Windows 7: New Dell Workstation Recomendations

I was not sure were to post this to get you experts to see it but if this is the wrong place sorry.

We are in the process of upgrading a couple workstations. One users is strictly a AcrMap cartographer. The other is a CS3 user doing our monthly magazine.



We have had good luck with Dell and they give our agency a good price break. The two models I am looking at are the T3400 and the T7400.

Which would provide the best performance for the above uses???

1.T3400: Core2Quad Q9550, 8GB 800-ECC, FX3700, Dual 2007FP, Boot HD 80GB 10K, Data Drive 300GB 10K.

or:

2.T7400: Quad Xeon X5472, 8GB 800-ECC, FX3700, Dual 2007FP, Boot HD 80GB 10K, Data Drive 300GB 10K. (Only single processor for now)

Would the extra cost of the Xeon (considering it is just a single) justifly any increased performace and/or room to grow when adding the second processor.

Thanks for any help.

jjw
ND

Are you sure this is relavant to Windows 7?

First a general guideline:

If you use it for desktop applications (which I doubt in your case), you'll need a CPU that handles many active running processes at once and does better in multitasking, so I'd suggest the QuadCore.

If you want to optimize background services, though, Xeon has the lead on that. That's why its mostly used on server machines.

Now on your case, I believe QuadCore will serve you better.