$2500 Workstation: Dual CPU, SSD, Nvidia Quadro, etc.
The ASUS Z8NA-D6C motherboard and the bundled audio card that comes with it.
This is the High-End $2500 Workstation Build, which offers the highest performance thanks to its Dual CPUs, large quantity of RAM, the SSD and more.
The $500 Workstation is the entry-level build, while the $1250 Workstation is the mainstream build.
Why choose a Workstation Build?
Workstations are for you if you’re looking for a reliable machine, capable of:
- Running 24/7
- Handling various demanding applications
- Be your workhorse for your work and livelihood.
All the Workstations offered on Hardware Revolution are designed with professional work in mind. Parts are hand-picked based on their reliability and performance.
Based on your comments and requests from the Workstation Builds: Throw in your Requests and Suggestions! post, I’ve come up with a list of recommendations, based on programs and their requirements.
$2500 Workstation VS $1250 Workstation:
The $2500 Workstation, compared to the $1250 Workstation, offers:
- Much higher performance thanks to the two physical CPUs.
- Twice the RAM (24 GB vs 12GB).
- More Storage, with higher performance and much quicker application launch ($2500 Workstation: 1x Intel 80GB SSD + 4 x Samsung F4 500GB (Total Capacity: 1TB) in RAID 10 vs $1250 Workstation: 4 x Samsung F4 320GB (Total Capacity: 640GB) in RAID 10).
- A dedicated sound card by default vs integrated audio.
Which Workstation and/or upgrades do you need for your apps?
The following applications will have no trouble running on the $2500 Workstation and/or require the following upgrades:
- Microsoft Office
- Microsoft Project and Office Pro
- Camtasia
- Sound Forge: Consider a sound card that fits your needs.
- Visual Studio
- Sage Timberline Office: Go with Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate; apparently the Home Premium edition will give you problems with networking.
- Rhino3D
- CorelDRAW Premium Suite X5
- Pinnacle Studio 12 and Sony Vegas 9/Pro
- Cinema 4D: While it will run just fine with the $2500 Workstation as it is, this is an application which scales very well when you add performance to your PC, meaning that the better that are your parts, the faster that your renderings will be completed. A faster Quadro card will improve performance and so will faster CPUs, especially the 6-core variants.
- Adobe Applications: Creative Suite 5 Master Collection, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Lightroom, Illustator, Indesign, Bridge, Bibble, Flash, Dreamweaver, etc.: If you have intensive work that brings a modern (Quad-Core and higher) PC that its knees, consider faster CPUs. Once again, the faster that your CPUs are, the faster that the rendering/work will complete.
- Nvidia CUDA: Consider at least a Quadro 2000 for better performance. The higher-end, the more performance that you’ll get.
- Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0 and Autocad programs: For Autocad programs, you’ll want to upgrade to a faster Nvidia Quadro card to improve performance. While the Quadro 600 can handle some light workloads, it is not recommended if 3D modeling and Autocad is what you’ll mainly use this Workstation for.
- Other Programs: Got another program that you’d like to know if it would run well on the $2500 Workstation or would require upgrades? Leave a comment at the end of this article and I’ll get back to you with my recommendations.
$2500 Workstation hardware parts recommendations, short summary:
Explanation:
- In Bold, you’ll find my recommendations for the parts that you should buy in order to have the best overall performance while fitting the overall budget.
- In Italic, you’ll find the best possible upgrades: these are the parts that offer better features or more performance, while still being relatively affordable in regard to the overall budget. In simple terms, if you want more RAM for example, pick a kit from the list of recommended upgrades that are in Italic.
- Note that all upgrades are compatible with the rest of the system, as well as other upgrades, meaning that you can choose one or many upgrades without a problem. Of course, please carefully read any note(s) that I may leave to clarify and avoid some possible issues.
Required components:
Trying to reduce the price of this Workstation?
Here are a few things that you can do to cut down on the total cost:
- Remove the SSD (-$200) and only use the hard drives. Sure, the OS, programs and files won’t load as fast, but this won’t affect the processing/rendering speed much, if at all.
- Go from four hard drives in RAID 10 to two hard drives in RAID 1 (-$104) (You keep the redundancy but lose performance) or a single hard (-$156) drive, where you lose both performance and redundancy.
