X86 Workstation Price Ref Notes
In case you haven't looked in the past 3-6 months, the price of your average "entry level" workstation has gone through the floor, and the baseline features have increased significantly. This is all great news for people looking to get a new system with nice performance.
Disclaimer: Note that my focus is purely on CPU/Memory/Basic workstation tasks ; not remotely focusing on video performance (relevant to gamers, plus also specialized graphics intensive apps .. which are less my domain.
The main factors in recent months that have been big boons:
- Dual-Core CPUs are now very standard, and a price-war between intel and AMD has helped move things along here very quickly. Dual-Core CPUs offer (effectively) SMP (2-CPU) performance at prices that were up until recently inconcievable. Typically, mhz/core clock speed will be lower in dual-core machines than in single-core machines of similar cost, but the net performance boost -- for applications which are able to use multi-core -- is significant.
- Hard Drive sizes continue to go up. The "sweet spot" right now is $120 for a 320gig disk (ATA or SATA). Clearly SCSI (SAS, FCAL) gear still costs a lot more than this, but typically isn't of interest to average workstation users.
All this togother means you can get machines as follows:
Castalia:
3.2 ghz dual core P4, 320gig SATA HDD, 1gig RAM - $879
Upgrade to 2 gigs RAM - $120
19" LCD Monitor - $269
(3 year warranty on system from dealer, 5 year on HDD from Mfr.)
Robotnik:
AMD ("4200+" dual-core 2.2ghz Athlon64/Opteron type CPU, all else as above) - $730
Intel 3.2ghz dual core, 320gig SATA HDD, 1 gig RAM - $765
upgrade to 2 gigs RAM - $108
19" LCD Monitor $248
(1 year warranty from dealer, 5-year on HDD from Mfr.)
More Detailed Specs
.... in case you are interested
NOTE that all quotes below LACK an operating system. It is assumed you will use Linux, in which case there is no extra cost. WinXP costs ~$150 extra if you buy an OEM license at the time of system-purchase. From work with this gear so far, the Intel-based machines (either Robotnik or Castalia) have better Linux Driver Compatability, and would be the better choice for a Linux platform machine.
Arguably, the warranty is better on the Castalia system than the Robotnik systems. However, in my experience, gear like this will either die in the first 3 months, or become obselete and go to the dumpster. When we're using quad-core 6ghz systems to make our toast in the morning, clearly this gear will be obselete. :-) [And really - the HDD of Robotnik has a 5-year manufacturer warranty, which is the only part that sometimes breaks the rule of "early death or obselesence" typically)]
However, we all have our preferences for what we like to spend / buy.
Basic Dual-Core AMD System:
ROBOTNIK: ========= AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2GHz / 2 x 512KB L2 Cache / Socket AM2 / 64-Bit ASROCK AM2NF6G SCK.AM2 ON-BOARD VIDEO/AUDIO/LAN Corsair 1024mb PC-4200 DDR2 RAM SEAGATE 320GB SATA2 HARD DRIVES MITSUMI 7IN1 MEDIA DRIVE THERMALTAKE MATRIX CASE THERMALTAKE 430WATT P/W LG H10NBK 16x dual Layer DVD+/-RW w/Nero Suite MITSUMI BLACK P2/2 KEYBAORD LOGITECH BT96 BLACK OPTICAL MOUSE
Basic Dual-Core Intel System:
CASTALIA: ----------------------------------- Pentium – D940 at 3.2GHz Intel Motherboard (945GTPLKR) Mini Tower Case 1GB DDR-2 RAM 16 in 1 Card Reader Seagate 320GB SATA II 7200rpm Hard Drive Pioneer 111 DVD Burner (One Year Warranty) 1 Serial Port 1 Parallel Port 6 USB Ports Firewire Intel High Defintion Audio Intel 10/100/1000 Integrated Ethernet Intel Integrated GMA950 Graphics MS 104 Keyboard and Optical Mouse THREE YEAR WARRANTY (Parts and Labour) ROBOTNIK: ========= INTEL PD 940 3.2GHz SCK.775 PROCESSOR MSI 945GM2F Socket 775 Motherboard On-Board Video/Audio/LAN Corsair 1024mb PC-4200 DDR2 RAM SEAGATE 320GB SATA2 HARD DRIVES MITSUMI 7IN1 MEDIA DRIVE THERMALTAKE MATRIX CASE THERMALTAKE 430WATT P/W LG H10NBK 16x dual Layer DVD+/-RW w/Nero Suite MITSUMI BLACK P2/2 KEYBAORD LOGITECH BT96 BLACK OPTICAL MOUSE