Need help configuring Dell T-5810 Workstation

I need to buy a new Dell workstation. My old one was Dell T-7500 which had Four 3.5 inch bays so I was able to use two 500 GB HDDs & two 3 TB HDDs.

The new one I am trying to buy is T-5810 but it seems that it has only two 3.5 inch drive bays. I am not sure if it has standard built in controllers for both 500 GB & 3 TB HDDs.

I really don't want to buy 3 TB HDD from Dell unless I have to, to get the controllers & SATA ( or SAS ? ) ports for them.

I keep two 500GB HDDS & One 3 TB HDD in machine all the time.

I also regularly clone my HDDs both 500 GB & 3 TBs.

So I need at least 3 drive bays for that because I keep my OS on 500 GB HDD & use two other bays to clone both 500 GB & 3 TB HDDs.

So how should I configure T-5810 before I order it ?

Also is 825 Watt PSU good enough to run 3 ATI FirePro 2460 ( low profile, No Fan ) Video cards & all these HDDs ? My old T-7500 had 1100 Watt PSU.

Thank you

 

This would probably be a better question for tomshardware, they're always quick to react and full of useful information regarding computers/hardware/etc

That is- if you cannot find the help you are looking for here

 

Personally, I wouldn't order it "configured" from Dell, as they will charge too much. I'd go the Dell Outlet route. You already have the drives, and the T5810 has 4, SATA III ports (+2 more "configured for optic drives", whatever that means). IOW... the mobo is ready to go for 4, HDD/SSDs. Having only 2, 3.5" bays, exactly where you put them might be an issue. But drives don't necessarily need to be "mounted"... you can just lay one or more of them in the bottom of the case.

http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/...ents/Dell_Precision_Tower_5810_Spec_Sheet.pdf

 

I have a somewhat similar setup -- Dell T-7610 workstation with a Xeon E5-2687W CPU, 3 ATI FirePro video cards, and 4 x 500GB SSD drives. The 825 Watt PSU should be more than enough; I have an APC backup UPS that shows that right now the workstation is drawing 185 to 215 watts; I assume that at peak it would draw no more than twice that.

I agree with Scataphagos -- go the Dell Outlet route; I did and saved well over a thousand bucks.

I don't agree with simply laying a drive on bottom of the case. There will come a day when you will be moving the workstation and forget that the drive is not secure, and the drive will be flying around inside the case.

 

If you throw it in the bed of your pickup truck, that's likely. If prone to forgetting things, stick a Post-it on the case.

 

the vendor (DELL/HP/IBM/Lenovo/etc) means the level of support you will get from them... there you pick based on your preference..

assuming you will dedicate this to trading only, and keep a separate one for regular stuff, I would suggest you swap those HDD for NVMe SSD drives, and use Acronis True Image to backup the drives daily if that is your preference.

Your non-day 0 data (aka research) should be on non-SSD storage (R5/6 if you can afford it on a separate array via CIFS to your research workstation)... any data you use for live trading just keep on SSD or local disk (SAS/SATA, your preference)...

and like they said above, dont buy new... you can find decent deals at the outlets for all the major vendors.

 

Who is going to try an hp z840?

 

if you are looking at 4K just get a set of TV's... you can have 4K supporting HDMI for around $500... way more cost effective than 27" 4K UHD screens.. and easier to your eyes... I have a 55" LG on which I display charts and watchlists.. then a 27" IPS WHQD (again, easy on the eyes) for LVX/TWS Order entry, and the other 27" for email, browser and misc bs.

if I was to replace my 2x27" I would get a curved 38" more than likely... the 27"s are arranged in a curve to begin with... but it would be nice to look at the center for something else.. more space basically.

The way I see it... a z840 refurb will set you back ~$3500-4500...

personally I rather get a z240 with an i7 K CPU @ 4GHZ+ 32GB and 1TB NVME for around $800 just for trading .. and another workstation for research with more RAM and core heavy (its for research after all no..).. like a z440/z640 with a E5-1660/1680 for around $2K... then a Thinkcentre micro M600/700 for browsing and emails (~$300) which I RDP into from the trading workstation.. all for around $3K giving you dedicated resources for specific tasks that wont screw up your platform...

you even have enough left over to get a cheap notebook with cell in case you are dead in the water while at home with no connection to the internet and need to close or monitor positions..

just a few suggestions, nothing else... tech is cost effective enough that what used to be 10K easily is well under that if you know how to shop around and dont chase the latest and greatest...

 

Unless you need a real big, powerful PC for some specific purpose (which most traders don't), I recommend taking a look at the Mini-ITX form factor. They are small and power efficient if setup correctly and will run a single or multi-monitor setup for trading and system development purposes.

 

I asked a private vendor selling Dell systems a quote for T-5810 with one 500 GB, Two 3 TB and a DVD-RW dive and he did give me a quote so I have asked him how he is going to fit all 4 of them. I will post what he says when I hear from him.

His answer might help all of us.

I do appreciate all your help very much.