Building a number crunching machine for my dad.

2008-04-07 14:50:55

#1

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

Ok, so my dad is an Engineer and he needs a computer that will do numerical calculations really well (no gaming) and he's looking into the components for it.

So far, this is what I've come up with as a good setup:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (To be overclocked)
Corsair Nautilus 500 water cooling (or the Zalman 9700 if I can't convince him to use water)
4x2GB OCZ Reaper 800MHz DDR2
Mobo not decided yet (no SLi needed, just one PCI-E slot for an old 7600GT if the mobo doesn't have onboard)
PSU not decided yet
Case not decided (if he goes for water cooling, the only thing it will need are openings for the water pipes, airflow wouldn't be a huge deal, as quiet as possible)

What do you reckon?

2008-04-07 14:57:01

#2

GCFC: Davide Santon; +45|6201|NY/CT

why watercooling....?

2008-04-07 14:57:29

#3

rh27: Not really a Brit; +51|6868|England

Unless you're shitting money, you've made a serious overkill.

You don't need any more than dual-core and at most 2 gigs of RAM for that kind of machine.

I'd reconsider the parts you have chosen first I think.

2008-04-07 15:00:05

#4

Flaming_Maniac: prince of insufficient light; +2,490|6979|67.222.138.85

Just to make sure, this is for serious business number crunching right? Like sit running on the computer for hours or days right?

2008-04-07 15:01:29

#5

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6725|The Twilight Zone

I would recommend a faster memory (1200mhz) and faster HDD (raptor or SSD) .<---period

https://www.shrani.si/f/3H/7h/45GTw71U/untitled-1.png

2008-04-07 15:03:00

#6

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

Flaming_Maniac wrote:
Just to make sure, this is for serious business number crunching right? Like sit running on the computer for hours or days right?

Yep.

He just did a "simple" calculation on my E6600 and it took 4 hours

.Sup wrote:
I would recommend a faster memory (1200mhz) and faster HDD (raptor or SSD) .<---period

Why a raptor? I don't think the write speed of the disk should be a problem.

2008-04-07 15:06:15

#7

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6725|The Twilight Zone

PBAsydney wrote:
Flaming_Maniac wrote:
Just to make sure, this is for serious business number crunching right? Like sit running on the computer for hours or days right?
Yep.

He just did a "simple" calculation on my E6600 and it took 4 hours
.Sup wrote:
I would recommend a faster memory (1200mhz) and faster HDD (raptor or SSD) .<---period
Why a raptor? I don't think the write speed of the disk should be a problem.

I presume he will have a lot of files on his PC, he might move them a lot. If he wants a fast processor to do the operations as quickly as possible why not also have a fast HDD for moving the files that his quad will calculate?

2008-04-07 15:30:24

#8

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

He says that a 500GB 7200RPM will suffice.

By the way, it will be a 24/7 PC down at the university so he will need a top quality PSU.

GCFC wrote:
why watercooling....?

Overclocking and quietness.

Last edited by PBAsydney (2008-04-07 15:33:25)

2008-04-07 15:32:40

#9

Kurazoo: Pheasant Plucker; +440|6956|West Yorkshire, U.K

rh27 wrote:
Unless you're shitting money, you've made a serious overkill.

You don't need any more than dual-core and at most 2 gigs of RAM for that kind of machine.

I'd reconsider the parts you have chosen first I think.

2008-04-07 15:33:53

#10

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6921

What about getting a server type set up? If it's got to be on 24/7 then the higher quality components will be worth going for.

EDIT: What kind of budget are we talking? 'Cause a dual Xeon set up would shift some numbers pretty quick.

Last edited by ghettoperson (2008-04-07 15:35:05)

2008-04-07 15:34:40

#11

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

Kurazoo wrote:
rh27 wrote:
Unless you're shitting money, you've made a serious overkill.

You don't need any more than dual-core and at most 2 gigs of RAM for that kind of machine.

I'd reconsider the parts you have chosen first I think.

You guys do realize he's going to be using all four cores under 100% stress for many hours straight?

Besides, it's a work computer, he's not paying for it himself, the university is.

2008-04-07 15:35:15

#12

ReDevilJR: Member; +106|6623

PBAsydney wrote:
Flaming_Maniac wrote:
Just to make sure, this is for serious business number crunching right? Like sit running on the computer for hours or days right?
Yep.

