Dell Precision T3600

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by justrading, Apr 10, 2013.

  1. We have the same debates over supporting your neighbourhood mom and pop stores, or going to Tesco Lotus or Big C and getting it all under 1 roof at a cheaper price.

    In this case, I could spend 2 or 3 afternoons traipsing in and out of SB Furniture, Index Living Mall, Modernform, and the dozens of small furniture stores in Seacon Square, hoping to find something that suits my needs.

    Or I could go straight to IKEA, order what I found online and have it delivered for a nominal fee.
     
    #41     Apr 12, 2013
  2. ofthomas

    ofthomas


    hmmm.... no, I was thinking of the last time I got something from IKEA and it crapped out in less than a year...

    and then I was thinking of the desks I bought via DirectBuy (Solid wood Desks) that I have had now for over 8 years... that are still there and going... I look more at how long will something last me.... the other day I found a desk in markdown in BJ's wholesale club for around $80, from $200... I was tempted but is not like I need another desk... furniture is one of those things I tend to buy to last me 10+ years vs 1+....

    but I agree with your point about convenience...
     
    #42     Apr 12, 2013
  3. Well, I don't have a hell of a lot to do for the next 2 weeks. Thailand shut down today till next Wednesday for Songkran. As requested, I called Acer this morning to see if my PC had been fixed. Was told Mobo needs repair, call back 1 week AFTER Songkran to see if it is ready.

    I was hoping to get my PC back to check on actual disk space requirements, but that's out now. Internet research gave me some numbers so I max out at about 30GB for installed programs, say 35GB. I recall seeing somewhere that a system drive that is too full will suffer in performance, but this leaves plenty of room on a 128GB SSD so I can scale down as you recommended and save some money.
     
    #43     Apr 12, 2013
  4. ofthomas

    ofthomas

    yeah!... I envy you guys and the swiss... we go through that with the APAC people all the time... lots of holidays and vacations, they sure know how to enjoy life... :)

    you could have just asked... I image my setups, I am lazy and dont like to waste time rebuilding much... so the OS image with Win7E 64b, Office2013, MC/CQG/IQF/NT7/AB/TS9.1 and misc stuff is 52GB...

    primary OS drives for me are always 128GB.. (though I am moving to 256GB now)...
    data drives are another 128GB (I use those for my D:\Users folders) ...

    so certainly, get a 128GB from DELL... and then just order yourself a Samsung 128GB or Intel 180GB or OCZ Vertex4 128GB and use that for the Data drive...

    create an admin user, install all your applications and stuff... then update your registry and setup a second user and place that home on the second SSD and use that user instead of the admin one...
     
    #44     Apr 12, 2013
  5. gaj

    gaj

    got a few questions to ask, jumping in this thread rather than open a new "what do i want for my T3600?"

    my setup: currently using a T3400 with 2 24" monitors (nvidia NVS290), running XP. this machine doesn't have any gaming on it, nor other internet resources. have 4GB of memory, use 3GB.

    i have a backup machine which does other stuff, but that's not terribly important. if this machine works well, i'll get a duplicate of it for my (new) backup machine/

    i backup to hard drives and CD-roms. i don't have reams of years-old data, and if my hard drive died today, it wouldn't be much of a hassle. my trading is discretionary, i'm not in a zillion stocks at once. i have open realtick (with 3charts / 3 level 2 / 3 time&sales), firefox and any brokers that i'm using that day and sometimes a screening program like trade ideas. i'll have the machine on 12-14 hours a day.

    my main reason for upgrading is because i have to get off of XP at some point for W7, so may as well start the process now.

    my general rule of thumb for tech stuff is "get the highest stuff BELOW the major price break". here's what i'm questioning
    -> since i don't use excel spreadsheets, get this:
    Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-1607 (Four Core, 3.0GHz, 10M) which is $32 more than the lowest one available. my only question is if i should get the next one up (Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-1620 (Four Core 3.6GHz, 10M, Turbo) [add $175.70]) because the memory DIMMs can't run at 1600 on this unit, only up to 1066 mhz
    -> should i get the higher wattage power supply?
    -> i'm going to get at least 8GB of memory, but see that is the maximum with non-ECC. is ECC that important?

    -> monitor card 512 MB, NVIDIA® Quadro® NVS 310, 2 DP (2 DP-DVI adapters)

    -> hard drive configuration: which one, 3 1/2" or 2 1/2" ? i'm going to get the smallest HD (probably 250GB) and get two of them since i like having 2 in the machine so i can easily ghost a hard drive.
    -> should i get 1394A Fire Wire Controller Card [add $21.00] ?

    -> no RAID, and the DVD burner, etc. i know what to get.

    and since i'm asking, does anyone have any suggestions for wireless laser printers?

    thanks for any suggestions, advice, etc.
     
    #45     Apr 16, 2013
  6. ofthomas

    ofthomas

    so to summarize...

    - you are not day trading... you are more swing/position
    - you still plan to use 2x24 monitors
    - you just want to go to Win7..

    right? now, stupid question.... why bother getting a new machine right now? you can just get a new drive, load up Win7 64b and see if that meets your needs..

    what do you have today in terms of CPU? what is that T3400? and are you looking at new or used? if I was you, I would save $$$ with reman... and I would look at HP and DELL...

    and given your requirements above, I would look at i7/i5 as well, not just focus on the Xeon's... then again, what is your timeframe for lifecycling your computers? many years or a year or two?
     
