i have a chance to buy a refurbished workstation pc which would be a major upgrade to my old pc which is about 5 years old. here are the specs…i was wondering if this is a good deal for about 250 bucks. I have cubase pro 8.5 and an 10 in 8 out pci-x interface. here are the specs. i do mostly multitrack mixing on the machine with some overdub recording. wondering what you think…
here are the specs
Dell Precision WorkStation T5500
Features:
Processor: Intel Xeon X5647 2.93GHz Quad Core; 4 Cores, 8 Threads; 4 x 256KB L2 Cache; 12MB L3 Cache
Memory: 8GB DDR3 ECC DIMM Installed
NVS 295 Dual Data Port Video Graphics, Includes Data Port Cable.
Hard Drive:2TB Hard Drive 3.5" SATA
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit Installedwith
Optical Storage: CD/DVD+/-RW Super Combo Optical Disc Drive
Audio: Integrated High-Definition Audio
Communication: : Integrated Broadcom® 57xx Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Front I/O Ports:
2 USB 2.0
1 IEEE1394 Firewire
1 Headphone / Audio Out
1 Microphone / Audio In
Rear I/O Ports:
6 USB 2.0
1 eSATA
2 IEEE1394 Firewire
1 DMS-59 (video output)
1 Audio Out
1 Audio In
1 Ethernet (RJ-45)
1 Parallel
1 Serial
2 PS/2
Summary
Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Pentium D 945
Presler 65nm Technology
RAM
4.00GB DDR2
Motherboard
Dell Inc. 0RF703 (Microprocessor)
Graphics
W1952 (1440x900@60Hz)
Intel Q965/Q963 Express Chipset Family (Dell)
Intel Q965/Q963 Express Chipset Family (Dell)
Storage
74GB Seagate ST380815AS ATA Device (SATA) 32 °C
232GB Western Digital WDC WD2500SD-01KCC0 ATA Device (SATA) 32 °C
931GB Seagate Expansion USB Device (USB (SATA)) 26 °C
186GB Western Digital WDC WD20 00BB-22GUA0 USB Device (USB)
931GB Western Digital WD My Passport 0820 USB Device (USB (SATA)) 27 °C
Optical Drives
TSSTcorp DVD±RW TS-H653A ATA Device
Audio
ESI ESP1010e Audio
Well you’re certainly better of with the new machine, I have worked with a few DELL and they were really quiet.
What to check out is if you only want 8GB, I personally would look for the maximum.
The catch here is that there is ECC ram, so if your expanding you need to buy the exact same ram DIMM which in more expensive then normal RAM.
Yeah, for 250 bucks this looks okay! I would invest in two more things: A nice 250 GB Samsung EVO SSD (80 bucks on Amazon) for OS and software and 8 GB additional RAM, for just in case. Since you work mainly with audio, you can turn that HDD into your audio drive.
This will be a system for the next coming years for you, good deal! And upgrade to Windows 10 with your Win 7 serial number…
Have fun, congrats!
Benji