Suggestions for Intel based workstations (6x)

B

Bandu

Disciple
A friend wants to build 6 workstations for his office. To be used by software developers for (and only for) software development - you know - coding, testing, etc. He can manage this work at an acceptable performance from his lone laptop equipped with Intel P8600 (2.4 GHz) and 4GB of RAM.

1. Q: What is your budget?
30K (+/- 5K)

2. Q: What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
None.

3. Q: Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
NA.

4. Q: Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name)?
(a) iBall Baby 306 cabinets - That's the only choice he got because of his space/ furniture design constraint. I've seen other even more compact cabinet by a company called "CubIT" at Lammy, but I'm afraid that the more compact the cabby, the hotter it would get inside. The CubIT cabby looked well built and stylish though. The Baby306 or CubIT cabinet it is. If you have any other recommendation, please suggest. The dimensions of the cabinet have to be as Baby 306 (at max.) - i.e. 14 x 5.3 x 14.8 inches (H x W x L) [approx. 5.6 x 13.5 x 38 cms (H x W x L)]
(b) Intel CPUs only. Preferably the 1155 socket
(c) 4GB RAM
(d) Micro ATX motherboards
(e) 250GB (or even less if possible) of HDD (2.5" form factors - coz. I guess the baby 306 won't support the 3.5" ones... not sure though)
(f) PSU - The cabbys come with a PSU. Don't want to use those. Please suggest good PSUs that'll fit in these cabinets' form factors
(g) Monitors - preferably LED. 19" to 21".
(h) DVD drives (just a couple). The only use for these drives would be for the initial OS installation.
(i) Keyboard/ Mouse combo.

5. Q: Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future.
Yes, final config. No upgrades planned.

6. Q: Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
Part locally and part online.

7. Q: Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market
No.

8. Q: What is your intended use for this PC/hardware
Java Coding (primarily) using an IDE (Eclipse for example) + some other light weight apps running (like another text editor).

9. Q: Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.
Intel. No specific reason. Just a fanboi.

10. Q: If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?
NA. No games.

11. Q: What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage
1280x800 should be fine I guess. Monitors to be 19" to 21". Not any bigger.

12. Q: Are you looking to overclock?
No.

13. Q: Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
Windows 7 64 bit.

14. Please also suggest the following:
(a) Projector - just one. Please suggest. It would be occasionally used for presentations.
(b) Printer-Scanner combo. Would be rarely used though (like to scan/ print a few pages once in a week). But, still is necessary. Don't want to get the printing/ scanning job done outside.
(c) Where to buy Windows 7 online?

TIA,
Bandu.
 
For the hardware, would suggest a i3 + H61 + 2x2gb 1600 mhz ram combo with an addin 5450/6450 gpu. if budget permits, upgrade to i5 + h67 + 2x4gb 1600mhz of ram.

For the install, you can install any verison of W7 using a pen drive. So get one DVD RW for when there might be a need for using a DVD.

Since you need 6x licenses of W7, go for the volume license professional/enterprise version. should work to around 5~6K max per license.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. But, I don't think there is any need for a GPU. Onboard graphics should be more than sufficient.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

How about this config?

Item | Name | Price
Cabinet|iBall Baby 306|1800
PSU|Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 460W ATX Power Supply|2550
Motherboard|MSI H61M-E23 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard|3500
CPU|Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz 2 x 256KB L2 Cache 3MB L3 Cache|6800
RAM|CORSAIR 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 model CMV4GX3M1A1333C9|1150
HDD|Hitachi Deskstar SATA 160GB HDS721050CLA362|2180
DVD|Sony 24X Internal Sata High Speed DVD RW - DRU-880S-ZR|1050
Keyboard/ Mouse|Logitech Keyboard/ Mouse combo|450
Monitor|Benq G2220HD|6950
OS|Windows 7 64 bit|6000
Total || 32430

TIA,
Bandu.
 
How about this revised config:

CabinetiBall Baby 3061500
PSUSilverStone NT07 or Sea Sonic SS-300TFX2970
MotherboardIntel DH67VR Micro ATX4900
CPUIntel Pentium G620 Sandy Bridge 2.6GHz3550
RAMG.Skill Rip Jaws 4GB Module1400
HDDHitachi Deskstar SATA 160GB HDS721050CLA3622180
Optical DriveSony 24X1050
Keyboard/ Mouse comboLogitech450
MonitorAcer S201HL6000
OSWindows 76000
Total30000
[th="3"]Revised Config[/th]

 
Go for this-

CPU-Intel i3 2100-6.5k

MOBO-Intel DH67BL-B3-5.6K

RAM-Corsair xms3 2X2gb 1600mhz-1.6k or Gskill ripjaws 2X2gb 1600mhz-1.5k

HDD-Hitachi Deskstar SATA 160GB-2k

PSU-Fsp sagaii 400w-1.9k or Corsair cx430v2-2.2k

CASE-iBall Baby 306-1.5k

MONITOR-Acer S201HL-6k

Keyboard/ Mouse combo-Logitech-0.5k

Optical drive-Samsung DVD R-W-1K

Windows 7-6k

Hope this helps.
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^^ Instead of the iBall Baby, #Bandu Sire, why don not you go for the Cooler Master eLite 310 ~ 1550/- OR eLite 370 ~ 1900/-.

