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From: Paul on 27 Feb 2010 22:31
me(a)privacy.net wrote:
> Paul <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote:
>
>> You have a plan to move the hardware out the case. I wouldn't
>> do that, until you've tested the hardware and it proves out
>> as working.
>
> No plans to do that for six months or so!!
>
> BUT....can it even be done?
>
> The reviewers complained abt cheapness of the case

Some of the barebones computers that Asus makes, have
proprietary-shaped motherboards in them. That prevents
them from being easily moved to another computer.

Standard motherboard formfactors are 12.0"x9.6" and
9.6"x9.6". I suspect yours is the latter, known as
microATX. You should be able to transplant it to a
microATX case or a standard ATX case, as the holes
on the 9.6" square motherboard are a subset of the
holes in the larger motherboard.

The picture of the motherboard looks square to me,
and the layout looks like microATX.

http://images.nvidia.com/products/quadro_fx_470/quadro_fx_470_3qtr_med.png

When you move the motherboard, you pop out the removable
faceplate for the I/O area, from the old case, and move
it over to the new case.

The cheapness of the case can be important, if you work
inside it a lot. A case wouldn't stay in my house too long
if it cut me :-) My current computer case is 10 years old,
and its main asset is a removable motherboard tray, combined
with plenty of room for long video cards (no disks present,
right across from the video slot). I didn't even know
the motherboard tray removed in it, until last year :-)
I never put the side on it, because I'm inside it so
often. The best part is, I don't even know what brand
it is. There are no brand marks on it anywhere.

As for case selection, I like cases that list "SECC steel"
as part of their construction. I never really liked the
Lian Li aluminum approach. Some of those were on display at
a local computer store, and they seemed rickety. For some
of the more novel case products, it's nice to see some
on display, and get a chance to handle them before you buy.
I mean, I might have been interested in Lian Li, until
I got to actually touch one. And that was an instant
turn off.

Paul
From: Benjamin Gawert on 28 Feb 2010 01:28
Am 27.02.2010 00:17, * me(a)privacy.net:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816110036
>
> I'm tempted to buy this as I'm engineering student on
> strict budget.
>
> Not up on hardware tho
>
> Can you advise?

This is not really a workstation, it is a desktop PC with on-board
Quadro graphics. The issue is not the quality of the hardware but the
compatibility with your programs.

Look into the list of certified systems from the vendors of the programs
you'll be using, if you want to have trouble-free operation then you
want to use a system which has been certified.

There are lots of cheap 2nd hand workstations available (i.e. HP
xw4300/xw4400, Dell Precision 380/390, etc) which are certified for
professional applications.

Benjamin
From: me on 28 Feb 2010 18:56
Benjamin Gawert <bgawert(a)gmx.de> wrote:

>This is not really a workstation, it is a desktop PC with on-board
>Quadro graphics. The issue is not the quality of the hardware but the
>compatibility with your programs.

But isn't a "workstation" basically a desktop with
heavy duty graphics card, beefier power supply, ECC
memory?
From: Benjamin Gawert on 2 Mar 2010 14:23
Am 28.02.2010 23:56, * me(a)privacy.net:

>> This is not really a workstation, it is a desktop PC with on-board
>> Quadro graphics. The issue is not the quality of the hardware but the
>> compatibility with your programs.
>
> But isn't a "workstation" basically a desktop with
> heavy duty graphics card, beefier power supply, ECC
> memory?

No. One of the probably most important thing on a workstation is that it
is certified for professional applications. You will find that many ISVs
don't give you any support unless you run their software on a certified
machine with certified drivers.

Besides that there are differences in the hardware and the BIOS as well.

With prices for 2nd hand workstations like the mentioned Dell Precisions
being that low, I wouldn't waste any time with toys like this Asus PC.

Benjamin
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