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General discussion

desktop for number crunching

by allenl Nov 18, 2004 9:36PM PST

What do I need to look for in a desktop that will be used almost exclusively for work. I need to run lots of numerical computations; Matlab and Fortran programs that can take longer than a day to run. I figure Pentium 4. How much better is hyper threading and then how much better is the HT extreme or whatever? Also, do I get as much processor speed as I can afford and then spend what's left on RAM or vice versa?

I'm a grad student so I'm on a budget. I currently have a Toshiba M2 laptop Pentium M 1.7Ghz with 1024 RAM. Can I get an affordable desktop that will provide significantly more speed?

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3 Posts
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Re: desktop for number crunching
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Nov 18, 2004 9:51PM PST
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Re: desktop for number crunching
by Willy Nov 18, 2004 11:59PM PST

It doesn't matter what you get now in cpu provided you get the fastest possible from Intel or AMD. However, INtel tends to be more agreeable to most pgms. out there not that I know first hand in your class of pgms.. Ram is always a plus, after the cpu selection get as much ram as possible of the same type, maker and mb sticks then install and use an OS like XP or Linux version you desire. I do suggest you keep this system case as cool as possible to help greatly in a stable system. As for dual cpus based systems, if you look into that direction, make sure whatever s/w you use allows itself to be used in dual-cpu mode, the whole s/w package must allow that, here it would help in the final results.

good luck -----Willy

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Re: desktop for number crunching
by JK654 Nov 21, 2004 2:05AM PST

For Fortran programs, by far the best idea is to get an Athlon 64 or Opteron system, and a 64 bit compiler that runs on 64 bit Linux. The 64 bit code code produced will run extremely rapidly.


http://www.devx.com/amd/Article/17999

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