[JCAddy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/BOXX-3D-DUAL-P4-2-8 ... dZViewItem


Looks to be a good buy, right?

[b-kandor]

I don't think so... it's a very old machine by looking at the specs. P4 xeons, ddr266 ram, geforce2, 40gb harddrive. It's not worth powering up - unless you want to play solitaire!

[ivox3]

It wouldn't be toooo bad to model with, ...but could really stand to upgrade the videocard. Rendering-wise ------ not so good.

Don't do it, ...for our work, ..its not wise. A little extra money put together could at least get you a Core2Duo machine.

Other close in cost, but will run circles around the Boxx below, .. I'm not recommending them, ... just showing.

This one is very similar to the above, but much nicer.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-HP-Workst ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/DELL-PRECISION-390- ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-XW4400-Workstati ... dZViewItem


In my experience with buying/building new machines ----- don't make a move until you can get something that's going to be a very considerable upgrade.

[Bubbaloo]

don't make a move until you can get something that's going to be a very considerable upgrade

Great advice!

[PA3K]

Hi Hyperballad,

we had one of those dual xeons at work. It was dual 2,8 with HT and comparing with todays processors with more cores (benchwell 1.1 and 1.5) it is almost the same speed as my laptop intel core duo (centrino duo T2350) at 1,86 GHz. It was noisy and there was no overclocking option in bios. O.K., for that price it is not bad at all and it is still better than pentium D at 3,4 GHz and SCSI discs are fast enough even that old. You can`t buy new computer today for exactly the same price (450), but for 600-700 you can have core 2 duo complet with 30% overcl. option... It is upon you, but i would suggest to wait a little (save some more money and maxwell 1.6 will run faster)

[JCAddy]

Thanks so much for all your replies!

I'm now looking into building a new machine from a very reputable company on ebay.

How's about this for a couple hundred more than that first link I posted.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Dual-Core-2-D ... dZViewItem

At the bottom you can upgrade all of the parts to your liking as well. I got rid of the mouse, keyboard and video card and added a nicer mother board, power supply and the core 2 quad chip for under 700USD.

[Bubbaloo]

2 Gb of ram is that enough?

[JCAddy]

Well, I was just showing you the link to see what you guys thought.

I can put 4 if I would like. I think I'll wait to see how I like the cpu first.