Intel Xeon E5s pruned for single-socket workstations Intel's "Sandy Bridge-EP" Xeon E5 server chip launch extravaganza is not just about servers. It also includes some chippery for their forebears: old-fashioned, heavy-duty, desktop machines that are still called workstations. Intel usually has a variant of its single-socket server processors – in years gone by, the Xeon SP and …
Couldn't agree more. I have a single socket Xeon E5507 workstation, Dell Precision T3500, with a 6GB of memory and a decent (but not stellar) ATI FirePro V4800 graphics card and it is by far the best sled I ever worked at. It has worked flawlessly for over a year, and I highly recommend a flash disk for OS and a hard disk for data storage.
The point that is often ignored is that workstations are more than just ordinary PCs with a higher price tag. Workstations are usually built much more robust and reliable, made for 24/7 operation without a fuzz. They also come with a shit-load of certifications for various applications and can be put under server-class maintenance contracts.
Typed on a HP z800.
Great! Rather than pay $6000 a pop for trader spec workstations I'll get our quants to rewrite everything in OpenCL. I can see that taking a few years to pay off... Not to mention the fact that high-end workstation GPU cards will cost as much or more (Quadro 6000 pushing $3K a pop at the cheapest venues, I see).
Sometimes it's cheaper to buy iron than cut code.
Although it certainly looks like an insane amount of money to someone used to bashing together a PC from a box of parts.
On the other hand if you're a Pro make a living out of your Tools it's a much better option than an $8K PCIe card with 1/10 the power.
Anyone want to take a bet that if Steve's favorite line of "one More thing" gets used today we'll finally see some new MacPros announced today?
If not they have to be soon, but will be A LOT more than $4k when fully specced.
heh, i know a bank that has converted their risk reports into GPU code.
i think some financial rag touted it as the next big thing. PNL calcs in 5 seconds instead of 20 minutes!
from the sounds of the devs muttering, you'd think the project was financed purely for that headline!
oi did larf.
hey Matrox, as you're only alive cos you're gouging us $1500 per 8 port card, think you can slap in some cuda cores in your next G400 respin?
sent from my T3500
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