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World Community Grid Forums
Category: Community
Forum: Hardware Chat Room
Thread: Building a new PC |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 38
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cge
Cruncher Joined: Apr 27, 2007 Post Count: 2 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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My last PC build was about 9 years ago...my, how things have changed. That machine is still running, but want to build a more capable cruncher. It would run 24/7 just like the old one has. Stability is more important than blazing speed, no overclocking anticipated. Besides crunching, I do some Photoshop, Lightroom, and some minor gaming.
Old PC was I7 with and Intel mobo. Still prefer Intel and nVidia. Appreciate some suggestions from you guys. Glenn |
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Dayle Diamond
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jan 31, 2013 Post Count: 452 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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The more cores, the better.
Intel is not competitive right now at high core counts. The best CPU for crunching, assuming you're running a single computer, is the 3990x. It can handle more than two months of runtime a day and has a power usage of about two watts per thread. https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-threadripper-3990x https://pcpartpicker.com/product/KWmFf7/amd-t...rocessor-100-100000163wof |
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KerSamson
Master Cruncher Switzerland Joined: Jan 29, 2007 Post Count: 1684 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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In all cases, I would take an AMD Ryzen 7 at least 3800X or 3900X on an Asus mainbaord and install Linux Mint 19.3 or Ubuntu 20.04 (even if it is a really fresh version).
----------------------------------------Cheers, Yves |
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FAHE
Advanced Cruncher Australia Joined: Apr 27, 2007 Post Count: 122 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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It really depends on the size of your budget and your capacity to cover the ongoing electricity cost. Suggest be guided by bang for your buck (points per watt). For example the electricity useage of a 3800X compared to a 3700X is 350Kwh per year. (TDP 105w and 65w). If budget is not an issue then go for bang.
----------------------------------------Peter  |
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thunder7
Senior Cruncher Netherlands Joined: Mar 6, 2013 Post Count: 238 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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As has been mentioned, Windows may not be the best choice for 24x7 running, unless you'd install some sort of server version, and even then, I don't think it'll run for a year without supervision.
As for the PC, if you want stability and WCG speed, how about an older workstation? Say a HP Z820 with 2 V2 cpu's @ 10 cores / 20 threads each? I have an HP Z600 that's been running for years (linux) without any problems at 100% load - and nearly silent too, it's on my desk below my screen. A Z600 is old enough that I wouldn't buy that anymore, but a Z620 or Z820 would run fine, I believe. |
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cge
Cruncher Joined: Apr 27, 2007 Post Count: 2 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Thanks for the suggestions, all. Should have mentioned that it will be a Win10 machine.
Having multiple machines doesn't work, so this build will also pull duty for Photoshop and Lightroom, some minor accounting stuff. Will also be crunching on the GPU, so GPU suggestions also appreciated. Don't want to get crazy stupid with $$$ but can go to mid-2k if necessary. Thanks |
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hchc
Veteran Cruncher USA Joined: Aug 15, 2006 Post Count: 865 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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AMD Ryzen 9 3950X is a 16C/32T desktop CPU and uses less power than the Threadripper line-up. That'd make a good workhorse for 24/7 crunching and Photoshop/Lightroom/finances. I'd put in 64 GB of RAM (2 GB per thread) to give enough headroom for the memory-hungry projects.
----------------------------------------Noctua cooler like the NH-D15, reliable motherboard with cooled VRM and good components. I'm a fan of SeaSonic power supplies and would get something from their top tier line with the 10-year warranty. 80+ Titanium or something. GPU depends on budget (plus electricity costs). Maybe an nVidia 2080 Super if the 2080Ti is too expensive? Or AMD 5700XT. There's a new series from nVidia and AMD coming in the end of 2020 or early 2021. Case is personal preference. Samsung 970 Evo or 970 Pro NVMe based M.2 SSD for Windows and applications. Maybe 1 TB is a good sweet spot. Could go with 512 GB if you store your stuff on a secondary drive or a NAS. Intel Optane SSD would be a step-up in performance than NAND-based SSDs, but they're expensive. I personally wouldn't buy or build a computer in 2020 that only comes with a 1GBaseT NIC. I'd want 2.5, 5, or 10-Gig Ethernet built-in at least to future proof it.
[Edit 3 times, last edit by hchc at May 7, 2020 9:50:38 AM] |
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DrMason
Senior Cruncher Joined: Mar 16, 2007 Post Count: 153 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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At a budget of between $2 - 2.5k, I think you have to define exactly what you want the system to do. If you are only doing production work, I think it would make more sense to build a barebones server with the first gen EPYC line of processors. For $2500, you can build a 48 core system with 96 gigs ram and a decent video card (something like a 2700 super) that will probably do everything you want it to do, with extra PCI lanes for days if you want to expand your GPU compute with extra cards. With consumer (as opposed to enterprise or prosumer), you might run out of PCI lanes if you want to run more than one GPU at 16x speeds.
----------------------------------------If you are also wanting to game, then something like the 3950x or the 3960x will be a better proposition with the higher clock speeds over fewer threads and PCI lanes. But I would tend to concur with the above posters that AMD's AM4, TR4 or SP3 sockets would be a better bang for the distributed computing buck than Intel at this time. Intel is upping their game, but projections are estimating that even their newest chips will have heavy competition on a per-core basis a little bit later this year, and at a cheaper price.  |
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