Re: Any recommendations for new hardware (quadcore/GPUs)?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg117054] Re: Any recommendations for new hardware (quadcore/GPUs)?
- From: "Emilio Martin-Serrano Sobrino" <emartinserrano at telefonica.net>
- Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011 06:05:48 -0500 (EST)
- References: <iknsc6$k98$1@smc.vnet.net> <201103071047.FAA06193@smc.vnet.net>
Hi, Good advice! I have just moving to new hardware, currently testing a desktop Acer i5 dual core, 3.2 GHz 64bits plus 4Gb RAM (Windows 7) with NVIDIA GForce 315 - 512Mb; I am a bit disappointed with the new desktop, since I have not found much difference in performance in respect to my, veteran but yet at work, HP 3.60 GHz, 32 bits plus 1Gb RAM (XP/SP3). In particular the response to heavy use of dynamic devices (sliders, manipulators and others, which I sometimes use to trigger fairly entangled computations). I make heavy use of Dynamic and I thought that this new machine was going to solve some significant performance problems tied to the feature IMHO. I gather from what you say that RAM is, with Mathematica, far more important than CPU (is this that with Dynamic too), and so I might go beyond the 4 Gb RAM; and that the GForce 315 - 512Mb card the Acer I5 brings (yet with CUDA & OpenCL support) would be not enough either. Since I am to return the brand new Acer to the dealer, (Acer, or maybe the dealer, advertised the machine had 6Gb RAM instead of the 4Gb it actually has), I would tray another machine with larger configuration. Something additional to take in account, in my case, is that the V8 HE that I am now using only supports 34Bits. So, in which degree could this be more or less balanced (in respect to 64bits support) by installing more RAM? Any additional comments will be welcome. Thank you. E. Martin-Serrano An additional consideration is that the V8 HE I am using now does not support 64 bits. -----Mensaje original----- De: telefunkenvf14 [mailto:rgorka at gmail.com] Enviado el: lunes, 07 de marzo de 2011 11:47 Para: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net Asunto: [mg116998] Re: Any recommendations for new hardware (quadcore/GPUs)? On Mar 3, 5:00 am, Yves Klett <yves.kl... at googlemail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > there are not too many benchmarks for current (especially mobile) > hardware to be found, so perhaps someone can give some information on > their preferred hardware? > > Two things interest me in particular: > a) will a quadcore (i7) offer significantly more performance than a > dual core? Of course this depends on the nature of the task... > > b) Is there any difference between cheaper gaming cards (e.g. NVidia > GTX) versus expensive professional cards (e.g. NVidia Quadro), > especially concerning CUDA/OpenCL? > > Any impressions are welcome. > > Yves Beware of laptops with switchable graphics. My Sony Z is awesome... EXCEPT for the fact that the switchable graphics mechanism makes it impossible to update the NVidia drivers (without either hacking together a custom driver package or hacking the bios to force the machine to use only the NVidia graphics). I'm beginning to wonder if Sony will ever update the graphics drivers for my machine. (very irritating to have Sony blathering on about supporting CUDA... and then failing to support CUDA). Laptops I'd consider if I had to do it all over again (by order of preference): Lenovo w510 Dell Precision Mobile Workstations (4500 and 6500) Lenovo T410 (uses Optimus -- software switching between internal and NVidia graphics. Confirm driver upgradability before you leap!) As for the quad vs dual-core... i7's do come in dual-core as well as quad-core. You'll probably want to go with a dual-core i7 if you're going with a laptop, so worry less about CPU and more about screen quality, video card, memory and hard-drive. IMO, solid state drives are a must---but you should probably upgrade the drive yourself as Lenovo and Dell were waaaay overcharging for these components. The Intel x25-M is a good choice (although appears to be currently phasing out due to Intel releasing it's new 510 series). -RG
- References:
- Re: Any recommendations for new hardware (quadcore/GPUs)?
- From: telefunkenvf14 <rgorka@gmail.com>
- Re: Any recommendations for new hardware (quadcore/GPUs)?