topic Re: Upgrading Workstation in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Upgrading Workstation

JamesStewart-Moore1 — Wed, 08 May 2019 16:51:00 GMT

I have a budget of about $1,000 to upgrade my current workstation, and I would appreciate any input from the community on where my money will be best spent. I currently use ArcMap 10.6 to do all of my processing, however, I am planning to eventually migrate to using the 64-bit ArcPro (once I stop resisting change).

The majority of my work involves using the 3D Analyst and Spatial Analyst extensions. I do a lot of LiDAR processing, including ".lasd to raster", as well as using raster calculator expressions to generate subsequent products. These rasters are on the order of 10 GB in size, sometimes larger. Currently, my processing times seem long, i.e. ".lasd statistics to raster" might take 8 hours. Also, my drawing/rendering time is quite long. When I have a feature such as contours for a large area, it can take 30 seconds or so for the entire layer to render each time the frame is moved.

My Current Workstation:

Dell T5810

Xeon E5-1603 v3 @2.8 GHz

8.0 GB 2133 MHz DD4 RAM

NVIDIA Quadro K420

256 GB HD (connected to network with 20 TB)

My thoughts are to upgrade to 32 or 64 GB of RAM and update the graphics card. From what I understand, the NVIDIA quaddro line is well suited to Arc. I have been looking at the Quadro K2200, but I am open to suggestions if there are better ones out there.

Where would you spend the $1,000?

Re: Upgrading Workstation

DEWright_CA — Wed, 08 May 2019 17:02:33 GMT

You can never go wrong with more RAM; that is a great place to consider. Also consider the HDD; since Arc using a fGDB for it's scratch space the more you have that is faster (SDD) gives you some good flexibility.

Re: Upgrading Workstation

ThomasColson — Wed, 08 May 2019 20:22:06 GMT

Don't waste the money! That E5-1603 belongs in a museum! I'm guessing your IT/chain of command is telling you that budget #. Point out to them if they want you to continue to be able to do your job....

Here's what I got recently for about 12 folks, there was a LOT of discussion with management and IT about the cost, and where we landed was an intelligent and meaningful conversation between management and GIS about what expectations management had about what GIS was going to do for them in the future, or not. What worked well for me was a detailed spreadsheet of Pro Performance on the current workstation, the rate at which Pro min hardware requirements increases (which is high), and a multiplier on top of that as Pro min requirement do not translate to a workstation that will actually do things like Lidar Processing, a return on investment calculation....I really put a lot of effort into convincing the chain of command what I thought we needed and in the end I got more than I asked for, and I've put a lot, lot of time into testing Pro and hardware in a realistic production environment that utilizes almost every Pro component. We set a target life span of these new workstation of 3 years, and in order to get them in service I actually had to volunteer at IT on my off days to get them imaged, as management thinks IT has nothing to do and cut one of their positions, the workstations would have sat there for a year otherwise. My hope is I might be able to get another "Pro" year or two on them with some small memory upgrades. I'm also having more frequent discussions with middle management to make sure they are programming GIS workstation budget into their 3 and 5 year budget plans for their employees that have GIS as assigned duties, where previously we programmed GIS workstations into the "If there's anything left at the end of the year" account.

For real, I wouldn't put money into your existing antique. You're not going to be happy with it and Pro in 18 months, and your boss (or you) is going to be wondering about the quality of your budget advice. Your problems are a direct result of the age of the motherboard, lack of physical/virtual cpu cores, slow memory and bus speed, and 5000$ in upgrades aren't going to make those things any better. That memory speed is pretty low, and I don't think you can go to a higher frequency on that motherboard, so even with 64 GB of ram, it's going to be bottlenecked at the CPU bus. That video card is a dinosaur too, it's a geriatric 5 years old in the Pro universe, I don't have that model but I have had ESRI tell me another NVIDIA model was on the rails of "not supported" and it was a high-end, 5 year old card. So that splits your budget, 200-ish for a new vid card, 2-400 for memory, and leftover for a SSD, which in the end will result in ".lasd statistics to raster" might take 8 hours" shortening to "".lasd statistics to raster" might take 7 hours 55 minutes."