The overall build quality of eLite series cabinets + certain tool-less features in them at the same price point make them much better buys compared to the iBall, plus you'll have some chance of cable routing.

This is my observation, rest all fine OP can go for G840 series processor OR Core i3 2100 depending on how much power he wants from the system, plus if you want better IGP's try to get the Intel Core i3 2120 [an uprated version of the Core i3 with HD 3000 series graphics] ~ no idea on availability though.

Hope this helps, Cheers!!
 
#thegatekeeper: Thanks. Please note that the iBall baby cabinet probably takes only THX form factor PSU's. So, only one of the two that I mentioned in my post would fit. I'll still give a look at the ones that you mentioned. IMO, the i3 series would be an overkill for the kind of application that these PCs would be used for. But, will still consider them if budget permits.

#ALPHA17: Thanks for your replies. The cabinet choice is because of some specific furniture design. Maybe the Elite 310 or 370 too have the same dimensions.. I will check them out. These would be non-gaming/ non-media PCs. So, no point in looking for better graphics and such things. But, if budget permits, I'll consider your suggestions too.

Will be buying stuff in the first week of Feb. So, still got some time to study various configurations. Thank you all for your suggestions.

- Bandu.
 
^^ Okay Sir my mistake.

Bandu said:
#ALPHA17: Thanks for your replies. The cabinet choice is because of some specific furniture design. Maybe the Elite 310 or 370 too have the same dimensions.. I will check them out. These would be non-gaming/ non-media PCs. So, no point in looking for better graphics and such things. But, if budget permits, I'll consider your suggestions too.

Will be buying stuff in the first week of Feb. So, still got some time to study various configurations. Thank you all for your suggestions.

- Bandu.
Click to expand...

You are welcome Sire, look irrespective of whether you'll need better graphics OR not the Core i3 series processor is a better buy overall and will keep pace even a year or two down the line, that is why I suggested get the Core i3 over the Pentium G series. Anyways the Intel IGP is not capable of running any thing more complicated than MINECRAFT at the highest settings.

Furniture design not withstanding, the problem with most local manufacturers is that they skimp on essential features [fan ports, dust-filters, tool-less design, cable routing] all this causes heat to build up within the cabinet, dust to choke it up as well as lack of sufficient cooling fans make the situation worse, what this means to your organization can range from -- minor annoyance of fan noise to increased downtime and PC's overheating and nor performing.

We have plenty of threads like this in the CPU / Mobo corner, of problems in components caused by cheap cabinets.

Hope this clears up my stand, Cheers!!
 
#ALPHA17: Thanks for the heads up... now I will seriously consider studying the dimensions of the cabinets that you recommended. If the need be, will make some minor modifications to the furniture to make them fit... lets see how it goes.

I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions.
 
#systembuilder - I am from Nashik.

Alright, I did some reading on other cabinets. As suggested by #ALPHA17, I looked at CoolerMaster cabinets. Although the suggested 310 or 370 won't fit for me, here is a link to their 360 mini tower cabinet: Elite 360 - Cooler Master

From the link, it seems that one can place the cabinet horizontally, which is good - that is what I want. Furthermore, from their specifications (same link as above), its dimensions are (W) 148 x (H) 360 x (D) 439 mm.

Here is a snap of the furniture design:

[attachment=11148:Design_Furniture2.png]

As seen from the snap, the space for cabinet is just 15 cms tall (+ a few mm more, but definitely not less than 15 cm). From CM website, they say that the cabinet is 14.8 cm wide (which becomes 14.8 cm tall when placed horizontally). Can anyone here who owns a CM cabinet (especially this one) confirm that these indeed are the exact dimensions. It will be a tight fit, I know, but shouldn't be any problem, right? Or would there be any air flow issues? Also note that I'll be cutting some vents in the cabinet space on the sides of this furniture to aid air flow.

TIA,

Bandu.
 

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^^ #Bandu Sire, does the table have any space in the rear, where air can be thrown out without any obstructions? OR is it a closed design.

If it is a closed design, then I recommend you free up some breathing space, else you will have overheating problems, especially considering that these are extremely tight spaced HTPC cabinets.
 
#ALPHA17 : There is more than sufficient space in the back. Some space on the sides. Only tight fit would be the vertical space. Also, as I said earlier, I would be cutting vents in the furniture on the sides walls:

[attachment=11152:Design_Furniture3.png]
 

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^^ The n I think you'll be fine Sire, just let the other members who own these set-ups confirm the size. Cheers!!
 
Visited Lammy, but no one had this cabinet in stock, so could not measure it. Can anyone here using this cabinet please confirm? Is the height (when placed horizontally in desktop orientation) <= 15 cms?

TIA,

Bandu.
 
I took the measurements at a shop. Height of the cabinet when placed horizontally, from the surface to the top is just as advertised - 14.8 cms. I guess this cabby should slide into the furniture space. I am going ahead with this Cooler Master Elite 360 case then.

Thanks all.
 
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