Spec me a dev machine

agent_paul

agent_paul

agent_paul

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Joined
4 Jul 2006
Posts
211
Hi all,

ive been asked by my manager to draw up plans for a set of new development machines and was hoping for some input before i start.

there are only a few requirements
  • Must last at least 3 years
  • Must be compatable with Centos Linux
  • Must be a lot better than current machines (intel xeon 3.0ghz HT CPU's with 2 gigs of ram)

im not too sure where he stands with overclocking but since its a company i doubt they would allow it (but i might be able to sway him)

The only concern i currently have is where we stand with DDR3 in the next 3 years, Power consumption and other new technologies that may come within that time

any idea where to start guys?
 
Why not buy one decent server, load it up with RAM, and then run VMWare or some other virtualization solution on it?

I've worked at companies where they've had entire development networks running in virtual environments on a single server, we're talking multiple domain controllers, mail servers, file servers, database servers and half a dozen client machines.

I've also had situations where I've been running 3 or 4 sandbox environments on my own laptop, which is a Pentium M 1.6 GHz with 2Gb of RAM. It's great.

edit: never ever ever overclock a commercial machine. It's a great way to watch your warranty vanish just when you need it the most.
 
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Hmmm thanks for the reply Scottly,

i have very little experience running virtual machines since ive only played with vmware and the MS one on my home machine. with my little experience they do seem abit slow on my machine but theres been a whole load of noise about hardware accelerated virtualisation recently hasnt there?

so if we do go down the virtualisation route, what server would you recommend and would you think that it would support about 6 or 7 developers doing Java Enterprise developement???

regards
 
ok well heres one i made earlier :)



just a quick basic setup. since overclocking isnt really promoted, the cpu and memory could change...

also the p35 is chosen because linux doesnt always support the most latest hardware so going to a chipset thats been around for around a year should be ok.

so whatcha guys think? good enough for enterprise web app development?

thanks
 
What the hell did you pick that build for?

Your boss would be insane to let you get away with that. You don't need the latest and greatest graphics card, you don't need 'Dominator' RAM, and you sure as hell don't need a gaming case. You're doing Java web app development for crying out loud.

Get yourself a real, honest to God server. HP do some excellent ones, as do IBM. Then you're getting a machine which is designed for the very purpose of 'serving' multiple people, which is fully supported for that purpose with all the backup you need from the fine people at Big Blue as covered by the warranty.

Don't buy a gaming machine. Jesus Christ.
 
aftershxck said:
Someone needs to take a chill pill !
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Maybe so, but as a professional who takes pride in my work it gives me ulcers just seeing this kind of thing.

You can't run systems like this in an environment that you depend on to provide you with an income. Unless you like being jobless and poor.
 
geez Scottly chill out man...

i looked into your suggestion and found that risky myself. if we do get a so called "god server" what happends if that falls over? then the entire dev team will be sitting around twiddling thumbs. (not only that but other people on the team werent very happy when i pointed that out as an option)

ok i understand where your comming from about the gaming machine, i could get away with spending loads of money and buying AMD Black editions and the Intel equivalent. but i was thinking of actually trying to save the company money and getting some bang for buck by overclocking abit.

and that graphics card... yea that was abit stupid, but it doesnt hurt to play a few games now and then during lunch right?

at the end of the day, yes i do take pride in my work and yes running an overclocked monster may be out of the question but who said ill be running these machines inches away from blowing up?

oh and i did have a chat to my manager, looks like they might do the standard thing and order 2 grand dells

have a nice day
 
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agent_paul said:
if we do get a so called "god server" what happends if that falls over?

at the end of the day, yes i do take pride in my work and yes running an overclocked monster may be out of the question but who said ill be running these machines inches away from blowing up?

oh and i did have a chat to my manager, looks like they might do the standard thing and order 3 grand dells
Click to expand...

Assuming you mean 'good' and not god, you will have a support agreement, a 24 hour helpline, and depending on your support agreement can potentially have a replacement server on site within 4 hours at any time of day or night, with a nice, well qualified man to help you get back on track.

You don't have to be 'running machines close to them blowing up' to have problems. All it takes is one problem. With a nerd's wet dream homemade machine you have zero support, you are on your own, all you have is whatever warranty is supplied with the individual parts. No offence to them, but OcUK are not going to be able to support you in that situation. They are not a business solutions provider.

Good on your manager. I wouldn't have gone with Dell personally, but they're light years better than something you could knock together on your bench in an hour.

agent_paul said:
yea that was abit stupid, but it doesnt hurt to play a few games now and then during lunch right?
Click to expand...

If you play games on a business critical server at any time, you should be fired instantly. You're putting the company at serious risk. That's gross misconduct.

agent_paul said:
have a nice day
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And you.
 
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lol at the spec
should be more like this.

q6600 (not 'overclocked 13337 h4x0r edition')
4gb ddr2 6400
samsung or wd hard drive
a normal case for god sake
a fanless motherboard with onboard graphics


corsair 520w psu
 
agent_paul said:
surely gaming on a work machine isnt totally out of this world. i know at least 2 people that used to play CS and BF2 after work
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If you're gaming on a server then you are, like I said, putting core business assets at risk of failure. If you blue screen a server because you suck at Counterstrike keybinds you need to be lynched.

Besides that, if you're playing games at work most likely you'll be breaking the terms of the license, putting yourself and your company at risk of prosecution. Again, gross misconduct, collect your P45.

Finally, you're showing an incredible lack of professionalism by gaming at work. Just go home and do it if you really must.

If an employee of mine was playing games at work, they'd be out the door. Even if it was after hours.
 
I've known several design houses (both mechanical engineering and graphics) that have allowed gaming for their employees. Creative jobs require those sorts of outputs for the staff.

That being said i would not allow anyone using my systems to use core business assets for it, i'd put in a suggestion for a Console or 2, something that doesn't affect your business should it fail.

Your graphics card is pretty new and although Nvidia drivers for Linux have come along way, you have no real idea of the stability of the 2. Not to mention which games will you be playing? if they haven't been natively compiled for the system, are you going to use Wine? last time i looked at it it was a pretty unstable mess.

Is there a particular reason you are going for CentOS? its basically a de-branded copy of Redhat, maybe email redhat see if they supply and support 100% compatible systems.

Just food for thought.
 
What's wrong with gaming at work? Me and several other developers use our lunchtime to play a game over LAN - and that doesn't stop us in any way in being professional, or gets in the way of how skilled and experience these people are at their jobs... jeez.
 
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