and memory a lot more than hard drive speed. Besides, the hard drives have sped up a bunch in the last couple of years.

$3600 bought me a dual AMD Opteron 248s, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000SL, 80GB HD, DVD RW and CDROM, Sudigy 2 Sound Card, XP Pro. The case is the best I have ever seen and has a 460W power supply.

 

[siggy]

If your friend is only getting 6 months out of a HD then I submit that he has his systems in some type of extreme environmental conditions such as too hot/cold, near an x-ray machine, high shock/vibration or something. Or, his response was tongue in cheek.

The typical MTBF (mean time between failure) on a HD is on the order of 1 to 1.2 million hours (Check out Fujitsu, Seagate, WD, Hitachi and other mfg websites if you want to see for yourself). Having said that, they all recommend a component useful life of 5 years. That's 5 years of running 7x24x365 solid.

The point is that yes, HDs are the most likely component of a computer to fail simply because they are mechanical in nature. However, they will very likely last way longer than 6 months. The best defense is to always, always, allways backup your data - even if you are running a redundant RAID system.

 

[bscott.arc-tech.com]

Re:

If your friend is only getting 6 months out of a HD then I submit that he has his systems in some type of extreme environmental conditions ...

Or he's just got bad luck. Seriously -- there will always be those whose experience is outside the statistical average. That's why basing your plans on statistics alone is usually a bad idea (unless you're a casio or an insurance company).

... Fujitsu, Seagate, WD, Hitachi ... all recommend a component useful life of 5 years. That's 5 years of running 7x24x365 solid.

For the "consumer" drive market, MTBF specs may actually assume a 2/3 duty cycle. That means 8 hours a day and one spin up/down cycle per day. During the DeskStar debacle, IBM got some press attention for claiming that as a typical assumption in the industry.

The point is that yes, HDs are the most likely component of a computer to fail simply because they are mechanical in nature.

Indeed. Although I prefer to state it this way: Everything will fail, eventually. It is only a question of when.