Again, nothing wrong with Xeons but the price. You mentioned things like Solidworks - I don’t personally know it but hardcore 3D solid modelling tends to be quite processor intensive.
Anssi
ok thank you. solidworks will be rare but may be used. im mostly going to be using sketchup. thanks for all the help
The Xeon CPUs and the nVidia Quadro CAD series are fine but typically more expensive than comparable Core i CPUs and nVidia GeForce consumer series without providing an additional gain for SU.
The mentioned Xeon E5-1620 v3 delivers pretty the same performance as a Core i7-6700 (w/o K) for in this case roughly the same pricing.
Swapping a Quadro later on to a GeForce if more power is required is not a big thing (i.e. uninstall driver, swap card, install driver).
PCs are modular systems by design, changing hardware modules is obviously allowed 
Haha, I know 
Thanks for the confirmation!
One concern I’ve always had with buying any In-A-Box computer system, is that the OEM invariably installs a low output power supply. Even if it is sufficient for the factory components, any attempt to add larger graphics cards, more hard drives, etc is likely to cause some really funky power issues.
I’d highly recommend that you include a higher output, BRANDED power supply, and regardless of what many advertisers state, biggest is not always better, there are limits to what your system needs…there are even web pages with apps that take the guess work out of what capacity you need.
When you realize that the power supply has the ability to fry almost any component in your system, buying a PSU from a company with a good reputation for quality is the way to go, don’t simply buy the cheapest.
Cheers, eh.
C.C.
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It is very true PSU are important. and you don’t want to find out that your machine is suffering due to lack of quality power supply. It won’t even turn on in some cases. Calculating wattage prior would be something worth doing.
As has been mentioned before, Xeon CPUs will be comparable with Cores i5 and i7 in most cases. The difference is that Xenons were built for minimum energy usage and running 24/7, so they are perfect for server companies who worry about maintenance costs more than initial CPU costs. They tend to be more expensive though - it is a specialised CPU after all.
For regular consumers it won’t matter than much and it will not have a really big effect on your computer, but overall Xeon CPUs tend to be better for rendering (they pack more power in less compartments which is needed in renders).
Also, when it comes to buying a PC, I think it’s better to set your one up rather than getting a pre-set one. The companies that allow you to set your own hardware configurations and essentially build it from case up give you more flexibility over what you can put inside - it’s all down to what you need, and most will inform you whether your build will work or not (i.e. if components are compatible with itself, have enough power etc.).
Cheers!
Del~
[quote=“sketch3d_de, post:9, topic:25274”]
my recent HP Envy H8 with 16 GB working memory was delivered with 2x 8 GB RAM modules with 2 slots free…
[/quote]This is just a question of what you selected in configuration tool before ordering. (at least, this is true for Dell - you can specify what memory configuration to put into your workstation)
with pre-configured systems, also available from Dell, there is no choice of the working memory configuration, even then checking the mainboard specs. do reveal at least the amount of slots.
I’m really surprised. I always liked Dell because of flexibility with configurations. We are using mobile Dell Precisions for last 4 years and this is what we got used to:
(this machine has only 2 slots. With ones with more slots this looks much more complicated)
My machine configured from Dell had 4 slots. it was 3 years ago though.
XPS 8800 it was I believe.
The reason is that this is how you get multichannel memory mode on most motherboards (mainly 2 channels, sometimes - 3. And very different with big multi-processor monsters). This is why, e.g. 2x8GB modules are better than 1x16GB - memory system will work significantly faster. And big modules are just usually more expensive. So when I was ordering my last workstation I got 4x4GB modules. Was enough for several years and anyway I will change the whole machine now.
Since most of people will order workstation with 16GB or 32GB RAM nowadays, I suppose this will be made of 2 or 4 memory modules. (and in most cases memory will not be upgraded during the 2-4 years life of the machine)
Recently, after buying a 17" HP Pavilion with less horsepower than you describe above, I replaced the 1 TB Hard Disk Drive with a 240 GB Solid State Drive. Getting the notebook apart and back together isn’t as difficult as you might think, I upgraded the RAM from 8 to 16 GB at the same time. SSD was about $75 and the RAM was about $30.
The whole machine runs faster with an SSD. I have a 1 TB Seagate HDD USB connected external storage for back ups, etc… Next machine might be an all in one, because I don’t move this notebook around very much, if at all and you get more hardware for less money with an all in one or desktop computer. And the screen can be much bigger.
Things I wouldn’t change on the notebook are: 17" screen. The panels Tray that is now Sketchup and Layout’s GUI takes inches down the right side and is up most of the time. The 17" screen gives you the same pixels per square inch, but the display is wider.
The SSD drive is like driving an electric car. Try it, you’ll never go back.
As much RAM as you can fit in.
I know. I’m a geek here who’s been using and building computer near 35 yrs. (I did not want to get that geeky with the OP, so I kept things general.)
It depends upon the motherboard, but the builder does not usually have to fill all 4 slots. They could fill only 2 with twice the size and leave the enduser 2 slots open to expand into.
I agree there is truth to the fact many users out grow their machine (or their machines die) and they never end up increasing the memory.
i think i know what you mean