He just did a "simple" calculation on my E6600 and it took 4 hours

So a faster quad would do it in about 2 Hours

Maybe Skull Trail? Get'er done in an hour..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6819115044

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6813121330

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6820227275 X 2 (Optional)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6822148295 X 2 (Optional)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6817151028

Last edited by ReDevilJR (2008-04-07 15:42:57)

2008-04-07 15:39:48

#13

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6921

What OS is it going to run? Windows Server? Linux?

2008-04-07 15:43:17

#14

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6921

This would give you a good start. I don't know much about server motherboards, so I threw in a Skulltrail, but I'm sure there are as good/better dual socket mobos out there for less cash.

https://img208.imageshack.us/img208/528/xeonkh1.jpg

2008-04-07 15:53:22

#15

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

ghettoperson wrote:
What OS is it going to run? Windows Server? Linux?

Debian Etch

And skulltrail is not an option since it isn't sold anywhere here in Iceland.

2008-04-07 15:54:51

#16

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6921

PBAsydney wrote:
ghettoperson wrote:
What OS is it going to run? Windows Server? Linux?
Debian Etch

And skulltrail is not an option since it isn't sold anywhere here in Iceland.

I'm sure you could order one in. But as I said, any decent server motherboard would do.

2008-04-07 16:06:46

#17

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

Is Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 a good enough mobo?

2008-04-07 16:08:00

#18

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6725|The Twilight Zone

PBAsydney wrote:
Is Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 a good enough mobo?

Get the DS5.

2008-04-07 16:08:09

#19

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6921

It'd be fine. But 2 CPU's would get the job done a lot faster.

2008-04-07 16:12:48

#20

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

.Sup wrote:
PBAsydney wrote:
Is Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 a good enough mobo?
Get the DS5.

Twice the price....for what perfomance gain?

And skulltrail would be far too much of a fuss tbh.

2008-04-07 16:18:10

#21

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6921

I wouldn't say it was much extra fuss, just need to stick on two heatsinks rather than one.

2008-04-07 16:20:32

#22

Sydney: 2λчиэλ; +783|7115|Reykjavík, Iceland.

ghettoperson wrote:
I wouldn't say it was much extra fuss, just need to stick on two heatsinks rather than one.

And triple the price....

I think we'll go for the GA-X38-DS4 and use 1066MHz RAM.

2008-04-07 16:25:26

#23

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6921

PBAsydney wrote:
ghettoperson wrote:
I wouldn't say it was much extra fuss, just need to stick on two heatsinks rather than one.
And triple the price....

I think we'll go for the GA-X38-DS4 and use 1066MHz RAM.

I assumed being a work project budget wouldn't be an issue. That will be fine though. PSU wise, something like a Thermaltake Toughpower 550w, or a Corsair HX520 would be fine.

2008-04-07 16:26:06

#24

[TUF]Whiskey_Oktober: mmmm...Toasty!; +91|6994|Oregon

get a good quad core; the one you have is fine, or an extreme would be even better. 8 gigs of ram is NOT overkill with vista; friend of mine built a system with 8gigs and vista, he designs tshirts and whatnot and says that programs that used to open in 5 minutes take 15 seconds (used to have 2gb, PentuimD, 160GB WD 16mb). anything above DDR2 800 is unnecessary, as the CPUs fsb is only 1333. also, get a good mobo and PSU. the 750/90i chipset is amazing from what i hear; the more money you spend here, the happier you will be. for PSU, i suggest this, as it will be very stable. and no, dont use water cooling. also, no, do not overclock the processor, or if you do, dont do it much.

for HDD, dont get a raptor. This Segate outperforms the raptors by a considerable margin. actually, i would get 4 of them in RAID5 if you can afford it.

for case, i always liked Lian-Li for a slick, simple case. not to mention theyre super light and mount the PSU on the bottom.

Last edited by [TUF]Whiskey_Oktober (2008-04-07 16:31:36)

2008-04-07 18:59:22

#25

cospengle: Member; +140|6759|Armidale, NSW, Australia

Can his software even use more than 1 core?

BF2S Forums Building a number crunching machine for my dad.

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

.Sup wrote:

PBAsydney wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

.Sup wrote:

GCFC wrote:

rh27 wrote:

Kurazoo wrote:

rh27 wrote:

PBAsydney wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

ghettoperson wrote:

PBAsydney wrote:

ghettoperson wrote:

PBAsydney wrote:

.Sup wrote:

PBAsydney wrote:

ghettoperson wrote:

PBAsydney wrote:

ghettoperson wrote:

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