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What do I need for number crunching?

yellowputty

yellowputty

yellowputty

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22 Jan 2005
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186
I suppose a quick look over benchmark results of SuperPi would answer this question, but if I'm wanting to run intense numerical code, what sort of processor should I be looking at?

I know nothing about Intel, so for example, is it better to go for lower clock and 8 core such as the AMD FX-8 8120 3.1Ghz, or faster 4 core AMD FX-4 4170 4.2GHz.

Also, I really would like to know, does a lot of RAM help in running code? Would a SSD be useful or is this not important for this case?

Thanks for looking ;)
 
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Depends on the applications you had in mind.
If your wanting to use the CPU then Intel SB or SB-e are best, especialy if the software is using AVX.
Depends how deep your pockets are, multi socket xeon rigs are very pricey.

Some apps have been ported to CUDA so NV 580's are a good choice there.
Unles of course you can afford a tesla cluster.

Wan't to go bit coin mining then then ATI cards are a good bet.

Really depends on what software you intend to use.
 
Hmmm, well I'm fairly sure they're both well out of my price bracket! I should have been a bit clearer. When I say intense numerical code, I mean C based mavity codes which model billions of particles over thousands/millions of years. This is normally done on a super computer, but I want to maybe have it running for shorter timescales on my own PC, to check that any modifications to my code are making an immediate effect.

I'm looking at standard hardware, although when I have some deeper pockets, I do want to look into CUDA, because I hear good things of this.

So my original questions include high clock speed vs cores, amount of ram, and SSD use?

Thank you :)
 
Sounds like you wan't distributed computing to do that.
Break the work up into bite size pieces and use BOINC.

There are a great number of people who will give there computing time for free as long as you give them cobblestones.

cobblestones = points
 
Definitely more cores for number crunching, and definitely intel vs amd.

If you have the money you should look at the 6 core socket lga 2011 processors, if not then the lgs 1155 core i7 3770k should be your port of call. Hyperthreading will help as well, so go for i7's not i5's. Again though, if you have the money.

Ultimately CUDA should vastly outperform regular cpu's, but it more money again and obviously not standard hardware as you have said you want.

RAM will help in terms of the instances or numbers of variables you can run, don't think it effects speed, but more RAM = more variables possible. I am enitrely unaware of how SSD's will effect number crunching so can't really comment, but it doesn't increase things like game FPS so maybe it won't...

Hope that helps :)
 
A chess engine running on 6 core 3930k can analyse 20 million moves per second which to try and put into some kind of perspective is around a tenth of the computing power of the Deep Blue super computer that Garry Kasparaov played in those famous games.

Anyway enough of the chess history lesson these chess benchmark results in the link should give you an idea of how lots of different processors will perform relatively against each other in the kind of branching calculations you describe earlier in the thread.

http://www.sedatcanbaz.com/chess/fritz-chess-benchmarks/

If you can pick up a 6 core I7 970/980 system cheaply then that could be another option to look at if that's it's main function and the C code you're using is designed to take advantage of multiple cores.

With regards to a SSD that may make a difference depending on the frequency of results / size of data being read from or written to disk. If you'd expect a standard hard drive to be working heavily then I'd say yeah go for a SSD it'll speed up general day to day computing a lot which means no more 'egg timer rage' ever as your hard drive struggles to keep up..
 
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Ghøst, thank you for the history lesson and also the useful benchmarks page. The code definitely utilises multiple cores!

Didn't know quite how expensive these chips are.
 
Might not be suitable to you but have you considering leasing some computing power? Places such as amazon offer such services but I have no personal experience of them.
 
go for the best Intel CPU you can afford ideally with AVX (assuming your ap makes use of it), make sure you dont run out of ram as you will slow down at least 100x. With you program make sure you use a optimised compiler Intel C++ Composer is the fastest out there. If you have deep pockets wait for the MIC card from Intel similar idea to CUDA but still using x86 cores much less changes to your code.
 
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