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Re: Re: Hardware question

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg60386] Re: [mg60317] Re: Hardware question
• From: Geir Sivertsen <blackscholes at mac.com>
• Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 05:26:39 -0400 (EDT)
• References: <dfp4ca$icf$1@smc.vnet.net> <dfrg7q$fol$1@smc.vnet.net> <200509131006.GAA09651@smc.vnet.net>
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

I warmly recommend Mathematica with the 64-bit G5 processor from IBM  
on the OSX platform. This processor performs excellent compared to  
any other processor. The dual G5 power Mac also supports 8 GB memory.  
Not only is the performance highly competitive, the OSX is based on a  
UNIX-like BSD-kernel, and the whole package is by far more stable and  
reliable than the Windows OS. The Linux platform is as reliable and I  
like it a lot, but I find the smooth user interface of the OSX to be  
superior, and I am not really sure whether 8 GB is supported on Linux?

Geir Sivertsen


On 13. sep. 2005, at 12.06, Ronald Bruck wrote:

> In article <dfrg7q$fol$1 at smc.vnet.net>, David Bailey
> <dave at Remove_Thisdbailey.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>> Manuel Schmidt wrote:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> does somebody know, what hardware is best for a huge mathematica
>>> calculation, that needs lots of memory?
>>> I think of minimum 8GB memory and the fastest possible processors
>>> (probably opterons???).
>>>
>>> However, it should be a personal computer.
>>>
>>> Is it better to run it under Linux or Windows?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Manuel Schmidt
>>>
>>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Really, that is equivalent to the question "How long is a piece of  
>> string".
>>
>> One thing that is important is that if you are going to get 8GB of
>> memory, you must make sure you install the 64-bit version of  
>> Windows (or
>> whatever) and the 64-bit version of Mathematica - otherwise, most of
>> that memory will just sit there idle.
>>
>> I would tend to go for Opterons, if only because AMD took a big  
>> risk in
>> introducing a rational 64-bit architecture and forcing Intel to  
>> follow
>> them - they deserve to get the business!
>>
>> Before spending a lot of money, it may be worth getting someone to  
>> look
>> at your code because it is very easy to write Mathematica code that
>> works, but is horrendously inefficient.
>>
>
> How long--and how wide :-)
>
> I have the fastest AMD chip in existence, the FX-55 (unless the FX-57
> is now available), but I couldn't find a mother board that could take
> more than 4GB of RAM.  (And if I put that much in, it would only see
> 3GB of it--a limitation of the bridge chip.)
>
> Also, does even Linux x86-64 allow 8GB without tweaking?
>
> --Ron Bruck
>
>

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: Re: Re: Hardware question
    • From: Renan <renan.birck@gmail.com>

• References:
  • Re: Hardware question
    • From: Ronald Bruck <bruck@math.usc.edu>