What combo is most important for ProE, ANSYS, and MATLAB?

What are the most relatively important hardware specs/components when using ProE, ANSYS, MATLAB, etc?

Quad or dual core?
RAM amount, clock, timings/speed?
Screen resolution/type?

Background:
I am an biomed/mech engineering undergrad upperclassman and will be using these programs extensively this upcoming years. I also play FPS and RTS games occasionally. I have been using a D800 for the last 7 years and figure it's time for an upgrade.

Since I am looking between the E6510 and M4500 by Dell, I am trying to get a better understanding of what is or isn't enough/needed and I plan on using this laptop for another ~6 years.

What are the most important components of a NB for these programs and/or what combo would be reasonable for a total laptop price of around $2000?


Here are the main specs I am trying to decide between and I would greatly appreciate some feed back.

E6510
Intel Core i5-540M (2.53GHz), i7-620M (2.66GHz), or i7-720QM (1.60GHz)
512MB Nvidia NVS 3100M
RAM: 2gb-8gb(2 avail dimms)
LED screen: 15.6" HD (1366x768), HD+ (1600x900), or Full HD (1920x1080)

OR

M4500
i5-540m, i7-620m/ 740qm(1.73GHz)/ 840qm(1.86GHz)
1GB Nvidia Quadro FX 880M or 1800M
RAM: 2GB-16GB (2 avail dimms)
LED screen: 15.6" HD (1366x768), HD+ (1600x900), or Full HD (1920x1080)



Whatever I get it will have:
Win 7 professional 64 bit
aftermarket:
Crucial (or another suggested place) RAM
Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive.

What are your thoughts?

PS: I just voted to test things out, I have no idea if that's right or not.

 

I would get the M4500 with the 1800m + 620.

 

Why the 620?

 

Actually thinking about it again, I would take the 740qm.
From what I can tell, ANSYS and MATLAB can take advantage of 4 cores (can't find the info for Pro e).

With the screen upgrade also, it should come out just under 2k ($1,984.00).

 

Thanks! Any suggestions on Ram? Type/brand/speed/amount...?

 

I would get the cheapest CPU (the i5-540m), buy an i7-920XM or i7-940XM processor on fleabay, and then overclock the CPU as much as possible, using Eleet, ThrottleStop and SetFSB.

The last time I used the Matlab PDE toolbox, I ran out of RAM and had to use a SUN SPARCstation instead. That was a few years ago, so 4GB of RAM should be enough, but if you have the money then get two 4GB sticks of Kingston HyperX.

 

I'll stick with 4GB of RAM for now then.

Hmm, since I have a limited budget what would be a better investment, kingston hyperx (anyone know if its fits inside the e6510 or m4500?) or getting a better processor, GPU, or harddrive?



The CPU and GPU I can't change again on these motherboards, apparently and overclocking is something I have no experience with nor am I comfortable with doing on a new laptop. Also, im almost positive that you cant swap a duo with quad chip/socket set on these MBs. Laptops are awesome... except when you try to change things inside

 

Buy any Matched DDR3 RAM modules that have a lifetime warranty (no performance differences if you don't overclock anyway, like me).

Disclaimer: With the software you're using, I have no direct experience with.

BUT - My best guess is CPU will make the biggest difference, then RAM - for these type of programs.

If the apps support cuda/physx/etc. then the GPU would be more important than the RAM, initially - but I still wouldn't run with less than 4GB minimum - no matter what.

I'm aware that you are budget limited, but as you mentioned; buy as much of the components you can't change - and upgrade the rest as soon as possible.

So, highest performing cpu with best gpu now. Upgrade to Momentus XT ASAP and when you have the funds, 8GB RAM (and eventually 16GB RAM, when 8GB modules are more affordable).

The highest screen resolution goes without saying: you can't be as productive on a 1366x768 screen as you can on a 1920x1200 spec'd one.

If you're not in a hurry to do this; I would highly recommend to wait for what Sandy Bridge brings in early 2011. A 10-30% increase for 'free' is worth waiting for and at the same or lower price.

Depending on the scenario, it is neck and neck with an i7 980x:

PS: Remember that the following link is using a Sandy Bridge CPU with Turbo disabled too.

See:
The Sandy Bridge Preview - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

 

If you are worried about upgrading, then I would stick with the 720/740QM. The 840QM has 8MB of L3 cache memory, which will help if you are doing lots of finite element analysis, but is only worth considering if it costs around $200, and not $500 to upgrade to.

I was trying to use Tikhonov Regularizarion in the Matlab PDE toolbox to solve an inverse problem, where I was trying to map the internal structure of a wall based on measurements taken at its boundary. I ended up with a huge Jacobian matrix, which is why I ran out of memory, so 4GB should be enough for normal finite element analysis.