- Use a less high-end case, such as the Antec Three Hundred Illusion
(-$75). Just
- Use 12GB (6 x 2GB) of RAM, instead of 24GB (6 x4GB) (-$260), with this kit: CORSAIR XMS3 12GB (6 x 2GB) DDR3 1600
- Buy only one CPU (-$385) and 12GB of RAM (3x4GB, with this kit: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 1333
Build your Workstation today!
Why should you?
For the same price, you’ll get more performance out of your custom PC, or you’ll save money while getting the same performance compared to a retail PC. Not to mention that retail PCs come with tons of bloatware and limited warranties. Why settle for less?Stop relying on HP, Dell and other companies:
Build your own custom PC today. It’s easier than you think!This Build includes all the parts/cables that you need and it was double-checked to ensure compatibility. Simply order your parts, set aside some time, grab a screwdriver and build your own personal PC. No worries, we’ll (the HR community) be there to assist you if you have questions or need help.
Then you’ll be able to say, “See that computer over there? Yeah, I built that.” Talk about being proud of a job well done.
Building this System, Got a Question, Need Help?
Computer Builds FAQs:
I often get questions such as:
- Who are you to tell me which parts to choose?
- Can you suggest me a step by step guide to build a computer?
- Why should I build a PC instead of buying one in a store?
- And many more…
You will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this article: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer
Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.
Finally, if your newly built computer won’t start, I invite you to read Help me: Why won’t my newly assembled PC start or boot?
Free Assistance
If you have any question(s) about the build, simply head over to the forums and our community will be there to assist you.
No worries, there are no stupid questions here on Hardware Revolution. We all started from scratch and learned through our mistakes. We”ll just help you make sure to avoid those mistakes
If you want to have your final build double-checked and get my opinion on it before ordering, or for anything else, don’t be shy, just post a thread on the forums.
$2500 Workstation Hardware parts recommendations, detailed version:
Motherboard:
ASUS Z8NA-D6C Dual LGA 1366 ATX
What makes this motherboard great is the fact that it features two LGA 1366 sockets, allowing for a Dual-CPU setup, on the practical ATX format, allowing you to use a regular power supply and case, instead of very expensive server parts based on less common standards. It is based on the Intel 5500 chipset and supports Xeon 55xx and 56xx CPUs with a TDP of up to 95W for each CPU.
Back Ports:
On the back, you have with two USB 2.0 ports, two PS/2, a serial port, a VGA output and two 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN ports.
Expansion ports + Storage Ports on the board:
One PCI-Express 2.0 16X, two PCI-Express 2.0 8X (Running at 4X), one PCI slot and one MIO slot (Used for Audio Card) and six SATA ports. Note that the board does not support floppy drives nor IDE-based drives.
Additional information:
Note that the motherboard includes six SATA cables, so you don’t need to buy any additional SATA cable, unless you add more drives, since the build features one SSD (which includes a SATA cable), four hard drives and one optical drive, for a total of six SATA drives.
CPU:
Two Intel Xeon E5620 2.4GHz LGA1366 Quad-Core
The Xeon E5620 is the lowest-end entry-level E55xx model featuring Hyper-Threading.
Did I say entry-level? That’s relative, considering that this setup will outperform any comparatively priced system. Needless to say, for your workloads, this setup will outperform any single cpu setup, whether it’s from AMD or Intel, well except maybe the $1000 LGA1366 Core i7-980X.
The dual-socket 1366 platform gives you access to Triple-Channel RAM and also allows you to upgrade to the 6-core Xeon CPUs if you want the best performance possible.
Note that no CPU Cooler is included with them, hence why you’ll see me recommending a model later in this article. Also note that RAM will run at 1066Mhz with the E5620.
Available upgrades:
- Two Intel Xeon E5630 2.53GHz LGA1366 Quad-Core
- Two Intel Xeon E5640 2.66GHz LGA1366 Quad-Core
- Two Intel Xeon X5650 2.66GHz LGA1366 Six-Core
- Two Intel Xeon X5660 2.8GHz LGA1366 Six-Core
- Two Intel Xeon X5670 2.93GHz LGA1366 Six-Core
Video Card:
Nvidia Quadro 600 1GB
While the motherboard comes with a VGA output, I recommend avoiding using it, as its based on the awful Aspeed AST2050 onboard video chipset, which is only capable of basic video display.
Then again, if you know for a fact that your work relies entirely on the CPU and only need some form of basic display, feel free to dismiss what I just said.
