Mac Pro....Solidworks....and Video Card ???

[waremaster]

I would watch out getting on your own high horse here. If you look at the poster's comment, you would have been able to figure out that he had configured both the mac pro and the dell with the fx4500. The comment was that because you couldn't configure the Dell with the x1900, you had to move the mac pro up.

cheers.

You know I made the same mistake I thought the poster compared the x1900xt to a machine configured with an FX4500 as well. Until I reread the comment. I am uncertain how he came up with the 7k figure. Mine was as much apples to apples as it could be. In fact I did not even configure the Dell with sound because the Dell's sound was 5.1 and the Apple's is not.

 

[dkoralek]

You know I made the same mistake I thought the poster compared the x1900xt to a machine configured with an FX4500 as well. Until I reread the comment. I am uncertain how he came up with the 7k figure. Mine was as much apples to apples as it could be. In fact I did not even configure the Dell with sound because the Dell's sound was 5.1 and the Apple's is not.

I agree about the 7k figure. the mac pro price was about right. BTW, the Mac Pro is 5.1 on the optical out. I realize that I came across a bit harsh, but Sesshi's response came across as being a wee bit harsh. I don't think that anyone would argue that if money weren't an object, we'd all go out and grab different machines for each task. Most of us can't afford to do that, and look for the best machine to do everything we want reasonably well (I also think that there is a bit of denial that the Mac Pros are actually not priced too badly, even if some of the options are limited).

cheers.

 

[SMM]

Do you actually own a 690 and a Pro? Do you have any basis for an actual comparison whatsoever? I think the funniest part of 'discussing' these differences on MacRumors is that I'm 'discussing' it with people who authoritatively spout off on stuff which they don't even have. Some even send me abusive PM's chastising me for my attitude when they post replies with no experience of either platform under 'discussion'. (You work on a G5 or iMac? Great. Will your experiences transfer directly to a Mac Pro? No).

As for the cost comparison, comparing a PC with an FX4500 against a midrange consumer card, tricking out the Dell specs and being amazed at the cost difference... I'm not sure if you're taking the piss or whether you're hard of thinking. Include 3-year onsite next-day service on the Pro... if you can. And try it with 5160's - or the Quad-core.

If the OP wants to go ahead with this, there's nothing stopping him - however, you still have to maintain a copy of Windows on your Mac Pro (thereby negating many of the advantages of moving to Mac, especially if this is your primary application), and the Windows side has plenty of compromises over a 'proper' workstation.

If you use Solidworks, I say stick to Dell or HP - that is merely my advice. From actual experience (I am, among other things a design engineer).

I am an IT Manager, and have been for over a decade. I personally supervise, or directly purchase computer hardware to the tune of ~$250,000 per year. Over the past four months, I purchased (2) 690's, (2) 490's and (4) 390's. We must have close to 100 360's, 370's and 380's. I have corporate B2B accounts with Dell, CDW and HP. Personally, I have (2) PowerMacs and (1) MacPro. I also have a MacBook Pro, a G4 Mini, an Intel Mini and a Black MacBook. Find that hard to believe? Go to the 'Show Your Set-up Thread'. Most of it is on display there. So, that blows your first point to dust.

The second point, "..comparing a PC with an FX4500 against a midrange consumer card, tricking out the Dell specs and being amazed at the cost difference... I'm not sure if you're taking the piss or whether you're hard of thinking. ", I stated I compared BOTH machines with the FX4500 installed. The X1900 was not an option for the Dell. So, to make it fair I used the FX for both machines.

I had considered cutting/pasting both quotes, but determined it was unneccessary. If someone was actually going to be considering each machine, they would discover this cost difference for themselves. What I did not expect was an ill-mannered, visceral, insulting response. I did not insult you, or even suggest your opinion was wrong. I simply contributed information for the OP. It is you, sir, who has turned a polite sharing of information into personal attacks. You should quit that.