A fast SSD is probably the best investment to get afterwards instead of lower latency Kingston HyperX RAM.

 

seriously, for those prices u can get way better laptops with better specs.. if u need an NVIDIA only laptop , there's Asus G73JW with i7 quad , 8GB RAM , full HD screen and NVIDIA GTX460M.. which is way better than both of the below laptops cards.. its also $1745..

 

Thank you for bring that to my attention. That is a very sweet rig and a good price. I don't need an NVIDIA per se, but a laptop that will run ProE, ANSYS, and Matlab without a hitch. I am going with dell because of their NBD support, complete care warranties, and employer discount.

Where does ASUS stands on support and product warranties?

Current Dell quote: $1,847 (pre-tax)

Mobile Precision M4500
Intel Core i7-740QM Quad Core 1.73GHz 6MB
4.0GB, DDR3-1333 SDRAM, 2 DIMM
Internal Backlit English Keyboard
NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M Graphics with 1GB2 dedicated memory
320GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) Wide View Anti-Glare LED Display
Genuine Windows 7 Professional64-bit
Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth
8X DVD+/-RW
Intel WiFi Link 6300 802.11a/g /n Draft Mini Card
9-Cell/90-WHr Battery
Microsoft Office Starter 2010
3 year pro-support and Complete Care


I am thinking of changing the....
i7-740QM to i7-840QM
4GB ram to 2GM ram (and replace it with RAM from Crucial)
320GB HDD to 250 GB (and replace it with the 500GB Momentus XT hybrid)
9 cell to 6 cell battery (since it will be plugged in almost always, reduce weight, and have a smaller profile)
These changes SHOULD drop the price to $1738.
Or I can keep the processor the same with those changes and the drop will be $204


Any thoughts on the original price quote specs and/or what I hope to change them to?

 

Also, ProE isnt meant for multicore and that is the program I will be using most... should I drop down to a i5-540 or i7-620 since they have the highest single core speeds?

 

With asus u get standard 2 year international warranty parts+labour and 1 year free acidental damage warranty...
Support wise , Asus don't have the best in the world but if u buy from an online reseller and make them test everything for being ok and u don't destroy or mess something up , u should have no problems... but dell support will be better but your paying way more for it..

as for dell , M4500 is ok but the GPu is very weak in comparison.. the GTX460M would be 5-6 times better.. and not to mention u get 8GB RAM , dual 500GB hard drives as a standard....

on the whole , i'd get Asus.. Dell's just ripping u off for support.

 

Sean does like the G73, but it's worth noting that it's a 17 inch as opposed to the M4500's 15.6, and that it's a consumer notebook as opposed to the M4500's business class. As a result, although it does have a good warranty and decent support, that's consumer level support, not business. This means that you'll usually have to send it in for service and it'll be a week or more before you get it back. This is not to say that the G73 is a bad machine, it just emphasizes things that you probably don't need as much, like an expensive cutting edge graphics card, which is pretty much only good for gaming.

This is the online configurator price, I assume? Call Dell directly, talk to a sales rep. With business class machines, you can just about always get a discount of some sort, whether free shipping, or money off. There's a thread with tips here ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/456885-aw-dell-ordering-advice-how-save.html).

 

are you going to run any sort of complex model or large Matblab? If you are going to run complex model for long periods time, i would suggest you get a business or workstation class laptop like the Dell M4500, since they have better cooling systems than the equivalent powered consumer laptops.

 

notebooks like G73 have superb cooling systems.. it takes furmark at 80C for 12 hours easily.. that's if asus doesn't screw up on applying thermal paste.. just to be sure , the resellers replace the paste for $75..

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. That actually was the discounted price after haggling for a few days. I actually need the laptop ASAP and should be coming soon. Thanks again!

 

Don't make the mistake of buying the highest performing processor for the software you currently use.

Always buy the highest performing processor you can afford, period.

Your software will eventually catch up to modern multicore hardware - and if they don't (sooner, rather than later), there will be software available from elsewhere that will give you that option (and will leave your current software solution in the stone age).

I would choose the highest overall performing platform over a very narrowly focused platform (for one specific app) almost everytime. Unless you're seeing huge increases in productivity (20+%) by going with a nominally lower spec'd processor, I would not even consider crippling a new notebook with 'old' (dual core) technology.

You may lose some % performance in the short term, but the notebook will be usable for far longer and any upgrades (SSD's, RAM, O/S's, APPs, etc.) will be better utilized by a 'modern' cpu rather than yesterday's state of the art dual cores.

So, how much more productive would the higher clock speeds make ProE? And, what percentage of your work is inside ProE than the other programs that do take advantage of multicore cpu's?

 

Those would be my choices too.


@OP...How complex will your models be in Pro/E? Also, how much do you care about viewpoint performance? (ie: dragging the model around looking at it) lastly, which version of Pro/E are you using?