For most of you though, you’ll need a more powerful card, capable of accelerating programs UI, video decoding and the like, hence why I recommend the Nvidia Quadro 600 1GB.
The Nvidia Quadro 600:
The Nvidia Quadro 600 is the entry-level professional card from the Nvidia Quadro line-up. While it’s far from the most powerful card, it is perfectly capable of accelerating programs UI, video decoding as well as handle some light 3D rendering, Autocad programs and the like.
It is capable of handling two monitors, one at 2560 x 1600 with the dual-link DVI output and one at 1920 x 1200 with the included Displayport to DVI adapter.
If you work mainly on 3D rendering, Autocad programs and the like:
I do recommend upgrading the video card to one of the following higher-end Quadro cards. The following list is in order of price and performance, from the least expensive/least powerful to the most expensive/most powerful:
- Nvidia Quadro 2000 1GB
- Nvidia Quadro 4000 2GB
- Nvidia Quadro 5000 2.5GB
- Nvidia Quadro 6000 6GB
FirePro vs Quadro:
Performance wise, the latest Quadro line-up (Quadro 600, 2000, 4000, 5000 and 6000, avoid the older FX series) has the edge over the FirePro series. Drivers wise, this is also the case, with Nvidia drivers being more stable, Quadro cards supported by more applications and finally, their drivers are more optimized for greater performance in some applications.
While the AMD FirePro line-up of cards can be an interesting alternative thanks to their relatively low cost, they are just not supported by as many applications as the Nvidia Quadro line-up cards are.
Considering the cost of this workstation, I’m sure that you’ll want to get top-notch performance all over the place in all apps, including Adobe apps and top-notch drivers, hence why I only recommend Nvidia Quadro cards in this build.
To run three or four 1920 x 1200 monitors on other video cards:
If you rather have three DVI outputs (One Dual-Link and Two Single-Link), go with the Sapphire Radeon 5770 FleX – Supports 3 DVI monitors which supports 3 DVI outputs “out of the box”, sorta. You simply need to use the included HDMI-to-DVI adapter and you’ll have three DVI outputs, capable of handling three monitors with a resolution up to 1920 x 1200. You can actually add an active Displayport to Single-Link DVI (or VGA) adapter, which costs about $25, to support a 4th monitor. I’ve linked to such adapters right below:
- Sapphire Displayport to Single-Link DVI Active Adapter
- PowerColor DisplayPort to Single-Link DVI-D Active Adapter
- Sapphire DisplayPort to VGA Active Adapter
To run up to four dual-link DVI displays (e.g. 2560 x 1600 30″ monitors):
The following video card supports four Dual-Link DVI outputs: VisionTek Radeon HD 4670 X2 2GB Four Dual-Link DVI
Professional 3D Workstation Video Cards:
What applications benefit from or truly need AMD Firepro or Nvidia Quadro Cards and what’s the difference between consumer cards (Radeon/Geforce) and professional cards (FirePro/Quadro)?
Accuracy & reliability:
“Exact pinpoint renders for things such as vehicle/building/contraption etc design, think many moving parts working together such as an engine prototype….things where a millimeter or so off could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars or much much more lost or even death…. They are tools for professionals, and if you really need one you’ll know it.
Gaming cards and workstation cards are very similar, but the differences are major. Consumer cards are built for speed at the cost of accuracy, gaming renders need to be fast…not perfect.
Workstation cards are the opposite, they need to be perfectly accurate at all times, speeds good but not priority, major differences in the cards are ECC ram (expensive, but a lost bit could be catastrophic) and very robust and detailed driver support…the drivers are really where the bulk of the expense comes from and , they have to work and have to work well, we gripe and moan about bugs in our games…when the card is holding you back from your livelihood….
It cost money to make money and or move things forward to a large degree, great designs aren’t doodled out on a napkin in a country diner anymore.
Similar to other class of products on the market, i.e consumer vs pro cameras:
There are many products out that scale the same way, look at cameras, a $200 point and shoot for the trip to disney world or the $5000+++ used to shoot what we see in magazines and such, a nice solid sub $500 Asian import guitar vs a $3K+ made in the USA model, the latter has better quality components and much more time and care in construction.
