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Re: Re: $10K Mathematica Machine

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  • Subject: [mg77022] Re: [mg76935] Re: $10K Mathematica Machine
  • From: Arturas Acus <acus at itpa.lt>
  • Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 05:32:26 -0400 (EDT)
  • References: <f3gqm6$41g$1@smc.vnet.net> <200705300923.FAA13236@smc.vnet.net>

Dear Mark

Tr, 2007 05 30 05:23 -0400, Mark Westwood ra=F0=EB:
> Scott
>
> I will happily sell you the excellent computer on my desk for $10K
>
> but if that isn't an attractive enough offer I would look at these
> factors:
>
> a) Go 64 bit
> b) processor speed -- the faster the better;
> c) RAM -- more is better;
> d) there is no d in my list.
>
> So, just buy the fastest 64-bit processor you can find, and stuff as
> much memory into the can as you have dollars left to spend.  Salvage a
> keyboard, mouse and CRT from an old PC and away you go.  Don't forget
> a Mathematica licence.
>
> I haven't done any comparison of Mathematica on different O/S's,
> though others have and you might like to consult their data, do a
> search in this group for performance comparisons.
>
> I'd need some convincing that multi-core processors are a necessity or
> even a nice-to-have.  The big question would be 'does Mathematica take
> advantage of multi-cores for the kinds of computation that I am
> doing ?'   And I'd want to see some data on this.

Well, we use Mathematica on  2 procesor motherbord with two core processors
(Xeon) each.
Slamd64 linux box sees 8 processors (hyperthreading effect). The main
advantage is that
this machine continuously run 3-4 processes (some Mathematica, some image
processing, 99.99% cpu each) and this completely have no effect on
intensive file system usage (copying, Dvd burning, etc). I was so
greatlly exited about this unexpected behaviour, that all our other
choices will be only dual core machines. Together with hardware
virtualization support this opens really new possibilities for the same
price. You wont believe, but for machine described above (hardware only
price) we payed ~$2K.  

Actually we have just installed one more cheaper machine ~1K. core-duo
processor. We run two OS on this machine (both linux, one 2.6 (host),
othe 2.4 (guest) kernels: ScientificLinux4.4 and ScientificLinux3.08).
The machine is intended to be  used as a grid CE and SE elements + nfs
server). So far I just can say that guest system (CE) works fine using
kernels virtual machine module. The performance is great.

As far as concerns Mathematica performance. Even if it doesn`t use more that 1
core, the other core would enable You to have normal response desktop
for your other work! This is most important if your computations will
run for weeks (like mine). Thats the point!

Sincerely, Arturas Acus



>
> Regards
> Mark Westwood
>
>
>
> On 29 May, 10:10, Scott <sguth... at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I have $10K to spend on a computer dedicated to running Mathematica.
> > I mostly do long number theory computations with lots of very big
> > integers and rational numbers.  I seek to do bigger ones faster.
> >
> > Your suggestions as to the nature of the best computer configuration
> > for this purpose are solicited and greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Cheers, Scott
>
>
--
Arturas Acus <acus at itpa.lt>


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