Custom Computer Build for work

Gooday Ahou987,

If you are running compute-intensive, multi-threaded applications that can benefit from core-thread distribution, e.g., VM,s, a better tactic would be to use Xeon E5, which can support more than 4-cores. The i7-7700K does have a very high single-thread rate and good computed functions, but if you want to "run many instances" it's limited.

How about:

HP Z620 WORKSTATION INTEL XEON 2.5GHz (8 CORES) BRAND NEW MOTHERBOARD USB 3.0 > AU $499.

Replace the E5-2609 V2 with a pair of:

Intel Xeon E5-2690 8-Core 2.9GHz 20M 8GT/s LGA2011 CPU SR0L0 *3.8GHz Max Turbo > AU $270 each

The Xeon E5-2690 is 8-core /16 thread @ 2.9 / 3.8GHz with 20MB cache (i7-7700K = 8MB), supports 384GB of memory (DDR3-1600 ECC)(i7-7700K = 64GB) with a memory bandwidth of 51.2GB/s (i7-7700K = 34.1GB/s) and importantly 40 PCIe lanes. On Passmark, the average CPU Mark mark for a pair of E5-2690's is 14194, but the top mark in an HP z420 is 14858. New, the Xeon E5-2690 cost US $2,050 each.

I have an HP z620 with a pair of E5-2690's is 20464, but the office z620 makes 22625. The i7-7700K average CPU mark is 12321.

That particular z620 by the way supports Xeon E5-2600 V2 up to 14 cores and has some really fantastic Processors among them- the E6-2687w v2- 8-core @ 3.4 /4.0ghz for example.

Add system RAM to have 64GB of DDR3-1600 ECC registered > about AU $200 used.

That system has two Quadro NVS 295's and if you are not doing 3D, those would be just fine.

Add a Samsung 850 Evo 500GB with an OS partition and data partition > AU $ 227.
Add a suitable storage drive of say 2TB, a WD Black or Seagate ES.3 > AU $172.

So far:

System: $500
CPU's: $550
RAM: $200
Drive 1: 227
Drive 2: 172
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TOTAL =AU $1649

So, there you would have 16-cores / 32 threads at up to 3.8Ghz, 64GB of RAM, and a fast disk system.

In the future, the Quadro NVS 295's could be replaced with :

1. A Quadro K620, 4000 or similar GPU > about AU $200-300

2. Dell NVIDIA Tesla C2075 · 6GB GDDR5 · PCI-E · 900-21030-0020-100 > AU $ 385 that a GPU coprocessor with 6GB of memory and that adds a considerable computing power.

Another good way to do this would be to start with a Dell Precision T7600 and start with a single CPU or if the very high core count is not beneficial upgrade the above HP z620 to start with using a single fast Xeon E5-v2 6-core.

So, there's a high compute performance alternative. Besides cost / performance that a new system can't match, the best part is you don't have to build the whole thing from a box of parts- just plug in components as you find them.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

CAD / 3D Modeling / Graphic Design:

HP z420 (2015) (Rev 3) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) / 32GB DDR3 -1866 ECC RAM / Quadro K4200 (4GB) / Samsung SM951 M.2 256GB AHCI + Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) + Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 2.1 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)
[ Passmark Rating = 5581 > CPU= 14046 / 2D= 838 / 3D= 4694 / Mem= 2777 / Disk= 11559] [6.12.16]

Analysis / Simulation / Rendering:

HP z620 (2012) (Rev 3) 2X Xeon E5-2690 (8-core @ 2.9 / 3.8GHz) / 64GB DDR3-1600 ECC reg) / Quadro K2200 (4GB) + Tesla M2090 (6GB) / HP Z Turbo Drive (256GB) + Samsung 850 Evo 250GB + Seagate Constellation ES.3 (1TB) / Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCIe sound card / 800W / Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z313 2.1 speakers > HP 2711x (27" 1980 X 1080)
[ Passmark System Rating= 5675 / CPU= 22625 / 2D= 815 / 3D = 3580 / Mem = 2522 / Disk = 12640 ] 9.25.16
[ Cinebench R15: OpenGL= 119.23 fps / CPU = 2209 cb / Single core 130 cb / MP Ratio 16.84x] 10.31.16