Need Build Rec: >4 cores, >=16gb ram...

mayan50

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I am a statistician using Stata MP, looking to build a new system. I need two things: >4 cores (since my version of Stata is a 4-core app and I'd like to use all four while multitasking), and >8 gb ram: unlike SAS, Stata loads datasets into ram, so I need 12 or 16 gb of ram.

Question: Should I go with AMD 6 core setup now, or wait for >4 cores from Intel?

Thanks much!
 

abdussamad

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What's your budget? I would go with either a core i5 2500 or a core i7 2600 based system. In terms of value for money they i5 is a better choice. Current generation sandy bridge motherboards support upto 32GB of memory across 4 dimm slots. So if you add 4GB to each slot you should get around 16GB RAM.
 

mayan50

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As far as budget, $2k for a machine is tops, and I am not a gamer. I definitely want motherboard support up to 32GB (I'll start with 16GB loaded). The main concern is #Cores. On my current system, when I run STATA with 4 cores dedicated to it, I can't do anything else (word processing, email, internet). Hence, I want a 6 Core system.

I've read that the 6-core AMD is blown away by SB quad cores. But would this be true for running STATA (statistics software)? i.e., is this a gamer criticism or a more general one? i.e., should I wait for SB 6-core/8-core?

Thanks,
 

mayan50

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Thanks. I'm still reading up. I type to you now on my laptop, as my workstation is processing a dataset recoding file. All 4 procs are being used by STATA (dataset is using 7GB of my 8GB ram). I can't even click on Firefox window during much of the run time. I have a feeling MOST of my slow multitasking may be more related to ram than # cores being utilized. Would love other's thoughts on this, because if true, >4 core requirement may be unnecessary for me...
 

mayan50

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I have a 4 processor version of STATA MP. The software license restricts STATA to use up to 4 processors (i.e., they charge you to unlock additional processors). So my license will tell STATA to use 4 (although I can lower it to 2 or 1).

The second computer with a KVM is an option that I hadn't really thought of thanks.
 

uuhitelance

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I have to jump in and say - I'd purchase from Microcenter.

I ran a very heavy - multi-threaded application, and ran into a "thrashing error" on the 1090t. (when it hit 100% CPU, it slowed down to a crawl, causing a larger backlog, and never recovered)

Just saying.

Could I have gotten a bad chip? Yes. Microcenter was awesome and let me swap it out for a 2600k. I do NOT know if this is a system setup error (Unlikely as i took the testbed straight from the other computer), a 1090t bad chip, or a 1090t systemic failure, but for what its worth, thats my experience.

I switched to a 2600k and my CPU cycles are flying through the roof. :)
 



The op's app is limited to 4 cores max.