Reccommended System/Components For Graphics User

[bigeasy]

Radiologist here (X-ray Doc).

Looking for a system that can handle teleradiology and high end graphics (like making 3D reconstructions of skull and hip fractures, etc.)

Am I looking for a P4 3.0, 800 MHZ 865PE or 875 board - with Firewire onboard, USB 2.0, (SCSI-we have lots of 10k SCSI drives), Ethernet. 512- 1G RAM PC3200. Radeon 9600 or better. Prefer Dual monitor (19-21") capable. Via the Medical Imaging division of GE (makes our CT and MRI units) the costs were staggering.

Saw some Dell deals for 4600, 8300, and the 400 server over the past week; some other deals via Gateway. Advantage: these include some software - XP Pro etc.

Any pros out there recc a "build your own"?

Thanx

 

[Cerb]

If all the work is CPU, a Radeon 9600 would be great. If you're using LCDs, check the dual-DVI card list in the video section.
Are you using common programs and.or know of benchmarks with what you will be using?
Also, what current hardware do you use and how long does a typical stenuous task (like a hip fracture reconstruction) take?

Edit: just priced out a competent Precision 3GHz, 1GB non-ECC RAM, 2x 74GB Raptors (if not used in RAID, for a workstation they're as good as SCSI...now if you have controllers and.or drives around, that cahnges things ), and it was $2300. If that seems a decent price, go for it. Otherwise, build.

 

[bigeasy]

We have about 6-10 9G SCSI 10K drives lying around. Some 10-80 GB 5400 IDEs too. Although small in capacity, there is no added drive cost with SCSI. We also have external cases (noisy) and some cabling. Would need a high end SCSI card though. But I think this would be less expensive than buying 2-4 SATA s now. Hardware RAID might be costly vs software RAID (I haven't worked that through yet).
I know of no benchmarks for this type of endeavor.
Software-beyond OS (XP Pro I suspect) and basic utilities, appears to be in the $1,000-3,000 plus range. I suspect there are only a handful of people on this forum familiar with my needs and who have first first hand experience. Getting medical imaging "stuff" to work on 3rd party systems is often maddening.

All input welcome.

 

[Cerb]

If you have the SCSIs sitting around and typically aren't slowed bown by the drives, that's a good option.
As far as 3rd-party systems...what do you mean? What is your typical hardware and software platform, AND what hardware do you use to get the stuff into the workstation to deal with it?

Lastly, what is the preferred hardware budget, if there is one?

Granted, we won't know crap about your software, but we have some experience in figuring out good hardware combinations. KNowing what you use now and why you need the upgrade for it, also what systems are supported by your software, can be really helpful, since there are many choices for both building and buying.

 

[Zinn2b]

Go to www.raidcomputers.com and get the phone number and we can talk by phone there is special considerations that need to be looked at here. Because of your profession extra safe guards have to be put in place. We would love to have your business. But you are in a very serious business here and we take that very seriously. Just for a ballpark figure we are talking in the area of$5500 If that scares you I cann't be of service to you, Zinn2b