My two cents: Beg for the money for a new workstation, and re image your current one. Re imaging might get you into ".lasd statistics to raster" might take 6 hours."

eQuote Details

Description

Quantity

Price

| OptiPlex 7060 MT

$3,089.77

Premier discount

$1,019.62

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$2,070.15

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OptiPlex 7060 MT	Optiplex 7060 Mini Tower XCTO	GEL2Q5H	[210-AOKJ]	1
Processor	Intel Core™ i7-8700 (6 Cores/12MB/12T/up to 4.6GHz/65W); supports Windows 10/Linux	GVT4H1R	[338-BNZW]	146
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Hard Drive	M.2 256GB PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive	G24H537	[400-AWFT] [773-BBBC]	8
Additional Hard Drive	No Additional Hard Drive	G780XKR	[401-AANH]	637
Video Card	AMD Radeon™ RX 550, 4GB, FH (DP/mDP/mDP)	G3YO86R	[490-BEFU]	6
CD ROM/DVD ROM	8x DVD+/-RW 9.5mm Optical Disk Drive	G589BYA	[325-BCXM] [429-ABFH]	16
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Wireless	No Wireless LAN Card	GE7Y41P	[555-BBFO]	19
Driver	No Wireless	GVHB6TP	[555-BBFO]	7
PCI Card	USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 2 PCIe Card (Full Height)	GGFP90O	[382-BBFQ]	698
Chassis Options	OptiPlex 7060 Tower with 260W up to 85% efficient Power Supply (80Plus Bronze)	G67A9OF	[329-BDSK]	116
Keyboard	Dell KB813 Smart Card Keyboard (US)	GNR9U8H	[580-AFDH]	4
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Placemat	MOD,PLCMT,QSG,7060,MT,DAO1	GR0FOKM	[340-CDYY]	60
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Protect Your New PC	No Security Software	NOSS	[650-AAAM]	1014
Optical Software	PowerDVD Software not included	GI5LS2C	[632-BBBJ]	597
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Regulatory Label	Regulatory Label 7060 Mini Tower	GSX8752	[389-CXGK]	676
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Hard Drive Software	NO INTEL RESPONSIVE	GH8DSLC	[551-BBBJ]	707
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Documentation/Disks	Safety/Environment and Regulatory Guide (English/French Multi-language)	G7RB0GY	[340-AGIK]	21
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Hardware Support Services	4 Years Hardware Service with Onsite/In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis	G5R3XB7	[812-3886] [812-3889]	29

eQuote Subtotal	$2,070.15
Promotional Discounts*	$0.00
Shipping*	$0.00
Shipping Discount*	$0.00
Estimated Tax*	$0.00

eQuote Total*

$2,070.15

*The eQuote total, including applicable taxes and additional fees, may be viewable online.

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Unit Price

Subtotal

Mobile Precision 5520

$2,646.79

eQuote Subtotal	$2,646.79
Promotional Discounts*	$0.00
Shipping*	$0.00
Shipping Discount*	$0.00
Estimated Tax*	$0.00
Environmental Disposal Fee*	$0.00

eQuote Total*

$2,646.79

*The eQuote total, including applicable taxes and additional fees, may be viewable online.

eQuote Details

Description

Quantity

Price

xctop5520hwtaa | Mobile Precision 5520

$3,950.43

Premier discount

$1,303.64

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Module	Description	Product Code	Sku	ID
Dell Mobile Precision Workstations 5520	Dell Mobile Precision Workstation 5520 XCTOG	X5520TG	[210-AKNC]	1
Processor	Intel Core i7-7820HQ (Quad Core 2.90GHz, 3.90GHz Turbo, 8MB 45W, w/Intel HD Graphics 630)	I77820H	[379-BCRI]	146
Operating System	Ubuntu Linux 16.04	UBUNTU	[605-BBMN]	11
Office Productivity Software	No Productivity Software	NOPSW	[630-AAPK]	1002
Dell Data Security	No Dell Data Protection \| Endpoint Security Suite Software	NODDP	[634-BENZ]	593
Video Card	Nvidia Quadro M1200 w/4GB GDDR5	NVIDIA	[490-BDQB]	6
LCD	15.6" UltraSharp™ FHD IPS (1920x1080) Wide View Anti-Glare LED-backlit w/Prem Pn Grnt, Non-touch	FHD	[391-BDBB]	760
Base Options	Intel Core i7-7820HQ w/Intel HD Graphics 630 for Win10 & Linux only	KDI7G	[329-BDGX]	149
Palmrest	Palmrest for English Keyboard	PLSTGSA	[346-BBTP]	55
Memory	32GB, DDR4-2400MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMS	32G2D4	[370-ADHQ]	3
Primary Storage	M.2 PCIe 512GB SSD Class 50	512HP	[400-AOSN] [412-AAHG]	8
Secondary Storage	No Additional Hard Drive	NOHDDA	[401-AADF]	637
Keyboard	Internal Single Pointing Backlit Keyboard, English	KYBDGSA	[580-AEEY]	4
Wireless	Dell Wireless 1820 Card (802.11AC Dual-Band Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2), 2x2	1820	[555-BDGM]	19
Primary Battery	6-cell (97Wh) Lithium Ion battery with ExpressCharge™	6C	[451-BCBU]	112
Power Supply	130w Power Adapter	AC130W	[470-ABVP] [492-BBXM]	1015
Systems Management	No Out-of-Band Systems Management	NOVPRO	[631-ABEW]	49
Optimizer	No Optimizer	NOOPT	[640-BBQT]	372
Operating System Recovery Options	No Media	NOMEDIA	[620-AAOH]	200013
Energy Efficiency Options	No External CD/DVD Drive	NONE	[817-BBBP]	122
Docking Station	No External CD/DVD Drive	NONE	[452-BBSE]	271
Documentation/Disks	Safety/Environment and Regulatory Guide (English/French Multi-language)	EFDOC	[340-AGIK]	21
FGA Module	No FGA	NOFGA	[817-BBBB]	572
Packaging	SHUTTLE Ship Material	TSHTLE	[328-BCLP] [340-ARFJ]	465
Placemat	No Quick Reference Guide	NOTSH	[340-AASE]	60
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Driver	Dell Wireless 1820,5520	1820	[555-BDIH]	7
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Label	Regulatory Label Included	REG	[389-BEYY]	676
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Cable	US Power Cord	US25A	[537-BBBD]	20
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eQuote Subtotal	$2,646.79
Promotional Discounts*	$0.00
Shipping*	$0.00
Shipping Discount*	$0.00
Estimated Tax*	$0.00

