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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Subject: | [gislist] Sum Processor question |
| Date: |
01/13/2004 09:50:01 AM |
| From: |
Elizabeth Martinez |
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Hello list,
I received a lot of responses and I am still trying to make a decision
about my new machine. Here is what I have learned so far.
Original posting was:
** I am preparing to buy a new desktop and want to know if the Pentium
4 with hyper threading is a benefit for GIS (ESRI products) or if it is
of no use... I ask this in response to the following footnote on the
spec sheet for the desktop
**The Hyper-Threading feature is a new technology designed to improve
performance of multi-threaded software products: please contact your
software provider to determine software compatibility. Not all customers
or software applications will benefit from the use of hyperthreading
RESPONSES:
ESRI product does not access both threads of hyper thread processor.
The design preference for a computer running GIS seems to be to have two
processors, but the cost benefit considerations result in maximizing
processor, RAM, video card, and Hard Drive as the lowest cost way to
increase performance.
( How does a better video card improve GIS performance ?)
It was suggested that I look at a Xeon processor. Apparently you can
also enable the hyper-threading with the Xeon processor. I priced these
and they are more expensive than the Pentium 4, but ramp up to server
level cache sizes ( and cost).
This is where I started considering the cache size since I have been
focusing only on RAM and hard Drives in the past. However in looking at
the Xeon I noticed that additional chip sets could be purchased as well,
they are not required but seem to be part of maximizing the XEON
processor performance. I need to research what these do and if I need
them to really make a difference for the investment.
The other factor is looking down the road of life span for the computer,
and the computers that I will be replacing. I look at a three ( and
sometimes four) year life span for the computers I buy for our (small)
company. Since I am also responsible for directing and doing the GIS
work I have a particular need for speed and resources. However, I am in
the process of getting key staff to use GIS in their work and they are
all using laptops. As was pointed out in one of the responses "
***While none of the GIS applications we currently use were written to
support hyper-threading, it's likely that future versions of our
software will support HT***
I think I will maximize my machine to use the current not HT supported
ESRI software. (Spring for the XEON processor 3.2 GHZ 1MB cache).
I have a year or two to watch the direction of the software and hardware
(laptops) vis a vis price, resources available, and software changes.
After having experience with a beefed up desktop I may be better able to
spec out the laptops in 18 months. Thank you everyone for helping me
sort this out. The GIS list is my brainstorming support. When you work
for a small company like I do, you have to be the Director AND staff,
this list makes a huge difference in my ability to learn new things and
sort practical matters out.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Martinez
Director GIS / IT
The Forestland Group, LLC
1512 East Franklin Street, Suite 104
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516
919-929-2497
919-929-8265 fax
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