new PC specs

[Anonymous]

the new company I'm moving to needs to buy a new Dell PC, do you think these specs are good? (will be using AC 10, working on medium size complexity buildings, libraries, schools) I couldn't find this video card in the Graphics Card Compatibility Database.

Dimension 5150, Intel Pentium D 820 (2.8GHz) w/Dual Core Technology
Operating System: Genuine Windows® XP Professional
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (2x1GB)
Hard Drive: 250 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Video Card: 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X600 SE HyperMemory

thanks in advance..

[Anonymous]

It is certainly adequate, but I have been finding the Pentium D machines a bit sluggish (compared to my MacBook Pro). I would recommend looking into the new Xeon 64bit multi-core. (I understand that the new Mac Pro is actually quite a bit cheaper than the Dell, but you would have to buy Windows separately and I am guessing that it is not an option anyway.)

[Anonymous]

do you think getting exactly the same specs but 3.0 GHz instead of 2.8 GHz is gonna make any noticable difference?

[Da3dalus]

I agree that the dual-core Pentium D's seem slow... ArchiCAD doesn't seem to be able to utilize both cores, so unless you're really multitasking, you don't see an improvement. In fact, comparing apples to apples (not Macs), a Pentium IV 3.0GHz costs about the same as a Core-Duo (about the same as a Pentium D) 1.8GHz. I have both in my office (Dells with identical video cards, RAM, and chassis), and I THINK the P4 is faster at rendering and general ArchiCAD use. Going up to a comparable Core-Duo 2.4GHz is an extra $500!!

I'd love to hear a response from someone at Graphisoft. If I do some legitimate speed tests, I'll be sure to post.

As far as the box... I would steer clear of the Dimension series. That's a business-class desktop. Dell Precision Workstations have a lot of intangible speed improvements that are almost necessary for ArchiCAD. I've gotten better performance out of a low-end Precision than a high-end Dimension at about the same price. Put a little cash into a video card (128MB is necessary, 256MB is recommended) and into RAM (1GB is OK, 2GB is better). That should be a good machine.

Good luck!

Chuck

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply Chuck, too late about the issue of getting a Precision vs. Dimension, I already received the new machine.. so far it seems to be functioning suffeciantely for my needs, we'll just have to see how things work out once projects get a bit more complex..