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Need help responding to Dell about my PC.

Posted By Alasandro 4 Years Ago
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Alasandro
Alasandro
Posted 4 Years Ago
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Hey guys so here is my story.

Three years ago I purchased an Alienware Area 51 R2 from  Dell fully loaded so that I would have a decent machine to run iClone and other 3d Software on for my business. Fortunately, I purchased a full 4 year warranty. Since that time Dell has had to replace both video cards and the ssd free of charge. Over the last couple of months I have had nothing but problems with the machine. So much so that Dell is offering a replacement. However, since my model is no longer available and the parts are no longer manufactured, they have offered to give me a new computer that would "supposedly" match my original in performance. Although I am certified in several 3D software programs, I know very little about the hardware and would like to get your opinion on  what they are offering to replace my current machine.

Here is a chart showing my current machine specs and the proposed replacement. We are still at the bargaining stage (I think) and I do want to be fair. Please take a look and tell me... if you can... if you believe this is a fair system replacement.

Thank you all... Looking forward to your response.https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/0b2332f6-a361-4cfe-a3eb-51e9.jpg
4u2ges
4u2ges
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Hey Alasandro,

Question: do you play games?
The reason I am asking, is because I see SLI for both - old and new configuration. There is no advantage of using SLI in 3D rendering and in most cases it would mess up things.
For iClone you only need 1 GPU. If you are actively using Iray with iClone, then 2+ GPUs makes sense (still without bridge).
Render speed wise - I am not sure. GDDR6 might outperform GDDR5X. Somebody who has data to compare might tell more.
But then you are loosing 4GB of VRAM, which is a lot! iClone is VRAM hungry. 8GB is not enough for fairly large scenes with dense texture nowadays.

The rest seems to be an upgrade. Though I do not understand second 2TB HDD. Just tell them to supply SSD as well.
There is no storage with iClone.

Personal experience:
I have iClone installed on OS SSD drive and all content and projects are on second drive. Having 2 1TB drives I am running our of space!  Need upgrade soon.
That is given I have external 6TB drive for storage and backups.




Alasandro
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Hey 4u2ges,

I don't play games so your advice regarding the SLI will certainly come in handy. I'll be removing the bridge. I replied to Dell and refused their Replacement Proposal stating the loss in performance based on the specs. I made a special note regarding the VRAM going down from 12GB to 8GB and the significant reduction in wattage for the hard drive. It is going to be interesting to see how they respond.  I am quite sure they will come back with another option. If so, then I'll be posting that here as well. Thank you for the input. 
Rampa
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I would say try and get a single RTX 2080ti, and everything else is fine. The RTX 2080ti has 11 Gig.

Having both 2TB drives solid state would be cool, but not necessary. The one M.2 solid state and the other a mechanical spinning disc is fine.
animagic
animagic
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I question the choice of liquid cooling, as I think that adds an extra complication. A well-designed air-cooled case should be sufficient. I build my own systems and have always used air cooling, which can be made quiet enough.

I agree about getting at least an RTX 2080 Ti. Or they might give you a Titan RTX which has 24 GB of VRAM. That would be a nice replacement for 2 Titan Xs and probably more reasonable dollar for dollar.


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Alasandro
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So I received a response from Dell with a second offer after my refusing the first offer. Here it is:

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.


4u2ges
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Again, I'll give you my personal opinion:

* I am not a fan of AMD processors (RL mentions Intel in system requirements, but not AMD - not sure if it is for a reason)
* Why Windows10 Home? Better be Pro. If you used to Pro, you might be missing some features/management options
* Still would not settle for mechanical drive inside my PC




animagic
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Definitely Windows 10 Pro. It allows you to defer Windows 10 feature upgrades until they are fully beta tested by the Windows Home users. It also avoids unexpected reboots after an install by specifying active hours (up to 18 hours per 24-hour period).



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Alasandro
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MOST definitely Windows 10 PRO. That is what I use now and that is what my original unit had.  I am preparing my counter offer now.
Although I would prefer the Intel... I have worked with AMD and with the correct upgrade I believe I will be happy with it.
However, I will be countering with the following changes

***AMD Ryzen 9 3950X (16 Core, 64MB L3 Cache, Max Boost Clock of 4.7GHz)

***128GB Dual Channel HyperX FURY DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz

***2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 2TB 7200RPK SATA 6Gb/s (Storage) 

and of course Windows 10 Pro.

My argument being that even with the upgrades to the new computer's total retail cost according to their website is significantly lower than what I paid for the original computer. Looking forward to any other input one might have before I send them my counter offer.




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