The goal of this machine was to replace the oldest machine build recorded on this blog – the 2009 Core i7 920 build<\/a>. This is the current workhorse virtual machine server.<\/p>\n The approach taken (refurbished) was a direct result of (1) DDR4 RAM prices being high, (2) Video card (GTX 1080) prices being way too high, and (3) Intel 8700 CPU just not being exciting.<\/p>\n So instead of new, once I ran across these refurbished Dell Precision T3600 machines at newegg.com, I set a budget at $400 and got the best available. After a 10% bump in the budget, the 64GB machine was the “just right” choice. It has a 6-core CPU and a decent clock speed.<\/p>\n Some facts on the CPU: the Xeon E5-2640@2.5GHz<\/a> is currently #255 on PassMark [9,500] compared with the i7-920@2.67GHz<\/a> at #683 [4,938] There are multiple versions of the e5-2640 – v4, v3, v2 and original.<\/p>\n Some facts on the system: The Dell Precision T3600<\/a> was reviewed in 2012 by AnandTech<\/a> at a review price of $4,450 – but that machine only had 8GB of memory (and a better CPU and Graphics card). So call it a wash – $4,500 retail price six years ago. Ebay has a 4x16GB kit for sale for $340 right now.<\/p>\n All product links are from the actual vendor.<\/p>\n
| Item<\/th>\n | Product<\/th>\n | Cost<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|---|
| System<\/td>\n | Dell Precision T3600 Workstation<\/a> Cached Newegg<\/a><\/td>\n | $439<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| CPU<\/td>\n | Intel Xeon E5-2640 2.5GHz 6 cores socket 2011<\/td>\n | incl.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| RAM<\/td>\n | 4x 16GB DDR3 DRAM 1333 RDIMM ECC, 12,913 MB\/s<\/td>\n | incl.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Motherboard<\/td>\n | Single CPU socket 2011, Intel C600 chipset, 2x USB 3.0<\/td>\n | incl.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Power Supply<\/td>\n | 635 Watt externally removable toolless 80 Plus Gold<\/td>\n | incl.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Video<\/td>\n | NVIDIA Quadro 600 (96 CUDA Cores, 1 GB DDR3) DVI-I\/DisplayPort “Entry 3D”<\/td>\n | incl.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| DVD\/CD<\/td>\n | Thin form factor DVD<\/td>\n | incl.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Case<\/td>\n | 2x 3.5″, 2x 2.5″ bays<\/td>\n | incl.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| SSD Drive<\/td>\n | 128GB Vertex<\/td>\n | reused<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| HHD Drive<\/td>\n | 2x Hitachi Ultrastar 2TB<\/a> 7200RPM HUA723020ALA641 Enterprise<\/td>\n | $60 each $120<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Keyboard\/Mouse<\/td>\n | –<\/td>\n | –<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| OS<\/td>\n | Either Ubuntu 18.04 or Centos 7.4<\/td>\n | –<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Software<\/td>\n | VMWare Workstation 14 Pro<\/td>\n | $250<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Total<\/td>\n | –<\/td>\n | $810<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The goal of this machine was to replace the oldest machine build recorded on this blog – the 2009 Core i7 920 build. This is the current workhorse virtual machine server. The approach taken (refurbished) was a direct result of … Continue reading |