    #46     Apr 16, 2013
  7. gaj

    gaj

    ofthomas - actually, i strictly daytrade, but i take a limited number of positions. the rest is correct.

    my current trading machine is T3400, core duo E8400 @3 GHz. i believe i've had this for three years.

    i have to move away at some point from XP because MSFT's support is ending next april. i don't want to go to W8, and i think that W7 is stable enough that i feel comfortable moving to it.

    i'm definitely staying with dell because of their outstanding customer service and support with the precision T line.

    <blockquote>
    so to summarize...

    - you are not day trading... you are more swing/position
    - you still plan to use 2x24 monitors
    - you just want to go to Win7..
    </blockquote>

    <blockquote>
    right? now, stupid question.... why bother getting a new machine right now? you can just get a new drive, load up Win7 64b and see if that meets your needs..

    what do you have today in terms of CPU? what is that T3400? and are you looking at new or used? if I was you, I would save $$$ with reman... and I would look at HP and DELL...

    and given your requirements above, I would look at i7/i5 as well, not just focus on the Xeon's... then again, what is your timeframe for lifecycling your computers? many years or a year or two?</blockquote>
     
    #47     Apr 16, 2013
  8. Took a look at some computer tables yesterday, nothing impressive.

    All seem to be designed for stacked multi-monitor systems and are a tight squeeze for a single level layout, with no room for a backup system then.

    The best option I saw was a small dining table. No drawers to limit left-right movement of the chair, and the extra depth gives more room on the table for other stuff. Plus being long sighted it's nice to have the monitors a little further back.
     
    #48     Apr 18, 2013
  9. ofthomas

    ofthomas

    actually, that is a very good idea... solid top and strong legs... perfect...
     
    #49     Apr 18, 2013
  10. ofthomas

    ofthomas

    I will assume you have read this whole thread and a few others dealing with how to pick a trading system... as such, based on your prior questions.. here are some suggestions..

    the following link compares all the CPUs you are looking at against what you have, and I added as well two more that will meet your need...

    http://ark.intel.com/compare/65702,65719,64621,64619,33910

    the question of ECC memory is one of reliability, same goes for picking a Xeon vs. i5/i7 ...

    You currently have 2 cores, E5-1607/20 are 4 cores... i5/i7 are 4 cores as well, but i7 is 2 threads per core. As you stated 1607 is limited on the ram speed, but what you need to ask yourself is "will you notice it?" ... bottlenecks in computer are never the RAM speed, normally your computer is waiting on resources to become available in other areas (like IO for example, meaning your disks)...

    do you need more cores? do you need faster ram? do you need SSD's? those are all functions of what your trading software will need or benefit from... clearly, the "faster" all your components align with your CPU the better...

    you should look at outlet.dell.com ... you have not mentioned your budget, so I assume that money is not an issue for the most part...

    anyhow, dell outlet always has bargains... I would add an SSD pair for around $250 (2x128GB)...

    T3600 $919

    •Processor: Intel Xeon Four Core E5-1620 Processor (3.6GHz, 10M, Turbo)
    •Genuine Windows 7 Professional
    •Dell Outlet Precision Fixed Workstation T3600, 635W Tower
    •1TB, 7200 RPM 3.5 inch SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
    •8GB, DDR3 UDIMM Memory, 1600MHz, Non-ECC (4 x 2 GB DIMMs)
    •8X DVD +/- RW Optical Drive
    •512 MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 300, Dual Monitor

    T3600 $1109

    •Processor: Intel Xeon Four Core E5-1620 Processor (3.6GHz, 10M, Turbo)
    •Genuine Windows 7 Professional
    •Dell Outlet Precision Fixed Workstation T3600, 635W Tower
    •500GB 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
    •8GB, DDR3 RDIMM Memory, 1600MHz, ECC (4 DIMMS)
    •16x DVD+/-RW/8X DVD-ROM
    •8X DVD ROM Drive
    •512 MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 300, Dual Monitor

    T3600 $1179

    •Processor: Intel Xeon Four Core E5-1620 Processor (3.6GHz, 10M, Turbo)
    •Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate
    •Dell Outlet Precision Fixed Workstation T3600, 635W Tower
    •1TB, 7200 RPM 3.5 inch SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
    •1TB, 7200 RPM 3.5 inch SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
    •8GB, DDR3 UDIMM Memory, 1600MHz, Non-ECC (4 x 2 GB DIMMs)
    •8X DVD +/- RW Optical Drive
    •1 GB AMD FirePro V4900,3 Monitor

    T3600 $1269

    •Processor: Intel Xeon Four Core E5-1620 Processor (3.6GHz, 10M, Turbo)
    •Genuine Windows 7 Professional
    •Dell Outlet Precision Fixed Workstation T3600, 635W Tower
    •500GB 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
    •16GB, DDR3 RDIMM Memory, 1600MHz, ECC (4 x 4GB DIMMs)
    •8X DVD +/- RW Drive
    •1 GB nVIDIA Quadro 600,Dual Monitor,1DP and 1DVI

    T3600 $1379 (This is their best deal, dont worry about the power supply unless you are looking to add some crazy devices that consume lots of power)

    •Processor: Intel Xeon Six Core E5-1650 Processor (3.2GHz,12M, Turbo+)
    •Genuine Windows 7 Professional
    •Dell Outlet Precision Fixed Workstation T3600, 425W Tower
    •1TB, 7200 RPM 3.5 inch SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
    •8GB, DDR3 UDIMM Memory, 1600MHz, Non-ECC (4 x 2 GB DIMMs)
    •8X DVD +/- RW Optical Drive
    •Dual 1GB AMD FirePro V4900,6 Monitor
     
    #50     Apr 18, 2013