Building a PC mainly for engineering applications (budget $1,500), I need suggestions !

My view of workstation systems is to provide an expected level of performance using the most demanding application, and working on the most demanding project.

In your use, Matlab can be multi-threaded to run using a many cores as are available, but in addition, need high clock speeds, wide memory bandwidth, the capability of multiple simultaneous programs. The type of Matlab projects was not mentioned, but in high statistical, wave-form, and particle analysis, it's my opinion that ECC RAM is also essential and to complete the precision of the data stream, a workstation GPU, and for this an AMD Firepro as they are more compute-oriented.

In this view, the ideal system would include dual LGA2011-3 six or eight core Xeon E5's at a minimum of 2.8GHz, 64GB ECC 1600 RAM, a Firepro W8100, and a fast disk system with an SSD and RAID 10 running off a PCIe RAID controller.

However, back on Earth, a single processor could cost as much as your entire budget. However, there is a realistic alternative, which is to buy and upgrade a Dell Precision T5500 or preferably a T7500. These are obsolete, fully depreciated systems of highest quality and specification, ultra-reliable, quiet, and with carefully shopping, can perform well within the range of current high-performance workstation systems. I have used this approach with > Precision T5400, 390, and T5500, and in the five years of the first such system, a 2008 T5400 purchased in 2010, in which it was run 7 days a week for an average of about 20 hours and sometimes for more than a week continuously, none of these systems ever failed.

The T5500 was purchased in Feb. 2015 for $171 or $190 shipping included:

Dell Precision T5500 (2011) Original: Xeon E5620 quad core @ 2.4 / 2.6 GHz > 6GB DDR3 ECC Reg 1333 > Quadro FX 580 (512MB) > Dell PERC 6/i SAS /SATA controller > Seagate Cheetah 15K 146GB > Linksys WMP600N WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[ Passmark system rating = 1479 / CPU = 4067 / 2D= 520 / 3D= 311 / Mem= 1473 / Disk= 1208]

I had, left from an HP z420: Quadro 4000, Samsung 840 250GB SSD, WD RE4 1TB, M-Audio 192 soundcard, Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi

I purchased:

Xeon X5680 : $200
24GB ECC 1333 : $120
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit: $0 ( Dell sent a reinstallation disk free of charge, and the COA on the case activates it)

In total, the cash outlay was $510. My calculation is that the parts from the HP z420 used would be worth: Quadro 4000 ($250), Samsung 840 250GB SSD ($90), WD RE4 1TB ($50), M-Audio 192 soundcard ($50), Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi ($20) or $460 total

Total> $510 + 460= $970.

Result:

Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Revised) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro 4000 (2GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB /WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card> Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1440)
[ Passmark system rating = 3339 / CPU = 9347 / 2D= 684 / 3D= 2030 / Mem= 1871 / Disk= 2234

> which in the Passmark benchmarks is the 7th highest scoring T5500 and the highest scoring single CPU T5500.

For your use, I would recommend buying a Firepro W5000 or W7000 for enhanced computing power.

Recently (3.15), I purchased a NOS PERC (Dell/LSI) H310 PCIe 6GB/S SAS / SATA RAID for $60, and I will change the 3GB/s WD RE4 for an SATA III 6GB/s WD Black 1TB and later to a pair in RAID 1, which should substantially improve the disk subsystem.

As a bonus, the PERC 6/I RAID contrller and 146GB 15K SAS drive from the original T5500 will be added to another revised system, a Precision 390 from 2006, where I’ll add a pair of 300GB 15K SAS drives ($42 each):

[Precision 390 (2006) (Original): Core2 Duo 6300 dual-core @ 1.86GHz, 2GB DDR2 667 > Quadro FX550 > 2X WD 320GB . Windows XP Pro 32-bit
[ Passmark system rating = 397, CPU = 587 / 2D= 248 / 3D=75 / Mem=585 / Disk = 552 ]

Dell Precision 390 (2006) (Revised): Xeon X3230 quad-core @ 2.67GHz > 8 GB DDR2 ECC 667 > Firepro V4900 (1GB) > 2X WD 320GB >Linksys WMP600N WiFi > Dell 24" > 1920 X 1200 > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[ Passmark system rating = 1458, CPU = 3699 / 2D= 431 / 3D=1350 / Mem= 885 / Disk=552]

The T5500 and T7500 may be upgraded to use dual processors, requiring a riser board that mounts the CPU, three RAM modules-, and a Fan and heatsink /shroud. In my example, I’ll use the RAM modules from the original configuration. The Riser for the T5500 is less common than for the T7500 and will cost about $100 and the 2nd CPU $200. I will also add a USB 3.o card for about $40 This ~$350 upgrade will then provide a system with 12 cores / 24 threads with a fast SATA III disk system and USB 3 for a total of under $1,400.

Sorry for all the detailed history, but this seems to describe a method by which you might achieve a very high capability Matlab system by upgrading a T5500 or T7500- comparable to spending $9000+ if new, and in addition, this kind of upgrading, is a much simpler task than researching, ordering, assembling, configuring, and trouble-shooting a new system from components. As well, these systems have shown extreme levels of reliability and excellent support from Dell, even when obsolete.


Cheers,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 /4.0GHz > 16GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K2200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 4918 > CPU= 13941 / 2D= 823 / 3D=3464 / Mem= 2669 / Disk= 4764]