Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: wpeters on April 10, 2014, 01:14:00 PM
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One of my friends wants me to build 2 computers for his business. What would you recommend for a core. I would like to go intell. What core would you recommend?
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If business means running word and excel, anything new from the shop will do the trick.
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I f I put my name on it and it is for a business. It will be Intel based, with a Supermicro motherboard. Not a cheap solution, but a stable and reliable one.
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I f I put my name on it and it is for a business. It will be Intel based, with a Supermicro motherboard. Not a cheap solution, but a stable and reliable one.
What is the benefit of that board
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What is the benefit of that board
Supermicro boards are high-end motherboards intended for servers or workstations. They are extremely stable and often include support for huge amounts of memory and peripherals. But they come with a price premium.
A fact is that most startup busineses do not run anything more demanding than simple word/excel applications so paying any premium for a workstation would be a serious overkill and a waste of money. A simple laptop + a NAS for storing and backing up should be enough for any small business. You have to keep in mind also that everything you do in business has to be weighed for profitability. You don't buy a fancy computer for high money unless you really, really need it.
If they do anything more demanding such as designing, then requirements will be much higher.
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As long as you dont tell us what those puters will be doing, its difficult enough to give any advice.
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One of my friends wants me to build 2 computers for his business. What would you recommend for a core. I would like to go intell. What core would you recommend?
Define "business" in more detail, please.
Just as a starting point: Are these desktop personal PCs or database/web/application servers? What programs will be run on them?
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It will be used by a concrete contractor. He will be using quick books word, excell, and some programs used for quoting jobs
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It will be used by a concrete contractor. He will be using quick books word, excell, and some programs used for quoting jobs
Does he use a database software for quoting, which one?
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Xactimate.....great estimating program He can do anything in it From drawing out the pads, to placing footers, running curb. Price the stone, rebar, wire etc etc... Pricing he can manually adjust or go with the program pricing which is updated every month and based on the zipcode of his choice..the program will push him new price lists every month.....He can literally build a home from the ground up....and furnish the inside when its all done.
I run it on a HP Elitebook i5.......
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For cpu I'd go with a quad core i5 cpu, one or two price notches down from the top of the i5 range.
I'd go with 8GB ram, 2x4gb sticks.
Onboard graphics should be enough unless running CAD software or needing to drive an unusually large monitor or more than 2 monitors.
Windows 7 home premium or pro 64 bit OEM will be very usable unless the person using the computer needs to be in the windows 8 environment for some reason.
If space is an issue, get a micro ATX or even a mini itx size mobo and case. Lots of reasonably attractive small cases out there for under $50.
Do NOT go cheap on the PSU. A 450w seasonic modular psu would be a good investment. Save a few bucks by not going modular, at the expense of having to do some extra work during the installation to wrap up extra power cables and tuck them out of the way so they don't kill airflow in the case or rub up against fans.
When I built my wife's work computer, I put in a $25 DVD burner and a $20 20-in-1 flash memory reader in one of the 2.5" drive bays. I didn't use a floppy drive. Some of the 20 in 1 flash memory devices also have a floppy drive built into them, if the user needs a floppy drive. Otherwise USB floppy drives are fairly cheap.
The stock intel heatsink is "good enough".
If network throughput will be important, get a mobo with an intel networking chip.
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That Xactimate seems to be a basic CAD system with a costing add-on. We use costing systems which include company specific pricings, any average pricing would be grossly inaccurate. If 10 companies all calculate with xactimate they're all going to get the same cost.
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That Xactimate seems to be a basic CAD system with a costing add-on. We use costing systems which include company specific pricings, any average pricing would be grossly inaccurate. If 10 companies all calculate with xactimate they're all going to get the same cost.
Nope.....price lists can either be taylored to a specific company....manually input (changed), or you can use the data base which gives you price based on labor rates and material costs for a given geographical area....or adjust pricing due to a current disaster situation (ie the cost of roofing increases in an area due to high demand after a hurricane.....)
Having written on this program for 18yrs as a contractor and as an insurance adjuster.....your "grossly inaccurate" comment is grossly inaccurate.
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Nope.....price lists can either be taylored to a specific company....manually input (changed), or you can use the data base which gives you price based on labor rates and material costs for a given geographical area....or adjust pricing due to a current disaster situation (ie the cost of roofing increases in an area due to high demand after a hurricane.....)
Having written on this program for 18yrs as a contractor and as an insurance adjuster.....your "grossly inaccurate" comment is grossly inaccurate.
Average costs will give you an average which is grossly inaccurate for anything but insurance claim estimates. Any constructor will naturally want to use their own agreement prices and append project specific agreements. They'll also want to use agreed subcontractor costs, evaluate travel expenses, housing, tools etc. but what would I know :)
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Average costs will give you an average which is grossly inaccurate for anything but insurance claim estimates. . but what would I know :)
Apparantly nothing about property insurance or rebuilding homes and or running / estimating projects for a construction business in general.
