A few questions.

yellowputty

yellowputty

yellowputty

Associate
Joined
22 Jan 2005
Posts
186
Dear OCUK,

I have a few questions covering topics in processing, memory and hard disks.

I am trying to build a system on a minimal budget, which will run Linux and be used only for number crunching - specifically a code which will benefit from multiple cores.

1. CPU: The budget is such that I cannot easily justify the purchase of an i7 without asking questions. For these purposes I'll ask for comparison between the 3570k and the 3770k. I have been informed the the i5 can be very well overclocked on air, and performances between the high end i5 and low end i7 are sometimes minimal. I'm hoping for some sort of comparison with multi threading as the focus.

2. How important is RAM in number crunching? Also, how important are the 'types'?

For example, would 16GB of Dual Channel 10666 or 8GB of Quad Channel 14400 be preferential and why?

3. My program can potentially output a huge amount of data in a short time, continually writing to text files. Would I be OK with a 1TB standard HDD or would it be hugely improved if it was first to be processed by a solid state drive? If so, what are the attributes of the drive that would make the difference? Eg. read/write.

4. When I look at motherboards, they are split into a ridiculous amount of chipsets. Are these feature increase only, or does it contribute to a performance increase too?

Thanks for any answers in advance, the replies will affect my rig significantly.
 
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1) If you're on a tight budget and need lots of cores above anything else, this may be one of the rare occasions when an AMD bulldozer chip makes sense. A Phenom II X6 would be even better if you can find one.

2) Depends entirely on the particular program you're using. In general RAM speed doesn't have a massive impact on performance.

3) If your program is limited by disk speed, then an SSD will have huge performance benefits.

4) Chipsets tend to add features rather than performance. The exception is boards designed for overclocking which have better cooling and power management to enable high clockspeeds.
 
Thank you Blue160. I have been a user of AMD chips for a long time, and I had considered the Bulldozer despite the general negative feedback, however the FPU apparently bottlenecks the improvement of the full 8 physical cores. As for the Phenom II x6 which appears to be an improvement for multithreading, it does appear a little difficult to find.
 
It depends on your specific program. If cores are everything, you might find the eight sort of cores in the bulldozer faster than the four proper ones in an i5.

If not then pick an i5. You need to know if your program is affected by clockspeed in a big way before deciding which one you want.

Your other option is going second hand. You may find older i7's within budget if you go this route.
 
It's an advanced n-body and collision code, which splits up millions of particles and dishes them out equally to the cores. The processor speed has a significant effect as well - which processor does this task lend itself to?
 
I understood most of the words in that post, but not a lot else :D

You need someone more knowledgeable than me :) Sounds pretty specialist, but I hope someone on here can help.
 
Blue160 said:
I understood most of the words in that post, but not a lot else :D

You need someone more knowledgeable than me :) Sounds pretty specialist, but I hope someone on here can help.
Click to expand...

Ha! No, don't worry your advice is fine - if I had an extensive budget I could get serious equipment like some Intel Xeons etc, but I'm trying to get the best budget system for my money on standard computing hardware - but with number crunching in mind.

I have access to a super computer most of the time, but I'm wanting something lite to test my code for short timescales (of the simulation).
 
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