Puget Systems Blog Posts in Category "hardware"
How to Use Cinebench to Predict Cinema 4D Performance
Written on April 3, 2018 by William GeorgeHere at Puget Systems, it is our goal to perform realistic testing on the software packages we tailor our workstations toward. Sometimes this is easy, sometimes it is harder... and sometimes a software maker already provides their own benchmark tool. That is the case with Maxon, makers of Cinema 4D, as well as the free benchmark, took Cinebench. To determine whether we should use it, though, we have to ask some questions. Is Cinebench really a good benchmark for Cinema 4D? How do the tests it runs relate to real-world performance?
The thin line between stress testing and hardware abuse
Written on January 30, 2018 by Matt BachAs a part of our testing, we want to cause hardware to fail if it is close to doing so. However, stress testing for an excessive amount of time could potentially shorten the lifespan of the system. Is there a line where hardware testing becomes hardware abuse?
Pix4D Cloud vs Local Processing
Written on January 5, 2018 by William GeorgePix4D is a photogrammetry application which can take sets of photographs and turn them into point clouds and 3D meshes, to make digital versions of real-world objects or locations. It supports both local processing on a workstation as well as uploading images to be processed in the cloud - but which is faster, and what advantages does each have?
A quick look at Titan V rendering performance
Written on December 12, 2017 by Matt BachThe latest in the Titan line is here, bringing along with it a very hefty price tag. We just got our first cards in and while we will be doing more in-depth testing in the near future, we wanted to take a look at some preliminary GPU-based rendering results.
NVIDIA Titan V Surprise
Written on December 8, 2017 by William GeorgeNVIDIA's CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang, dropped a bit of a bombshell at the NIPS conference yesterday: the launch - and immediate availability - of the next graphics card in NVIDIA's Titan series. It is called the Titan V, with V referring to the new Volta architecture it is based on. So what can we expect from the latest entry in the Titan lineup?
Why Do Hardware Reviewers Get Different Benchmark Results?
Written on October 7, 2017 by Matthew BachHardware reviews sometimes report wildly different results for the same CPU. What is going on that is causing some reviews to see higher or lower performance than others?
How I Used to Select Components for My Computers, and Why I Was Wrong
Written on October 5, 2017 by William GeorgeFor a long time I helped customers here at Puget Systems select the right hardware for their computers, but I didn't apply a key principle that I used at work to my own builds. Realizing that, I want to share this insight with other PC enthusiasts.
20 Years Ago I Bought a Wallet
Written on September 29, 2017 by Brett NordquistI never spent more than twenty bucks on a wallet. Most were made of nylon or faux leather that wore out after a year.
Why are we only using DDR4-2666 RAM with Threadripper?
Written on September 29, 2017 by Matthew BachPlenty of reviews show you can get higher performance by using faster memory, so why are we limiting our workstations to DDR4-2666?
Stop Directly Comparing CPU Specs
Written on August 8, 2017 by William GeorgeEvery time a new generation of CPUs is announced, I see a number of people writing about how they think it will be faster (or slower) than current technology because of the advertised specifications. CPU specs alone don't tell the whole story, though, and comparing core count and clock speed across different brands or generations of processors is extremely misleading. Stop doing it!
ANSYS Mechanical - Balancing Performance and Licensing Costs
Written on August 4, 2017 by William GeorgeWe test a lot of software here at Puget Systems, and in most cases what we are looking for is what hardware lets a given program run the fastest - or in some cases, what is the most cost effective. If you can get 95% of the best possible performance for half the price that it would cost to get a full 100%, for example, that is often a compelling way to go. However, ANSYS Mechanical (and FLUENT) present a different challenge: how can you get the best performance within the limitations of the ANSYS licensing model?
Intel & AMD: The 2017 CPU Wars
Written on June 16, 2017 by William GeorgeAMD is releasing a whole spectrum of new CPUs this year, from the consumer oriented Ryzen to the server-class Epyc. In response, Intel has accelerated their normal processor release cadence and is putting out new products across the board as well. We are here to explain a bit about what is going on, what to look forward to, and whether it is worth waiting for.
CPU Cores and Clock Speed - A Car Analogy
Written on May 31, 2017 by William GeorgeWe have published a short video looking at the basics of CPU cores and clock speed using the time honored tradition of a car analogy.
An Unhealthy Obsession
Written on May 26, 2017 by Brett NordquistUPS delivered a box to my door two weeks ago. Inside was something I told myself I didn't need because I already had a phone and tablet. My spouse and close friend talked about theirs at a level that borders on a unhealthy obsession.
Thunderbolt with PCs
Written on April 9, 2017 by Wilson ChauWe have recently an influx of Mac users wanting to migrate to PC but they generally have a few concerns. The first is having to learn Windows. The other is having Thunderbolt support. Let's see how we address those issues.
SSD vs HDD - Responsiveness Comparison
Written on April 4, 2017 by William GeorgeEveryone knows that solid state drives are much faster than magnetic hard drives, but just how much of a difference does it make when using typical applications in Windows? We made a video to demonstrate!
Windows 7: The End is Nigh
Written on March 16, 2017 by William GeorgeWindows 7 updates are being limited by Microsoft on the latest processor platforms, and in combination with the other issues we've seen lately when installing Windows 7 we are now only listing it as an option on well-supported configurations... until we run out of licenses, then it's over.
Bring On The New Year
Written on January 20, 2017 by Brett NordquistThe start to a new year is a good time to review your PC. Last weekend I pulled out my desktop PC and performed the following:
My 5 Favorite Products of 2016
Written on December 9, 2016 by Brett NordquistWith 2016 coming to end, I thought it would be interesting to look back at some of my favorite products of the last year. I prefer products that seamlessly blend into my life. That means they shouldn't require a lot of updates or ask me to change my behavior very much in order to enjoy them. With that in mind, here are five of my favorite products of 2016:
GPU Sag
Written on November 28, 2016 by Ruben RomeroHow the weight of a video card can affect a PCIe slot
When stock solutions just won't cut it
Written on November 16, 2016 by Nick KraderThought and work behind getting a problem fixed with one of our bigger chassis.
[BuildLog] 10Core i7 Workstation
Written on November 3, 2016 by Nick KraderA series showing the assembly process of customer machines here at Puget Systems. This time is an i7 with Quadro GPU inside a Fractal Define R5.
Podcast - William on Photo Taco
Written on August 23, 2016 by William GeorgeWilliam was recently a guest on the Photo Taco podcast, hosted by Jeff Harmon. You can listen to the podcast on the Improve Photography website, with William's interview starting at about 13 minutes in.
New Keyboard and Mouse options
Written on August 10, 2016 by Jeff StubbersIn a continued effort to offer higher quality components and better options, we recently took a look at our keyboard and mouse selection in answer to some recent feedback from customers.
Titan X is dead, long live Titan X!
Written on July 22, 2016 by William GeorgeMeet the all new Titan X, and don't get confused by the name