An upgrade for a home workstation?
January 24th, 2020
I’ve been yahoo-ing and google-ing around for info and as far everyone on this forum helped me in the past – I would like an advice.
My current specs for a ‘home workstation’ (for 3d and video editing)
AMD Phenom II X4 O.C. – ed at about 4 Ghz
MB: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H (rev 1.4. which unfortunately has no bios update since 2010 and if I want to install Windows to a SATA disk I need a damn floppy disk – a pain in the ass)
RAM: G.Skill 4x4GB F3-12800CL9 Ripjaws
GPU: Ati Firepro V4800
Several SATA HDD’s and 2 External USB WD HDD’s.
The main question is since I already own the V4800 and am considering of changing the motherboard – should I invest in the new W5000 series (and putting them in Crossfire) – or buy another V4800 for the time being – again Crossfire?
What CPU, GPU and MoBo would you advise? Should I go AMD all the way or get an i7 Intel? Because of the AMD’s CPU/GPU speed up – is there any truth to it or just a marketing lie?
I certainly will not get an nVIDIA gpu workstation cuz of the money/performance ratio ATI Firepro’s had before, I am asking for an advice who does CAD presentations (3D as well as 2D), and/or video-editing: what to get for a longer run?
Oh, and an SSD advice also?
What CPU, GPU and MoBo would you advise?
Your GPU is a little dated, But still up for the task of 3D rendering and I see no reason to replace it.
A CPU upgrade would certainly come handy however. I recommend you get the FX-8350 along with a 990FX based motherboard.
Should I go AMD all the way or get an i7 Intel?
For video editing (or multi-threaded apps in general) AMD’s FX-8350 outperforms Intel’s 3570K.
Oh, and an SSD advice also?
Generally speaking, SSDs have lower access times due to the fact they have
no moving parts (Unlike HDDs) so your OS & Apps will load faster from it.
They also have much faster sequential read/write speeds (sequential means it’d
go upwards towards that speed when you read/write very large files, so it’s not static)
For small files, SSDs aren’t much better than HDDs. SSDs do have a much higher price/capacity ratio than HDDs however so they generally aren’t made for storage, But for the OS/Apps.
If you work with RAW (uncompressed) videos of a long duration then you know that having a lot of free disk space is essential, And for these kinda cases, You’d wanna run a couple of large HDDs in a RAID0 configuration. I.E 2X2TB or 2X4TB. RAID0 not only improves performance, But makes it appear like it’s a single HDD, So it actually doubles your free space! But of course, If one of the HDDs fail, The data is lost, So do keep backup! Better use USB3 externals for this task (USB2 is just too slow!) RAID0 with 2 HDDs is not as fast as a single SSD, But as said before, Those are not made for storage (and are much more expensive too!) anyways, I can’t give you any specific recommendations without knowing where you’re from.
Because of the AMD's CPU/GPU speed up - is there any truth to it or just a marketing lie?
The highlighted part.
MB: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H (rev 1.4. which unfortunately has no bios update since 2010 and if I want to install Windows to a SATA disk I need a damn floppy disk - a pain in the ass)
You are using XP I assume? Is it at least the 64bit version? Or do you have a RAID setup?
Anyways, There’s more than one way to do it. You probably have an SATA
mode settings in BIOS, If you set it to IDE, No drivers would be needed! (But don’t do that
now, As you’ll have to reinstall the OS if you change it) Also, It’s possible to integrate the driver
to your XP disc (Floppy drives are a thing of the past!) and just so you know, Since Windows Vista, Windows natively supports AHCI mode! To be honset, It doesn’t make much sense to use XP with modern hardware, You could just use Win7 and customize the GUI to your liking with an app like classicshell.
Dont know where you are but if you are in the UK i was looking for a decent processor earlier today and found thishttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009O7YU56/ref=nosim
i know its not a 8350 as suggested but its close and a very good price.
I’m from Croatia, running a Win7 and the Gigabyte Mobo IS A PAIN IN THE ASS as mentioned, only linux distro’s do not ask for a floppy disk drivers – come on MS?!, 64-bit of course because of the 16 gigs of RAM. Should I change Ripjaws also?
As far as the SSD-s go, a mere 120gb, and runing Win7 I believe with all the unusual and uneccessery, some absolutely needless addons and up-fukced-dating the OS will fill up the space.
Not to mention, if I need a program installed on that very same SSD – a 10 percent in better rendering will get me nowhere for that money. Thanks for the RAID info, was thinking about it, but then if I put 2 of the same HDD’s (I am aware it’s a kinda stupid question, cuz I haven’t been in such a situation) what with the rest of the HDD’s? How do they behave? Cuz for instance I can and have put my different brands and sizes in, and are in SATA AHCI mode. If I get to buy, and I know I need to cuz the HDD situation is awfull:
– Toshiba’s (from a burnout notebook 2.5) 250 GB
– WDC WD2500KS-ladida – you guessed it 250 GB
– WDC WD750AZEX – 750 GB
– external: WD 320 GB and WD 1021 – 1000GB
hence: all are almost full and I cannot delete the files, almost everything is either still not rendered or is rendered and backed-up.
not to mention I had to install Windows on an old PATA disk cuz of the driver issue I just lost my mind.
And here in Croatia there are a few rational companies that sell workstation HW for a reasonable price. Not to mention everyone’s in the gutter cuz of The New Great Deppresion, everyone needs a buck more and I haven’t got a proper job – meaning a one where I can get paid for what I do at home bootlegging for scraps.
I am aware that good, efficient HW as far as anything else goes too, costs. But in here, everything is overpriced.
Need to redo, re-think and info on the already made HP’s and Dell’s ‘premade’ workstations, consider their cost and then make my own list.
Thanks guys, if anyone has any other info please PM, or place it here. Otherwise – CASE CLOSED.