PC versus Workstation

[Spidermeld]

First off, sorry if this is in the wrong spot, but I'm looking for an answer fairly quickly.

I was speaking with my boss today. He was talking with our IS head (also co-owner) about getting some new CAD systems. We run WinXP with AutoDesk Inventor 8. The IS guy told my boss that we needed workstations, but I consider what we have current as PCs:think:. So here is my question:

What is the difference between a PC & a Workstation???

[XcOM]

a PC is a pc, a personal computer, designed for the end consumer, a workstation generaly contains special hardware, like a Xeon processer, or a Quadro/FireGL GFX card,

Sometimes workstations are designed to only to perform 1 function (stock trader workstations don't have cd drives, speakers, or usb ports....only keyboard/mouse/monitor)

so in short, a workstation is a super powerful PC that has one purpose, and can peform that task faster than your Intel i7 extreme with quad GTX295's could even dream of.

some times apps like CAD won't run on standard hardware, or require special drivers to unlock parts of the program, but said drivers will only run on say a quadro, so your GTX295 will be of no use here

[Spidermeld]

XcOM, thanks for the reply

Our CAD software runs on OpenGL & all of our video cards are AGP. Actually, when one of our video cards get fried, they have to find them on Ebay now. Here is one of our systems:

2.80 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
16 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Board: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. 8IG1000MK 1.x
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. FE 03/02/2004

2048 Megabytes Installed Memory

NVIDIA Quadro4 750 XGL

Would you consider this a PC or a Workstation?

[XcOM]

workstation, mainly for these reasons:

1)It has a Nvidia Quadro card (Not mainstream in the consumer world, used for CAD and rendering, i had one)
2) That motherboard has more features that anyone in the consumer world would need, but is useful so someone going to be doing alot of CAD rendering.

And i bet money on that ram being either ECC or/and RAMBUS

[DaveW]

The boundary between workstations and personal computers isn't even a blur anymore, it's just a smudge. In truth, the only real way you'll know is if you test the software.

The specs you've listed would have been great computers a few years back, but for a high end CAD system you might need more kick. It's really hard to tell, without knowing the resolution/number of monitors you have per computer, along with the type of CAD software we're talking about.

There's nothing wrong with those computers, but modern CAD software is a complete beast.

-Dave

[Spidermeld]

We only have 1 monitor per station, usually 22". Most are LCD, some, like mine, are still CRTs.

My system has a resolution of 1152 x 864.
For cad software, it has Inventor 8 (2003), Pro-E M230 (approx 2004) & Mechanical Desktop 2004.
There are about 20 systems that run Inventor 8 & Mechanical Destop.
We have other systems that run UG5 & Catia V4 & V5.

[XcOM]

bit of an odd screen res, but nun the less, the CRT's are prob being kept until the fail as they offer a better screen image than TFT/LCD's can

[Spidermeld]

We continue to use our CRTs until they break & then we get LCDs & more desk space.

I always considered PCs & Workstations as the same thing. I always thought it was differentiated by how its used. I do agree with Dave's suggestion to test the software & see if it works. Looks like this may be my course of action.

Thanks again

[FuzzyPlushroom]

1152x864 is a standard 4:3 resolution (I ran it on my old 17") but you can/should probably crank a 21" up higher, to 1280x960/1280x1024 at least, if not 1600x1200.

EDIT: Heyyy, 750.

[rendermandan]

but modern CAD software is a complete beast.

-Dave

Honestly I am a Cad Manager, 3d Applications specialist. -I work with almost every type of 3d cad software out there. We work with 3D laser scanned point cloud data where we have over a billion points in 3d space at a time. WE use dell workstations at work that have (dual) quad core xeon processors, quadro fx 5600 video cards and 8 gigs of ram and dual monitors. -there is so much headroom that we don't even begin to heat up the system we are running.

However, I also have the same software running on my xps laptop and it runs just as good. I can't do as large of projects but for small things like designing computer cases and such, it works great!

I honestly don't think my workcomputer runs any better than my laptop because we there is so much headroom in terms of power that we don't even use it.

My only suggestion is to make sure the person who sets it up knows what they are doing. Our IT guy does not have a cad background so he does not know what he's doing when it comes to a cad system. I have to help him out with the configurations and such.

Just my 2 cents. :)

[nevermind1534]

I used a res of 1152*864 until I got my new LCD.

[Twigsoffury]

a PC is a pc, a personal computer, designed for the end consumer, a workstation generaly contains special hardware, like a Xeon processer, or a Quadro/FireGL GFX card,

Sometimes workstations are designed to only to perform 1 function (stock trader workstations don't have cd drives, speakers, or usb ports....only keyboard/mouse/monitor)

so in short, a workstation is a super powerful PC that has one purpose, and can peform that task faster than your Intel i7 extreme with quad GTX295's could even dream of.

some times apps like CAD won't run on standard hardware, or require special drivers to unlock parts of the program, but said drivers will only run on say a quadro, so your GTX295 will be of no use here


That's solid gold advice right there.

Even lower end Quadro FX cards will bust a cap in Geforce cards when it comes to AutoCAD. The difference is amazing.

[Twigsoffury]

I used a res of 1152*864 until I got my new LCD.

Hey I have a question for you about your hardware.. i'll send a PM

[XcOM]

That's solid gold advice right there.

Even lower end Quadro FX cards will bust a cap in Geforce cards when it comes to AutoCAD. The difference is amazing.

i know, i have a quadro NV 260, put it up against my bro's 8800GTX OC XXX edition,

his won in games, but as soon as we broke out the CAD benchmarks his machine got brought to its knees when it started rendering, where as my old quadro system kept on going asif it wasn't doing anything different!