Anybody running Houdini/Linux on a Dell Precision M6400 yet?
Pros? Cons?
Thankss
Dell Precision M6400
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- fgillis
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- opgenhaffen
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I've just recieved an order for a Dell Precision M6400 and have just swapped my Apprentice HD license over from my older dying laptop (along with zbrush and modo)…
I am however running Vista 64 on it, so don't think this'll be too helpful of the Linux side of things, but performance-wise, it runs a treat.
my specs in a nutshell:
Intel Dual Core T9600 2.8GHz
8 GB RAM 1067MHz fsb
Nvidia Quatro 3700M 1GB RAM
Given that you're running it “high-performance” mode (as opposed to power-saving mode - a great on-the-fly function), overall performance is really really fast. Mantra renders are very quick too (did a couple of tests with ray-traced displacement heavy scenes).
And just generally for 3d (I also heavily use modo, and zbrush), it's a great machine to work on. (i loaded up a zbrush tool, subdivided it to about 14 million polys, and was still able to work comfortably. The laptop didn't really break much of a sweat coping with it). And on the topic of Vista 64… after turning off some of the annoying function, it actually is very stable and responsive with what I've done so far.
Pros: Very stable/fast workstation. Doesn't get hot. Doesn't weigh much (considering the spec and power of this beast! I used to break my back carrying my old laptop around). Very easily a desktop/workstation replacement.
Cons: Can't currently think of any… except for maybe the price (but even then. I called them up and managed to knock a bit off the online price).
Would I recommend it? Hell yea… but only if you really need a workstation-class mobile laptop. Would be a waste of money if you weren't going to push it's limits as a workstation.
I am however running Vista 64 on it, so don't think this'll be too helpful of the Linux side of things, but performance-wise, it runs a treat.
my specs in a nutshell:
Intel Dual Core T9600 2.8GHz
8 GB RAM 1067MHz fsb
Nvidia Quatro 3700M 1GB RAM
Given that you're running it “high-performance” mode (as opposed to power-saving mode - a great on-the-fly function), overall performance is really really fast. Mantra renders are very quick too (did a couple of tests with ray-traced displacement heavy scenes).
And just generally for 3d (I also heavily use modo, and zbrush), it's a great machine to work on. (i loaded up a zbrush tool, subdivided it to about 14 million polys, and was still able to work comfortably. The laptop didn't really break much of a sweat coping with it). And on the topic of Vista 64… after turning off some of the annoying function, it actually is very stable and responsive with what I've done so far.
Pros: Very stable/fast workstation. Doesn't get hot. Doesn't weigh much (considering the spec and power of this beast! I used to break my back carrying my old laptop around). Very easily a desktop/workstation replacement.
Cons: Can't currently think of any… except for maybe the price (but even then. I called them up and managed to knock a bit off the online price).
Would I recommend it? Hell yea… but only if you really need a workstation-class mobile laptop. Would be a waste of money if you weren't going to push it's limits as a workstation.
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- fgillis
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- 156 posts
- Joined: July 2005
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Thanks for the feedback.
Received mine today… a much humbler configuration though.
Intel P8400
2 GB Ram (Plan to add more)
Nvidia Quadro 2700M 512 GB RAM
(Am replacing a 6 year-old desktop workstation… so it should still be an impressive upgrade for me)
I've been lurking around the M6400 owners forum and there seems to be a lot of stability issues cropping up. You've had yours running Vista/Houdini for almost a week now… have you encountered any problems since your previous post?
Received mine today… a much humbler configuration though.
Intel P8400
2 GB Ram (Plan to add more)
Nvidia Quadro 2700M 512 GB RAM
(Am replacing a 6 year-old desktop workstation… so it should still be an impressive upgrade for me)
I've been lurking around the M6400 owners forum and there seems to be a lot of stability issues cropping up. You've had yours running Vista/Houdini for almost a week now… have you encountered any problems since your previous post?
Floyd Gillis
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