Back to the cards a lot of pro level applications will work to a degree on consumer cards (with some hacking and preening), but thats more like an artists sketch pad….good for practice and education, or proof of concept work but nothing mission critical…for most pro applications key features are disabled and their is no formal support unless a proper card is being used.”
“Workstation card core chips are mostly identical to the consumer grade stuff (except for the memory controller), but everything around it is usually made of much higher quality components. The heatsinks and fans are made of better materials etc. etc.”
Thanks to our reader EBOBO and the folks on the forums of DesktopReview.com for that great explanation.
Other than that, Quadros and Firepros have optimizations in their drivers for various specific applications as well for the usual workload that a Workstation will be used for. These optimizations are only activated when a Quadro or Firepro is detected.
RAM:
Patriot Viper II 24GB (6 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz
24GB of RAM will allow you to run many programs at once, with a lot of files open at the same time, without resolving to reading/writing back and forth to your hard drive and bringing your PC to its knees.
Not to mention Windows and background background such as your anti-virus, web browser, music/video player and all those programs running in the background, that all consumes precious resources.
I went with Patriot for their high reliability and compatibility with the majority of motherboards. I chose these particular sticks due to their high level of reliability, a must for a Workstation, as well as their standard voltage, 1.5v, which results in sticks that will work right out of the box, without having to adjust any BIOS settings.
Hard Drive:
Four Samsung F3 500GB
in RAID 10
+
Intel X25-M 2.5″ 80GB SSD
For this $2500 Workstation, I’m recommending four Samsung F4 500GB hard drives, in a RAID 10 array, for a capacity of 1TB, as well as an Intel X25-M 80GB SSD.
Note that the motherboard includes six SATA cables, the SSD includes one too, so you don’t need to buy any additional ones, unless you have additional hard drives that you intend to use with this Workstation.
Four Drives in RAID 10 or 0+1
Best for: When performance and data protection are both crucial.
RAID 0+1 or 10 basically is a combination of RAID 0 and 1.
Using four hard drives, you get:
- The capacity of two drives.
- Redundancy, so if a drive in any cluster, or two drives (one from each cluster) fails, you do not lose data, you are still able to use the PC but just like RAID 1, you will need to replace the drive and rebuild the RAID array before regaining redundancy and data loss protection.
- Top-notch performance, since the data is spread across two clusters of two drives (Each cluster being basically a RAID 1 array), basically combining the read and write performance of two logical drives (each RAID 1 cluster) into one ultra-fast array.
SSD (Solid State Drive):
Best for: When you need the OS, applications to load much faster and when performance is your absolute priority.
Note that SSDs are still a relatively new technology, so they are not are reliable as hard drives yet, in my opinion.
Like any other storage solution, backups over various locations (external hard drive, NAS, online server, optical disks, USB key, etc.) are recommended.
Recommended upgrades:
1TB isn’t enough for you? No problem, you can stick with the same RAID 10 solution and move up to 2TB with the following upgrade:
Four Samsung F3 1TB
Want a SSD with a bigger capacity?
Simply go with the Intel X25-M 2.5″ 160GB SSD instead.
Why Intel SSDs? One very simple reason: Reliability. From my research and customers feedback, Intel appear to manufacture the most reliable SSDs right now, hence why I recommend them for a Workstation.
Do note that I do NOT recommend running only a SSD as the only drive in a system, for the obvious storage capacity issue, but more importantly, because if it fails, you’ll lose all your data.
My recommendation would be to have one SSD, along with four drives in RAID 10, so that you still have performance and redundancy from the hard drives. Four SSDs in RAID 10 would also be an option, except that it would be really expensive, too much to recommend it for this build in my opinion.
The Intel SSDs include a 2.5″ to 3.5″ bracket, so no need to worry about that.
NAS (Network Attached Storage)
If the data on your Workstation is crucial and/or needs to be shared on a network with other computers, a NAS is an investment to look into.
The two recommendations that I make below allow for RAID 1, which I highly recommend since if you only use a single drive and that it fails, you’ll lose all of its data.
The LG N2R1DD1 1TB x 1 2 Bays, RAID 1 support NAS w/ DVD-RW comes with a single 1TB hard drive, as well as a DVD Burner. A good solution to start with, since it allows for easy backups on DVDs. I still recommend adding a second 1TB drive (there are two drive bays in total) and enabling RAID 1 for maximum data security.
The Synology DS210j Diskless 2-bay NAS RAID 1 support comes empty with no drive, allowing you to pick your own drives and to start with RAID 1 right off the bat.
