New PC: biggest bang for the buck?

[georg.viehoever]

Same for largest beast EC has. c2.8xlarge instance (60,5 GB, 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2670, Eight-Core-Architektur "Sandy Bridge", $2.970/h, needs special OS image and only in US East (Virginia)):

- Benchmark_M74_parallel.psm: 12.6 seconds.

Georg

[Nocturnal]

Sorry, should have assumed you knew how to do this

[topboxman]

My latest computer: Benchmark_M74_parallel.psm: Average 8.5 seconds (Min: 8.3 and Max 8.8 seconds) .

Windows 7 64 bit
Asus Rampage IV Gene LGA2011 Motherboard
I7-3820 LGA2011 Quad Core CPU (3.6 GHz), no overclock
16GB DDR3 1866
1TB 6GB/s 7200RPM HDD
Sapphire HD7770 PCI 3.0 1GHz video card


10 year old computer: Benchmark_M74_parallel.psm: 75 seconds

Windows 7 32 bit
Asus P4C800 Deluxe Motherboard, 150MB/s SATA
P4 3GHz Hyperthread single core CPU
2GB RAM DDR400
1TB HDD connected to 150MB/s SATA on motherboard
AGP video card

[Nocturnal]

Nice!

[viktorbravo]

I've been reading this thread for a while and although much of it is way beyond my computer knowledge it has prompted me to try and build my own system.  I understand its not terribly difficult to do, but should I expect to make expensive screw ups on my first attempt?  Would I be better off just buying a higher end gaming machine off the shelf?

I also am having trouble finding which compnents are compatible, CPU/motherboard/graphics cards etc.  Is there a site you folks use to find whats compatible?

I would like to build a smoking fast machine for image and video processing.  I can spend about $2500 USD without the montior, but for that cost, I want room to upgrade/expand.

I was thinking of building around the second gen i7 six core processor but I see AMD has an 8 core processor out there.  Which would you choose?  I'm still trying to learn what components are the most important for image/video processing.  Obviously, processor, memory and graphics cards but I am just leaning about this stuff and realize that a lot of components have to play well together to get the most out of the system.  I'm also starting to learn about RAID, what it is but I still cant figure out why I would need this configuration for image/video processing.

As far as OS's go.  I am familiar with Windows and OSX.  I hear a lot of folks talk about the Linux system, but I know next to nothing about it so am inclined to go with either Windows 7 or OSX.

Sorry for all the newbie questions but you guys seem like a wealth of computer knowledge.

Any advice or sites you could point me to for further learning would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

[Nocturnal]

Building a computer is not for the faint of heart and if this is your first time you should be prepared to do a lot of reading to understand all the terminology. Sites like Toms Hardware and Anandtech or some of the oldest sites on this topic and still relevant. Toms Hardware regularly puts together systems in separate classes. This may be a good starting point for you. Given that you have a high budget you may be better off buying an off-the-shelf system from Dell and equip it just the way you like it.

Check out this $2600 example.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3930k-overclock-radeon-hd-7970,3158.html

Of course you also need to be comfortable assembling all the pieces, debugging things when they don't work and installing an OS from scratch. I enjoy such pain but many people don't

[viktorbravo]

Thanks for the websites Sander.  I might try building a much cheaper machine first to get the hang of it.  I have a lot of reading to do. :-)

[topboxman]

If you are not a gamer, all you need is fast 64 bit CPU, lots of RAM, and fast hard drive for PixInsight processing. You just need high computational power. I don't think you don't need high end video card. My video card is Sapphire 7770 and costs only $160. My new complete system costs me about $1500 to build excluding the monitor which I already have. This includes i7-3820 LGA 2011 CPU, CPU fan, ASUS motherboard, 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD, new DVD burner, 1KW power supply, Antec DF-85 case. Two most expensive parts are CPU and motherboard and they costs about $600. Software of course is extra including PixInsight.

Peter

[Nocturnal]

Agreed, I generally buy the best video card I can get for about $200. There's always a possibility PI will get some modules that are CUDA or OpenCL enhanced but it may not happen for a long time. You need good fill rates even for 2D stuff like what PI does so definitely go with a discrete graphics adapter rather than the built-in.

[DarrenS]

Just built a new pc using the i5 2500k chip, z68 mother board, 8gb ram + couple of sata hdd for data storage.
Forget the discrete graphics card (unless you are gaming) the onboard CPU HD3000 gfx are more than capable enough for pixin then spend the money saved on a SSD.
Install 64bit OS on the SSD and save your data on the HDD.

Windows 7 pro boots and fully running in 15s. 

Pixinsight runs very well   

already had the case, hdd's + DVD and waited for a few deals so the total cost of the cpu + mb + ram + ssd + 600w PSU came to £370
Darren

[topboxman]

I had to completely buy all new computer parts because my 10 year old computer parts were incompatiable with new parts. Even the DVD burner was still using parallel IDE interface. The new motherboard no longer use parallel IDE interface. I couldn't use the old case because I accidentally bought an non-standard and oversized Antec 1KW power supply. I had two choices, either exchange the power supply to work with standard computer case or get another Antec case to fit with new power supply and I opted for a new case which I am glad because it comes with 7 super quiet and cool fans.

Read everything for each part before you order to make sure each part will work. NewEgg never gave me a big warning about the non-standard size power supply. You should read reviews about this power supply at NewEgg and the number one complaint is that it won't work with standard computer cases. I am glad it happened to me anyway because the new case is much better and cooler than my old case.

Peter

[viktorbravo]

Thanks for the replies.  I think I will build a moderately powerful system to start off with.  Is there anything special I need to consider building a dual boot system (Linux and OSX) besides simply using an intel processor?

[Carlos Milovic]

Why intel processor? Does OSX not run in AMD's?

[georg.viehoever]

Thanks for the replies.  I think I will build a moderately powerful system to start off with.  Is there anything special I need to consider building a dual boot system (Linux and OSX) besides simply using an intel processor?

Will OSX run on any home grown system? If you mean Linux+Windows, just make sure that your primary HD is <= 2TB. Beyond this, things can become difficult.
Georg

[georg.viehoever]

i7-2700k@3.5 GHz (4core+HT), 8GB RAM, Z68 Chipset, SSD used as cache (Intel SRT)
Benchmark_M74_parallel.psm: 8.4 seconds