Well since people can charge what they want...there is no exact data base out there One guy could charge 1.75/sqft for paint, another 2.50.........What i can tell you is that as a General Contractor I have rebuilt homes and commercial buildings (tornados, hurricanes, Fires etc etc) from the ground up using this software program, and its pricing structure...and made over 40% on all my trades (subs) doing the work As a Large Loss Adjuster ($250K and up exposures) for one of the largest insurance companys in the US...I have absolutely no issue getting peoples homes rebuilt using top of the line Builders and General Contractors using this software and pricing......If ya really want to have a discussion about it...im all for it
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Apparantly nothing about property insurance or rebuilding homes and or running / estimating projects for a construction business in general.
Well since people can charge what they want...there is no exact data base out there One guy could charge 1.75/sqft for paint, another 2.50.........What i can tell you is that as a General Contractor I have rebuilt homes and commercial buildings (tornados, hurricanes, Fires etc etc) from the ground up using this software program, and its pricing structure...and made over 40% on all my trades (subs) doing the work As a Large Loss Adjuster ($250K and up exposures) for one of the largest insurance companys in the US...I have absolutely no issue getting peoples homes rebuilt using top of the line Builders and General Contractors using this software and pricing......If ya really want to have a discussion about it...im all for it
You're talking about insurance estimates and I'm talking about bidding for actual projects. If your construction companies would use some general database for pricing then it would mean that there's no actual competing going on lol. As I said for insurance estimates an average will probably work but not for actual bidding.
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You're talking about insurance estimates and I'm talking about bidding for actual projects. If your construction companies would use some general database for pricing then it would mean that there's no actual competing going on lol. As I said for insurance estimates an average will probably work but not for actual bidding.
Oh dear lord.....your not getting it..... I used the same program back when i was a General Contractor bidding on jobs.....rebuilding homes, building new homes, building shopping centers etc etc..........How is rebuilding a home that has burnt to the ground not an "actual project" :lol
Of course theres competing going on ....... different geographical locations are different when it comes to materials and labor rates...the database for labor and materials in this program are all Zipcode specific...ie all regionally pulled from material suppliers and major constructon companies and construction management companies in a specific geographical location. If i wrote an estimate to build a home in lets say rural Pennsylvania.....and wrote the exact same estimate in say NY or Philadelphia...the bottom line on both would be completely different as the costs for both materials and labor are completely different, even tho line by line the estimates are identical...but my estimate better be in line with what the regional construction costs are or id never see a job ever........ Now If im building a new home, or remodeling/rebuilding a burnt out house the costs are completely different as construction methods for a new fresh build are different than a rebuild saving some of the original structure...even tho they may be in the same geographical location (which this program can also be set to price...ie remodel vs new construction.....
Your starting to make my head hurt :lol
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Oh dear lord.....your not getting it..... I used the same program back when i was a General Contractor bidding on jobs.....rebuilding homes, building new homes, building shopping centers etc etc..........How is rebuilding a home that has burnt to the ground not an "actual project" :lol
Of course theres competing going on ....... different geographical locations are different when it comes to materials and labor rates...the database for labor and materials in this program are all Zipcode specific...ie all regionally pulled from material suppliers and major constructon companies and construction management companies in a specific geographical location. If i wrote an estimate to build a home in lets say rural Pennsylvania.....and wrote the exact same estimate in say NY or Philadelphia...the bottom line on both would be completely different as the costs for both materials and labor are completely different, even tho line by line the estimates are identical...but my estimate better be in line with what the regional construction costs are or id never see a job ever........ Now If im building a new home, or remodeling/rebuilding a burnt out house the costs are completely different as construction methods for a new fresh build are different than a rebuild saving some of the original structure...even tho they may be in the same geographical location (which this program can also be set to price...ie remodel vs new construction.....
Your starting to make my head hurt :lol
And you're starting mine to hurt also :). So you're saying that companies there do not make standing yearly agreements with the material vendors and go through an additional project specific RFQ process during the project bidding stage? Sounds like competition down there is really non-existant if you do not need to even know your bottom line while bidding.
Just out of curiocity, purchase prices of materials and services are considered a trade secret. Where does your software calculate those average prices from? Do your material vendors publicly publish their utmost secrets i.e. the cost price on which they provide their products to companies? That sounds pretty wild. If they publish their offering prices, how do the material providers then compete with eachothers? Again, they'd be publishing their trade secrets. At least down here material purchase agreements are binding agreements between two parties (constructor and the wholesaler or the manufacturer) and these agreements are never public. The public sales price of, say, a copper tube might be 2 USD/m but the contractor may purchase the pipe for .9 USD/m on small projects and .83 USD/m on a specific large project. The copper tube factory may give a specific price to a specific constructor on a specific project if they see it strategically fit.
Down here 500 000 dollar projects are won or lost on 1000 dollar margins. Nobody can afford to leave one rock unturned while pricing the projects. What you're saying about work costs is for granted, of course companies calculate the cost of work differently (regardless of the method they use for calculating) depending on if it's a new construction or if there's a slow renovation work which usually means also expenses of demolishing the old structures.
Down here the added cost for work price for renovation sites is about 16%.
Sorry this is off topic but it's very interesting to hear how this process works in your country. I'd like to continue the discussion on PM if you wish.
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Sounds good......Just woke up and grabbed my coffee....Ill shoot u a PM after i get the dust outta my eyes :salute