Optical Drive:
ASUS Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner
This drive is able to read and burn CDs and DVDs. Silent (Except when it spins up to full speed obviously), compatible with all major formats including DVD-RAM.
The motherboard includes two SATA cables (One will be used for the hard drive and one for this DVD Burner), so no need to worry about cables.
Also, seeing as DVD Burners are often go out of stock lately, here are a two alternatives that you can use to replace it. All are SATA based.
Upgrades:
If you’d like to watch BluRay movies or TV shows, this LITE-ON 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA will do the job. However, note that it can only READ CDs, DVDs and Bluray disks, not burn any of them.
If you want the ability to burn disks as well, the LG 10X Blu-ray Burner SATA is what you want.
Regarding Blu-Ray playback:
As far as I know, you still require a specific software to playback Blu-Ray disks on a PC. Based on various reviews and feedback on various forums, PowerDVD 9 Ultra is the software that I recommend to you. It is fully compatible with Windows 7 and shouldn’t give you any problems.
Case:
Corsair Graphite Series 600T w/ fan speed control
A powerful workstation needs a case to match it. It need to be capable of ensuring proper cooling, while being discrete to not distract you from work.
With a subtle style design and a knob on top of the case to control the speed/noise of the case fans, I think that the Corsair 600T is a perfect match for this build.
- Cooling wise, this case includes two 200m case fans and one 120mm case fan, to ensure proper cooling, while the knob to control the fans speed ensure that the PC isn’t too noisy.
Features wise, you get:
- A solid case. No flimsy panel, nor sharp edges here.
- Outstanding wire management.
- A tool-less system that works.
- Support for up to six hard drives.
- x USB 2.0, FireWire and USB 3.0 (FireWire and USB 3.0 aren’t supported by the motherboard unfortunately) and of course, Audio out, MIC in at the top.
Power Supply:
CORSAIR CMPSU-850HX 850W 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular
This power supply has a maximum power output of 850W, not that should rely only on this information as I often point in posts such as Warning: 6 Surefire Ways of Blowing Up Your Computer Due to an Inadequate Power Supply.
More importantly, it can output a maximum of 70A on the 12V line, one of the most important factors when it comes to choosing a power supply.
Best of all, it is 80 PLUS Silver certified, meaning that it’s always at least 85% efficient, resulting in less heat, more silence and a lower electricity bill for you, compared to a less efficient power supply.
Also good to know: It’s modular, meaning that you only plug in the power cables that you need, instead of being stuck with a bunch of unused cables that you have to hide in your case.
This Build Power Requirements:
Note that unlike Gaming PCs, the figures here are based on power requirements, not on power consumption, because I wanted to allow for more overhead with Workstation Builds, as they have to be more reliable and are often on 24/7. This also allows for greater efficiency, since most power supplies are more efficient at a 50% load compared to say, a 80% load.
According to the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator and information from Tom’s Hardware, AnandTech and Hardware.fr, it is estimated that this system will require (not consume) at load (peak usage) a power supply capable of delivering:
- 573W with the recommended Dual Intel Xeon E5620, Nvidia Quadro 600, six sticks of DDR3 RAM, four hard drives, the SSD and this build without upgrades.
For Workstations, I recommend an overhead of 150 to 200W for the power supply, to ensure reliable operation over the years, as the power supply components age and lose output capacity.
The recommended power supply will have no problem handling any upgrades recommended in this build.
Upgrades:
The only suggestion for an upgrade that I have would be the CORSAIR AX850 850W 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular, which is even more efficient (80 PLUS Gold, at least 87% efficient) than the model above.
UPS/Surge Protector:
I highly recommend getting a UPS, especially if you’re in an area with a lot of thunderstorms or in a house with older electric wiring. If you lose power, the UPS will keep your PC running for a few minutes, enough for you to save your work and to properly shutdown your PC.
The recommended UPS below also protects against electrical surges, protecting your PC and other equipment plugged into the UPS, from dangerous power surges, which are one of the main causes of defective computers.
PC components are extremely fragile and the last thing that you want is to plug all that expensive equipped straight in a power outlet. You want it plugged in a surge protector (featured in the UPS units below), which will protect your expensive equipment.