eQuote Total*

$2,646.79

*The eQuote total, including applicable taxes and additional fees, may be viewable online.

Re: Upgrading Workstation

JamesStewart-Moore1 — Wed, 08 May 2019 21:40:15 GMT

I am actually the one who came up with the budget. I work in a small geotechnical engineering firm and am a geologist by profession, but I happen to use Arc for the majority of my work. The owner of the company is my direct boss, so getting him to OK something that will help the company save time/money should not be an issue. I think that a system of ~$3k is something that I could easily propose without much resistance.

I am curious why you went with an i7 over a Xeon? Was this simply due to the budget you had to work with?

I am looking at a configuration of this system:

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/workstations-isv-certified-dell/precision-5820-tower/spd/precision-5820-workstation/xctopt5820us_4

likely spending the $135 to upgrade to the Xeon X-W2135 for the 6 cores. The system comes standard with NVIDIA Quadro P4000.

Thoughts?

Re: Upgrading Workstation

DEWright_CA — Wed, 08 May 2019 21:43:51 GMT

Working in a Engineering firm; you might be using more than just Arc on the machine; so going with the Xeon would be my recommendation (former Site/Civil Designer in AutoCAD & Microstation). There are plenty of places where the higher cache capacity and higher command-sets are used in software.

Re: Upgrading Workstation

ThomasColson — Thu, 09 May 2019 10:58:52 GMT

In that case:

List Price$5,227.29

Total Savings$1,576.59

Dell Price$3,650.70

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Option	Selection	SKU / Product Code	Quantity
Processor	Intel Xeon W-2133 (3.6GHz, 3.9GHz Turbo, 6C, 8.25MB Cache, HT, (140W)) DDR4-2666	[338-BNBN][412-AALF] / W2133	1
Operating System	Windows 10 Pro for Workstation (4 Cores Plus) Multi - English, French, Spanish	[619-AMSU] / 10P6T2M	1
Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook & more)	None		1
Microsoft Office	Microsoft Office 30 Day Trial	[658-BCSB] / 16MUI	1
Chassis Options	Precision 5820 Tower 950W PCIe FlexBay Chassis	[321-BDWC] / G5879SN	1
Graphics Card	NVIDIA® Quadro® P4000, 8GB, 4 DP (5820T)	[490-BEBH] / P4000	1
Memoryⁱ	32GB 2x16GB DDR4 2666MHz RDIMM ECC	[370-ADVE] / 32G216	1
Systems Management	No Out-of-Band Systems Management	[631-ABML] / NOVPRO	1
Wireless	No Wireless LAN	[555-BBNI] / GW1SM6D	1
Operating System (Boot) Drive	Intel NVMe PCIe SSD (Front PCIe FlexBay)	[414-BBBV] / FFPCIE	1
Hard Drive Controllers	Intel Integrated controller (RST-e) with 1-2 Front FlexBay NVMe PCIe Drives,v2	[321-BDWI] / GCDH8PJ	1
Hard Drive	M.2 512GB PCIe NVMe Class 50 Solid State Drive	[400-AVDR][401-ABGX] / 512C5ME	1
2nd Hard Drive	No Hard Drive	[400-AKZR] / NOHDD	1
Lockable HDD/SSD Sleds	None		1
3rd Hard Drive	No Hard Drive	[400-AKZR] / NOHDD	1
4th Hard Drive	No Hard Drive	[400-AKZR] / NOHDD	1
Slimline Bay Options	Slim filler panel (no opt.)	[429-ABEP] / NOSLODD	1
Optical Drive	No Optical	[429-ABER] / NOODD	1
5th Hard Drive	No Hard Drive	[400-AKZR] / NOHDD	1
6th Hard Drive	No Hard Drive	[400-AKZR] / NOHDD	1
RAID for HDD/SSD & Front PCIe NVMe SSDs	No RAID	[780-BBCJ] / NORAID	1
Dell Ultra-Speed Drives (PCIe SSDs)	None		1
RAID Configurations for Dell Ultra-Speed Drives	None		1
Keyboard	No Keyboard	[580-ABIS] / NKB	1
Mouse	No Mouse	[570-AADK] / NMSE	1
Teradici Remote Workstation Access Host Card	No Remote Access Host Card	[340-ADBJ] / NHSTCRD	1
Network Cards	No Add-In Network Card (Integrated NIC only)	[555-BBJO] / NONIC	1
PCIe I/O Cards	Not Selected in this Configuration	[817-BBBC] / NOTHB	1
Serial Port/PS2 Adapter	Full Height Serial Card	[492-BCGW] / SERCDFH	1
Power Cords	US 125V Power Cord	[470-AAKG] / USPWR	1
Resource DVD	Resource DVD not Included	[430-XXYU] / NORDVD	1
Operating System Recovery Options	OS-Windows Media Not Included	[620-AALW] / NOMEDIA	1
E-Star	No Energy Star	[387-BBBE] / NOESTAR	1
Optimizer	Dell Precision Optimizer	[640-BBRC] / OPTMZR	1
Optical Software	No Optical Software	[817-BBBC] / NOSWODD	1
Dell Endpoint Security	None		1
Absolute Security - Standard	None		1
Cables and Dongles	No Accessories	[461-AABV] / NOACCES	1
Security Software	No Security Software	[650-AAAM] / NOSS	1
Driver	No Wireless LAN	[555-BBNI] / GW1SM6D	1
UPC Label	No UPC Label	[389-BCGW] / G8WGTYN	1

