octo workstation with 24GB RAM - Apple or Dell or DIY?

I realise that Mac Pro pricing has been done to death as a topic
but I have a slightly different angle as I'm looking to get more
RAM than most people seem to be going for. Also, having wasted hours
going round in circles looking at different options it is theraputic to
put it in a post - sorry to be boring (my family are sick of me
going on about workstations to them....)

First lots of caveats before I'm accused of being a troll or what ever..

I like the Mac Pro and OS X but I currently use Windows/Linux so have
no investment in software etc which puts me in a different position to
most on this forum but I thought that some of the costings I've worked
out (as ball park figures) may be of interest to others.

I want (as a Computer Science PhD student) to get a octo workstation and
I want to have plenty of RAM, say 1GB plus per thread so this means
24GB on a Nehalem system (12GB is too small and 24GB is the next size
up for a three channel system).

With the student discount the 2008 Mac offered prices better than either Dell (even their Outlet prices) or DIY (at least in the UK) but I delayed buying because Crucial memory was very expensive in the UK and I didn't want to import from the States or elsewhere.

The new mac pros have changed things completely price-wise. The following is based on the assumption that the Mac Pro can use the cheaper registered 4GB modules which are the same as used in the Dell T7500 (if the Mac can't then the more expensive OWC 4GB modules - unbuffered - add a couple of 100 pounds to the cost of the Apple systems). For Dell outlet I'm assuming that there is a 35% reduction based on Dell outlet reductions in the US - there has been no T7500s on the Dell outlet in the UK yet.

For a octo 2.26 with 4750 graphics and 24GB ram and Apple Care (to match Dell) and for an octo 2.66 and faster memory but otherwise the same:

Dell Outlet (if a system was available which it isn't yet)
2.26 : £2064 2.66 : £3102
Cheap DIY (ie lowest cost motherboard etc)
2.26 : £2330 2.66 : £3430
Good Quality DIY (better motherboard, case, power supply etc)
2.26 : £2829 2.66 : £3930
Apple with Student Discount
2.26 : £3133 2.66 : £4170
Dell Full Price (possible to get this discounted a bit over the 'phone)
2.26 : £3176 2.66 : £4772
Apple Normal Retail
2.26 : £3668 2.66 : £4885

Given the student discount and the fact that Dells may not appear on
Outlet for many months and though I'm originally an electronic engineer
and am happy with DIY if things go wrong it is hard to determine (without
access to replacement parts) if its the motherboard or processor etc,
I am still leaning towards the Mac Pro but I'm frustrated because:

i) I can get no definitive information on whether or not the Pro can take
registered dim
ii) The pros don't officially take faster memory even for the 2.66 (though
they should do) but I can't get any definitive info on this either
ii) when I did a similar exercise with the 2008 model it was cheaper than
Dell outlet so my hopes were raised that the new models would be much
cheaper than they are

 

Thanks for that. I did look into this before and in the UK it is not such a good deal as in the US. In the US the normal educational discount is something like 10% so the developer discount of 20% is a worthwhile increase. In the UK the educational discount is nearer 17% so the increase to 20% at a cost of around £50 to £60 gives a net gain of only a few tens of pounds.