My recommendation:
- The Powercom SMK-2000A 2000 VA 1200 Watts 6 Outlets UPS
Cooling:
Two Supermicro Intel Xeon 4U Cpu Cooler
This Workstation is based on a server-type platform, meaning that the CPUs don’t include CPU Coolers. Also, since this is a dual-socket motherboard, you have to be careful to pick a heatsink that will both fit and that will be capable of offering proper cooling, in order to ensure reliability, even when you run your workstation under a 24/7 load.
The Supermicro SNK-P0040AP4 will do exactly that and offering a lot of research, it is my recommendation. Remember though: You’ll need to buy two, since you have two physical CPUs in this system.
Thermal Compound:
The thermal compound is what you’ll put between the CPU and the CPU Cooler, and its job is to transfer heat between the two. Using an high-quality thermal compound ensure that your CPU temperatures will be as low as possible.
I recommend the ARCTIC COOLING MX-4 Thermal Compound, because it offers top-notch cooling performance, while being non-conductive (Unlike Arctic Silver 5 for example) so that you don’t have to worry if you drop some on an electric contact.
Sound Card: ASUS 8 channels MIO sound card: Included with the motherboard
Included with the motherboard, this sound card will handle many different sound setups, including headphones, a microphone and more.
Note that it uses the MIO slot on the motherboard, above the PCI slot at the bottom.
However, if you have an high-end audio setup, are an audiophile or do professional work with audio and that a basic sound card won’t jut cut it, here are some recommendations, in order of price:
- DIAMOND 7.1, SPDIF In/Out via Coaxial, 24-bit 96KHz PCI
- M-AUDIO Audiophile 2496 PCI 4-In-4-Out w/ MIDI
- Creative X-Fi Titanium HD 24-bit 96KHz PCI-Express
- ASUS Xonar D2X SPDIF In/Out Coaxial, MIDI, PCIe x1
- ASUS Xonar D2 SPDIF In/Out Coaxial, MIDI, PCI
- Creative X-Fi SPDIF In/Out TOSLINK 5.25″ Front Panel PCIe 1x
- ASUS Xonar Essence STX w/ 1/4″ Jack In/Out, etc. PCIe x1
- ASUS Xonar Essence ST w/ 1/4″ Jack In/Out, etc. PCI
Seeing as there are a variety of audio setups, with a variety of jacks and the like, I invite you to simply pick the best card, according to your needs. Make sure to double-check the specifications and pictures, to see the Inputs/Outputs as well as included accessories.
PCI-Express 1x vs PCI Sound Card:
Some of the sound cards above are PCI based, while some are PCI-Express 1x (PCIe 1x) based.
With the ASUS Z8NA-D6C, you have two PCI-Express 4x slot below the video card PCI-Express 16x slot, you can use either. Yes, a PCI-Express 1x sound card will work just fine in a PCI-Express 4x slot.
The motherboard also comes with a PCI slot, so you can use PCI sound card if you’d like to.
Network: Dual Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN: Integrated on the motherboard
Integrated on the motherboard, these two network adapter will allow you to access your LAN-enabled devices, networks and Internet.
However, if a LAN network is not an option or if a wireless network is preferable for you, I recommend the Rosewill RNX-N180UBE Wireless USB 2.0 Dongle 802.11b/g/n w/ 5 dBi Antenna, which connects in a USB 2.0 port. It comes with a base, so that you can move it away from the PC for better reception and a 5dBi external antenna to improve reception further. Support 802.11b/g/n.
Recommended operating systems:
The operating system cost, if there’s one, is not included in the total cost. The two reason for this are:
- The budget only considers hardware.
- You may be able re-use a previous license, go with an open-source OS such as Linux or , if you’re so inclined and are aware of what you’re doing, use torrents.
If you decide that you need a need OS, here are some recommendations:
Windows 7
Despite Linux gaining more and more support, Windows still is the platform of choice for compatibility at the moment. Considering that you’ll have 4GB of RAM and if you want to be able to add RAM or a dedicated video card, you’ll need a 64-bit version, as 32-bit is limited to 4GB of memory for the entire system, which is not enough now, nor in the future if you decide to upgrade.
Windows 7 is by far better than Windows Vista, looks better, more functional, less annoying, consumes less resources and brings DirectX 11 to the table.
Three Available Versions:
- Windows 7 Home Premium: To avoid, as it only supports 16GB of RAM, this build is equipped with 24GB.