Support & Services

Option	Selection	SKU / Product Code	Quantity
Warrantyⁱ	3 Years ProSupport Plus with Next Business Day Onsite Service	[997-7163][997-7232][997-7242][997-7252][997-7272] / PPN3	1
Accidental Damage	None		1
Keep Your Hard Drive	None		1
ProDeploy Client Suite	None		1
HDD Partition - Standard	None		1
Drop in Box Accessories - Standard	None		1
Airwatch Application - Standard	None		1

Re: Upgrading Workstation

JamesStewart-Moore1 — Thu, 09 May 2019 16:19:35 GMT

I really appreciate all the feedback. I went with this exact configuration except I went with the Xeon W-2145 for the 8 core upgrade. I was not aware that both ArcPro and Desktop versions 10 and later were true multi-core.

Re: Upgrading Workstation

DEWright_CA — Thu, 09 May 2019 16:21:25 GMT

This is actually the config I have right now; but with Dual-Xeons as a cluster of 3 machines. Very nice platform.

Re: Upgrading Workstation

JamesStewart-Moore1 — Thu, 09 May 2019 16:33:06 GMT

Do you find the processing to be quick?

Re: Upgrading Workstation

DEWright_CA — Thu, 09 May 2019 16:39:21 GMT

Yes, but for me a lot of my jobs & processes we have updated to be multi-threaded or concurrently processing. So the newer machines which are not a huge upgrade from the ones I had bought 5 years about (shift from Dual 8 Cores with hyper-threading) just allows me to spin up more blocks of processing. So a job that would run in 30 hours is running in just under 20; so that is a improvement but with each annual & quarter process I run my data increases by 10%-15%.

So in the end its just having good consistent expectations; and the Xeons give that; versus say the I7 or I9 which can do great stuff but aren't designed for workstation class processing.

Re: Upgrading Workstation

ThomasColson — Thu, 09 May 2019 17:45:14 GMT

So that's actually going to give you 16 virtual cores. I got dual 12 core xeons on my last workstation, having all those cores IMHO does more for Pro performance than memory.

Re: Upgrading Workstation

DEWright_CA — Thu, 09 May 2019 17:53:06 GMT

Pro is fully multi-threaded and 64bit aware; ArcGIS Desktop (ArcCatalog/ArcMap) is 32bit and not multi-threaded aware; but you are able to fake it really well using python/georprocessing tools.

Re: Upgrading Workstation

JamesStewart-Moore1 — Tue, 28 May 2019 19:11:49 GMT

I have had the new setup now for about a week. The only remark that I can make is, "WOW!". What an improvement over my last workstation. It feels so snappy and light.

I am now working almost exclusively on Pro. I thought that the transition would me much more painful, but it turns out that the resistance to the transition was the painful part.... as per usual.

topic Re: Upgrading Workstation in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Upgrading Workstation

Re: Upgrading Workstation

Re: Upgrading Workstation

Re: Upgrading Workstation

Re: Upgrading Workstation

Re: Upgrading Workstation

Dell Price$3,650.70

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Re: Upgrading Workstation

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