My CIvil\GIS Workstation

[KenE]

Thanks to STH I've built a great little box that is just STUPID Fast! Coming from a 5 yr old Conroe (5030) machine, this thing has shown me the limits of my server and a gigbit ethernet link to it.
If you need migrate to a new machine and your project files live on a server, I can't imagine needing more power than this.

Major Software Used:
Autocad Civil 3D 2010
ArcMap 9.3 with Spatial and 3D analyst -The 3D stuff can really tax these boxes.


Specs:
-Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC SSD
-ASUS SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
-Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - OEM
-Kingston ValueRAM 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Unbuffered Server Memory
-ATI 100-505606 FirePro V4800 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 - (I LOVE running 3 Monitors!)
-Intel Xeon E3-1230 Sandy Bridge 3.2GHz LGA 1155 80W Quad-Core Server
-SUPERMICRO SYS-5037C-T Pedestal Server Barebone LGA 1155 Intel C204 DDR3 1333/1066
-Dell SAS 5/iR 3GB/sec Pulled from my old workstation
-2 Fujitsu 73GB SAS 15K drives in RAID 0 (Pulled from old WS) This is where I keep my 'slow' data.

WEI-
CPU 7.6
Memory 7.6
Video 7.0
Gaming 7.0
Primary HD 7.8!!!!
All in all not to bad for $1300
Now I've got to figure out how to get a faster pipe from my server.

 

[Patrick]

That is great! Having project files on a server will also allow you to access from mobile devices in the future if you ever change to a notebook for example. The best thing I have experienced by moving files to network storage is that I have become somewhat device agnostic.

 

[MiniKnight]

Do you have pictures of the build? How do you like the SUPERMICRO SYS-5037C-T?

 

[KenE]

No pictures. But I do like the supermicro case. If you plan on using it anywhere you desk, this is your guy. With a SSD on board, the two biggest noise makers are my pair 3.5" 15K sas drives (my scratch drive) and the dvd drive. A lot of times I have to look to see if it's on because I can't hear it. The other issue is the pcie bandwidth, I know it's a limitation of the chipset, but it would be nice to have a full 8x slot (not just wired 4x) besides the 16x slot and 1x. But overall this has been a wonderful machine.

 

[Jeggs101]

With a SSD on board, the two biggest noise makers are my pair 3.5" 15K sas drives (my scratch drive) and the dvd drive.

15000 rpm sas is loud in both 2.5 and 3.5".