- Windows 7 Professional: If you want the virtual XP mode, you’ll need at least the Professional edition. Also required if you want to backup to a network, using the built-in backup mode in Windows.
- Windows 7 Ultimate: To help protect data on your PC and portable storage devices against loss or theft with BitLocker and to work and switch between 35 languages.
OEM vs Retail:
The OEM version allows you to only install it once on a computer. You cannot transfer the license to another computer in the future and you do not receive support from Microsoft. It’s the same type of license you get when you get Windows on a desktop or laptop that you buy from Dell, HP and such. It’s less expensive, but gives less flexibility. Ideal if you intend on keeping your computer for many years.
The Retail version is the full version, which allows you to transfer the license to another computer in the future and you can call Microsoft if you need any form of support. Ideal if you intend on upgrading/changing your computer down the road.
Other than that, you get the same features on both, only the license differs. The price between the two differs obviously.
Warning: Avoid Window 7 Home Premium!
Why? Because the home premium edition only supports up to 16GB, when this build is equipped with 24GB of RAM.
OEM Versions:
– $140Retail Versions:
– $250
– $263Linux
A lot of people these days boots more than one OS. Linux is a wonderful choice: powerful, cool, and cheap. Take your pick of distributions and have fun! For Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, and Mandrake, try Distrowatch.com, Cheapbytes.com, LinuxQuestions.org or one of the many others.
What about Word processing, Excel and other Windows-based programs that you need? Linux being an open platform, there are many free alternatives that will answer your needs. For Word/Excel and such, try OpenOffice.
Get Free Expert Assistance
If you want to have your final build double-checked and get my opinion on it before ordering, or for anything else, don’t be shy, just leave a comment.
If you have any question(s) about the build, simply leave a comment below the article and I’ll reply to you within 24-48 hours usually.
I’m a computer enthusiast with 10 years of experience in building, fixing/modifying computers and it will be my pleasure to assist you in building your 1st, 2nd, 3rd or xxth PC.
No worries, there are no stupid questions here on Hardware Revolution. We all started from scratch and learned through our mistakes. I’ll just help you make sure to avoid those mistakes
Just make sure to go through the following articles below, to see if your question hasn’t been answered already, before asking me a question.
Computer Builds FAQs:
I often get questions such as:
- Who are you to tell me which parts to choose?
- Can you suggest me a step by step guide to build a computer?
- Why should I build a PC instead of buying one in a store?
- And many more…
You will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this article: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer
Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.
Finally, if your newly built computer won’t power up or boot, I invite you to read Help me: Why won’t my newly assembled PC start or boot?
Conclusion
After a long delay, the $2500 Workstation is here and I’m happy with the parts that are in it.
It ended up being quite faster, better looking, more future-proof/upgradeable and more reliable than the previous $2000 Workstation, while offering much higher performance (Faster CPUs, more RAM, way faster storage, better video card, etc.) and better reliability.
I think that this is the best Workstation Build that $2500 can buy you.
Don’t agree with my choices? Have a suggestion to improve this build?
However, I do realize that even if I took a year to write this guide, it wouldn’t be perfect and it wouldn’t cover every possible software/scenario.
This is why if you don’t agree with one or several of my choices, think that you can come up with a way to improve this build, have requests, comments, etc. by all means, please let me know by leaving a comment below.
You might just be right and upon further research, if I agree with you, I’ll update the build as necessary.
Would you like to see an additional feature? Let me know.
One or several parts are out of stock?
Simply drop a comment below to let me know. I’ll personally recommend to you an equivalent alternative and I will update the build shortly after.
What do you think?
What’s your opinion on this build?
Did you find a typo or error in this article?
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.
Building this PC?
If you build this system, I invite you to share your experience on how well it runs: What applications do you use, what type of work do you do, how well does this Workstation performs, is there anything that slows it down? Your feedback will help other people make an informed decision on what to buy for their own needs.
Don’t miss out on the Workstations updates!
As time goes by, parts go out of stock, new more powerful/efficient parts come out and more reasons cause me to update the builds on a regular basis. To make sure that you don’t miss an update, especially not when you’re about to buy your parts, you can receive our updates for free via RSS or E-mail.
If the fact that you’ll be receiving free updates is not enough to convince you, here are 7 Reasons to Get Our Posts Via RSS or E-Mail For Free!
Category: Workstation