 

[waremaster]

I agree about the 7k figure. the mac pro price was about right. BTW, the Mac Pro is 5.1 on the optical out. I realize that I came across a bit harsh, but Sesshi's response came across as being a wee bit harsh. I don't think that anyone would argue that if money weren't an object, we'd all go out and grab different machines for each task. Most of us can't afford to do that, and look for the best machine to do everything we want reasonably well (I also think that there is a bit of denial that the Mac Pros are actually not priced too badly, even if some of the options are limited).

cheers.

Right you are the Apple is 5.1 with an external decoder. But if I was to put the creative in the Dell the dell would have a sound advantage since it would not need a decoder to do 5.1. Actually I did not think you were all that harsh I thought you were to the point.

 

[Sesshi]

I am an IT Manager, and have been for over a decade. I personally supervise, or directly purchase computer hardware to the tune of ~$250,000 per year. Over the past four months, I purchased (2) 690's, (2) 490's and (4) 390's. We must have close to 100 360's, 370's and 380's. I have corporate B2B accounts with Dell, CDW and HP. Personally, I have (2) PowerMacs and (1) MacPro. I also have a MacBook Pro, a G4 Mini, an Intel Mini and a Black MacBook. Find that hard to believe? Go to the 'Show Your Set-up Thread'. Most of it is on display there. So, that blows your first point to dust.

The second point, "..comparing a PC with an FX4500 against a midrange consumer card, tricking out the Dell specs and being amazed at the cost difference... I'm not sure if you're taking the piss or whether you're hard of thinking. ", I stated I compared BOTH machines with the FX4500 installed. The X1900 was not an option for the Dell. So, to make it fair I used the FX for both machines.

I had considered cutting/pasting both quotes, but determined it was unneccessary. If someone was actually going to be considering each machine, they would discover this cost difference for themselves. What I did not expect was an ill-mannered, visceral, insulting response. I did not insult you, or even suggest your opinion was wrong. I simply contributed information for the OP. It is you, sir, who has turned a polite sharing of information into personal attacks. You should quit that.

All the more prescient then perhaps that you should know enough to compare apples with... well, near apples. I'm now quite surprised given your apparent position that you should post the previous submission at all.

I'm not an IT manager but I've taken on most of the tasks associated with the role as we're very IT-heavy and I'm loathe to trust the daily running of my systems to outsiders. And I also personally supervise, or directly purchase computer hardware / software / services to the tune of ~£2-300,000 ($4-600,000) per year for the business, as well as client purchases which are a bit more than that. I also have a corporate account with Dell, HP, and now Apple since I am in the process of setting up an XServe-based grid. The company has three employees including myself - and that means I don't just manage the systems we buy, I use'em on a daily basis.

If we're going purely on web prices, taking a typical basic configuration of a dual-5160, 4gb, single 500Gb drive and the FX4500 plus two optical drives, I make it a difference of ~$800 in favour of the Mac Pro between that and the 1KW Dell, with both having a sticker price of under $7K... only without the 3-year next business day onsite warranty for the Pro of course, as well as what the 690 offers above the Pro and further discounts on paired accessories that may be available from Dell, even for the individual buyer. Antivirus subscription is included in the Dell price. So given your revelation, I'm even more surprised - especially as you must then know how much 690's et al actually cost to people like me and (presumably) you and the discounts available to even individuals (let alone corporates) when buying a machine of this calibre.

It's not in doubt that in terms of pure hardware on paper, Apple is reasonably aggressively priced these days. However the smart choice usually depends on considering more than how much you're going to pay to start with.

 

[Tenmantaylor]

Mac pro SW +nvidia 8800 gt

Hi guys 1st post here,

Just started a new job and have been given a Mac pro with an nvidia 8800 gt graphics card installed to work on.

Im using solidworks on windows XP (32) SP2 and am finding the program very unstable.

I used to work for a SW reseller and found using the correct graphics driver was often a solution.

My question is this: do I download and install windows versions of the nvidia graphics drivers for the bootcamp version of XP or can I only change the gfx drivers in the Mac side?

Cheers in advance