Comments on: Don’t scrimp on Hardware! Its something that will vary very much based on labour cost versus equipment cost. Here in the UK (and I expect the US) the balance is very much towards staff expenses. My guide likely makes no financial sense (tho may make for happer coders ;) ) if cheap good coders are available, though instinct tells me that the percentage of the really good staff you want to retain stays roughly the same whatever the region, in fact it may mean spending more on happy coders outside the first world, as they can always ship abroad if wages are low and they aren't happy where the are. This of course is related to coder retention, there are A LOT of good places for programmers to work (not only in games, but google, MS, the city, start-ups, every where), so in simple terms programmers <strong>wages and happiness</strong> are in some ways the gating factor to producing quality games. No matter what else you do, if you cannot obtain and retain a quality code team your game will suck. The best art, marketing and design can't fix a broken code base, its the ultimate gating factor. However that topic is big, and gives me another idea for a blog. Its something that will vary very much based on labour cost versus equipment cost. Here in the UK (and I expect the US) the balance is very much towards staff expenses.
My guide likely makes no financial sense (tho may make for happer coders ;) ) if cheap good coders are available, though instinct tells me that the percentage of the really good staff you want to retain stays roughly the same whatever the region, in fact it may mean spending more on happy coders outside the first world, as they can always ship abroad if wages are low and they aren’t happy where the are.

This of course is related to coder retention, there are A LOT of good places for programmers to work (not only in games, but google, MS, the city, start-ups, every where), so in simple terms programmers wages and happiness are in some ways the gating factor to producing quality games.
No matter what else you do, if you cannot obtain and retain a quality code team your game will suck. The best art, marketing and design can’t fix a broken code base, its the ultimate gating factor.

However that topic is big, and gives me another idea for a blog.

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By: Ivan-Assen/2011/05/31/dont-scrimp-on-hardware/#comment-5080 Ivan-Assen Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:12:18 +0000 There are many smaller vendors that will do more custom builds than the big boys like Dell for IT depts that prefer a shipped rig. I've seen some pretty custom builds from Armari in the UK for example. The Velociraptor 300GB have got a bit of a bad rep, so likely the drives there. SSD shouldn't in a well balanced system make much difference to the workflow (just nice start up and full builds etc.), as if you've got the RAM most of the stuff is sitting there. And if you are CPU bound, you need more cores! time to ask the CFO for that 4P system :O However with the latest Xeon's and 2P can get you 40HW threads (tho the 10 core chips are very expensive, not value for money), so even if 2P is the limiter, 20+ HW threads is very doable today. A 48GiB RAM 24HW thread dual Xeon workstation from Armari (as an example) prices up about around £3500 ex VAT (~$5000) is ~1/3 of the cost of the big beast but still has ~1/2 the power. There are many smaller vendors that will do more custom builds than the big boys like Dell for IT depts that prefer a shipped rig. I’ve seen some pretty custom builds from Armari in the UK for example.
The Velociraptor 300GB have got a bit of a bad rep, so likely the drives there.

SSD shouldn’t in a well balanced system make much difference to the workflow (just nice start up and full builds etc.), as if you’ve got the RAM most of the stuff is sitting there. And if you are CPU bound, you need more cores! time to ask the CFO for that 4P system :O

However with the latest Xeon’s and 2P can get you 40HW threads (tho the 10 core chips are very expensive, not value for money), so even if 2P is the limiter, 20+ HW threads is very doable today. A 48GiB RAM 24HW thread dual Xeon workstation from Armari (as an example) prices up about around £3500 ex VAT (~$5000) is ~1/3 of the cost of the big beast but still has ~1/2 the power.

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By: Stefan Boberg/2011/05/31/dont-scrimp-on-hardware/#comment-5055 Stefan Boberg Wed, 01 Jun 2011 08:57:21 +0000 Buy servers (Dell or supermicro for example do these big configurations) and transplant them into a decent workstation cases if that the form factor you want. The server market tends to have more CPU power configurations IMHO, whereas the current workstation market is often geared (now) to more GPU power which doesn't help builds. So often its worth not just buying the off the shelf workstation offerings. Buy servers (Dell or supermicro for example do these big configurations) and transplant them into a decent workstation cases if that the form factor you want.
The server market tends to have more CPU power configurations IMHO, whereas the current workstation market is often geared (now) to more GPU power which doesn’t help builds. So often its worth not just buying the off the shelf workstation offerings.

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By: Michael Shaw/2011/05/31/dont-scrimp-on-hardware/#comment-5043 Michael Shaw Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:39:42 +0000 I admit I aimed high :D though its surprising how its not as expensive as its sounds at first glance. The 64GiB 48 Core machine over two years works out at around $600-700 a month, which as you point out is a fairly small percentage of the wages you pay. If they gets you even just 5% increase in productivity its likely the cheaper option and that without factoring how dead-line oriented we tend to be, so you might not be able to get 5% more time. And it makes us techno nerds happy, who wouldn't like twitpic'ing there 48 core task manager pics :D I admit I aimed high :D though its surprising how its not as expensive as its sounds at first glance. The 64GiB 48 Core machine over two years works out at around $600-700 a month, which as you point out is a fairly small percentage of the wages you pay. If they gets you even just 5% increase in productivity its likely the cheaper option and that without factoring how dead-line oriented we tend to be, so you might not be able to get 5% more time.
And it makes us techno nerds happy, who wouldn’t like twitpic’ing there 48 core task manager pics :D

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By: Stefan Boberg/2011/05/31/dont-scrimp-on-hardware/#comment-5032 Stefan Boberg Tue, 31 May 2011 18:25:59 +0000 On that note, I find a dual monitor configuration like 2x22" more convenient than a single gigantic 27"+ monitor, just because you can easily maximize 2 apps rather than having to layout the windows manually (although win 7 made that significantly better with shortcuts like Win+Left/Right/Up/Down). And things like debugging a fullscreen application are simply impossible with 1 monitor. On that note, I find a dual monitor configuration like 2×22″ more convenient than a single gigantic 27″+ monitor, just because you can easily maximize 2 apps rather than having to layout the windows manually (although win 7 made that significantly better with shortcuts like Win+Left/Right/Up/Down). And things like debugging a fullscreen application are simply impossible with 1 monitor.

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By: Bobby Anguelov/2011/05/31/dont-scrimp-on-hardware/#comment-5028 Bobby Anguelov Tue, 31 May 2011 16:29:56 +0000 I feel I should add that this goes for monitors as well: More screen real-estate is better. Don't afflict your employees with anything less than dual 22" monitors. 24" is better. 27" even better. Some lucky buggers have dual 30". This should be a no-brainer by now, as several studies have shown increase in productivity from increased desktop-resolution. Similarly, don't force your artists to work on TN-panel (18bit color) monitors: If they can't see the colors they are working with, they will have to guess at the results - likely resulting in more iterations (->time->money) than if they were working on proper monitors. They might be happier as well, possibly even staying at the company longer for this reason. I feel I should add that this goes for monitors as well: More screen real-estate is better. Don’t afflict your employees with anything less than dual 22″ monitors. 24″ is better. 27″ even better. Some lucky buggers have dual 30″. This should be a no-brainer by now, as several studies have shown increase in productivity from increased desktop-resolution.

Similarly, don’t force your artists to work on TN-panel (18bit color) monitors: If they can’t see the colors they are working with, they will have to guess at the results – likely resulting in more iterations (->time->money) than if they were working on proper monitors. They might be happier as well, possibly even staying at the company longer for this reason.

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