Bill Patten
bill_patten at embarqmail.com
Tue Jun 14 10:57:28 CDT 2011
Rocky, Boot and reboot times went from about 3 or 4 minutes to well under 1 minute and have remained for over a year. I went with raid 0 so that my 2 80's would create a 160 G C: drive. At the time 2 80G cost much less than the 120 available. Sizes and prices have changed, but I figure if it isn't broken why fix it. Also if your using windows 7 they make it very easy to move directories like My Docs, Downloads and have the OS know where they are located. This allows you to use smaller C drives for OS and in my case I put my development directory on the SSD. I think the monitor was included in the $989 package with an i7 but of course my memory isn't what it used to be. I don't know if you followed the URL's but below is the site where the deal actually resides, and it appears that you actually buy from Dell and apply discount codes to drop the price down. http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/dell-xps-8300/28882.aspx I'm sure others will be able to add to this to assist you. Bill -------------------------------------------------- From: "Rocky Smolin" <rockysmolin at bchacc.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 8:38 AM To: "'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'" <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Shopping for a new comp Thanks Bill. Actually everyone else is considering that I build one. :) I'm still a bit reluctant. I've done my share of hardware but don't get much charge out of it. If the box wasn't so mission critical I might be tempted to play with it. But I'm jealous of the time. I'm switching from software\e developer to upright jazz bass player and would rather spend the time doing that. My 14 y.o. needs a new box and he's tech mad so maybe I'll let him build one. I've always bought Dell because of the charm of not having to leave my chair, a few clicks and walla! Someone brings the comp to my door! I plug and play. Upgrading to the SSD seems like a good thing. How's that working for you? Does it really boost the response time? One of the things that's driving me to this new comp is the increasing delay when opening Access, Excel, Word, sometimes opening emails. I think it's because there's more processes now than there was 4-5 years ago when I got this box and I've only got 2BG RAM. In it. The deal looks good except I don't need another monitor. I suppose it's not a refurb and the Dell warranty applies. Hopefully, BTW, this thread is useful enough to the AccessD community that the moderator will let it play out. And my thanks to all who responded. It's been educational. Best to all, Rocky -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Bill Patten Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 8:25 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Shopping for a new comp Hi Rocky, I know you are now considering building your own, and as many have suggested that can be fun, though sometime's not when the some of the pieces don't work together and you get to exchange for some that will. You mentioned that you were considering Dell, I bought a Dell XPS 410 a few years ago, and as time went on, changed the processor to a Quad Core, increased Ram to 8G, even though the book said only 4. I replaced the 2 250G Raid 0 hard drives with 2 80 G SSD's Raid 0 and a 500G drive D: etc to keep it fairly fast and current and am quite happy with it. Anyway I saw this Gear Deal on Gear Diary and thought it might interest you. They have Dell XPS 8300 with I5 Quad Sandy Bridge , 8G Ram 1.5 TB etc for $699.99. The normal Dell price is $1202. They also offer I7 and other upgrades. I have never purchased anything from them so I cannot make a recommendation but thought you might want to take a few minutes to check it out. http://www.geardiary.com/2011/06/14/gear-deal-dell-xps-8300-quad-core-deskto ps-core-i5-and-i7/ Bill -------------------------------------------------- From: "Rocky Smolin" <rockysmolin at bchacc.com> Sent: Monday, June 13, 2011 1:58 PM To: "'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'" <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Shopping for a new comp So what's the processor of choice? Rocky -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby Sent: Monday, June 13, 2011 10:22 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Shopping for a new comp I concur with John too! ;) I know that for folks who have never built a machine it is scary but once you get over that (unless something goes wrong... it is trivial to build) the ability to upgrade and the future lack of fear makes it well worth doing. I routinely upgrade my existing systems. Dual core to quad, to hex, 2 gigs to 4 to 8, 320g hd to tbyte etc. It costs waaaaaay less that buying a whole new machine and you can continually have fast systems instead of systems that are always old / slow (after the first year you have them). I built a dual socket server with 16 dim slots. I populated one side with the old opteron 8 core and 32 gigs of ram. The mb/proc/memory was around $1700. I am (im)patiently waiting for the bulldozer chip to arrive and drop in price, but when it does I can drop in one or two of those chips and bump my server from 8 cores to as many as 32, with faster processors to boot and update my memory up to 128 gigs as well. I can't even tell you how much I saved by not going the dell/hp route, but it would be at *least* 3-4 times as much and 4-5 times as much for future upgrades. And... I used my old server hardware to build a Virtual Machine server. I got a 16GB quad core VM for *free* because I reused my old SQL Server hardware for that after the upgrade. BTW I am using SSDs both for boot drives as well as for storing database files for SQL Server and they are awesome (if expensive). John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com On 6/13/2011 12:22 PM, Drew Wutka wrote: > I concur with John here. From a business standpoint, if you are > supporting a large network, you can't afford to build each machine. > But in a single or only a few environment, you will get better prices > with building your own machine, then a single purchase from a > manufacturer like Dell. > > The machine I built in January, that I posted about on OT, cost me > about a grand, and similar hardware, actually.... lower level hardware > (my machine has more ram and bigger hard drives), cost about 1,600 > from Dell. > > Originally, the machine I built only cost $650. That was the case, > the motherboard, an i5 Quad Core, 8 gigs of RAM, video card, and two > 500 gig hard drives. I already had a 500 watt power supply, only > component I didn't originally buy. A few days later I bought three > terabyte drives, > 8 gigs more of RAM (maxing out that motherboard). That was almost $300. > And more recently I popped another terabyte drive in (making my 'data' > drive a RAID 10, vs a RAID 5), bought a new 850 Watt power supply, and > a nice UPS (put the total closer to 1300, the ups was almost 200). > > There has already been suggestions to use a SSD OS drive, I personally > have not done that. The mirrored drives for the OS are pretty fast. > While SSD drive are definitely faster than their mechanical > counterparts, they are still limited by the bus they operate on. > Plus, SSD drives do have longevity issues, and are not recommended for RAID's. > I always prefer RAIDS for safety reasons.... ;) > > Drew > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby > Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2011 12:12 PM > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Shopping for a new comp > > I would advise building your own. You may or may not save money but > you learn what is required to do so (it is easy) and you are no longer > afraid of digging in and upgrading. I have not purchased a desktop > since 1988. I build my own and upgrade them to keep them fast enough. > > I recommend AMD because the motherboards tend to be usable for many > years with just a processor upgrade. > > http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.6 > 67 > 457 > > > Intel processors are fine but there are just too many different > processor sockets etc. Upgrading to a faster processor may or may not > even be possible. > > http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.6 > 61 > 393 > > http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterComboStore.aspx?StoreID=7&name=DIY-P > C- > Combos > > John W. 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