$1800 data mining computer

[naifwonder]

This computer will be used largely for data mining. However, it will also be my personal computer, so I want to be able to do the normal things as well (watch movies, music, etc)

For a list of parts tentatively chosen:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=19223245


Approximate Purchase Date: By May 24, 2012

Budget Range: $1800 before rebates (would like to stay within $1700)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Data mining, algorithm processing, watching movies

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, graphics card. The graphics card I already have is the following:

XFX HD-477A-YDFC Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150369

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: www.newegg.com (I'm open to other sites if they are reputable and have good service, but would greatly prefer newegg)

Country: United States

Parts Preferences: No specific preference

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: I have a crossfire compatible graphics card already, but don't need to use crossfire.

Monitor Resolution: I have 3 1920x1080 monitors already (Being able to use all 3 would be nice, but 2 is just fine)

Additional Comments: This thing needs to be able to read and write to the harddrive very quickly, and handle running calculations for many hours. Having at least 4 cores for an intel or 8 for an amd is a must. Also, I am starting off with 32 gb ram, but having the option to upgrade to at least 64gb ddr3 ram is a must. I am working with multi-threaded software, so I really wanted a cpu with more cores. However, I couldn't really find one with more than 4 core for intel, or more than 8 for amd that was compatible with a motherboard that had at least 8x240 pin ram slots within budget that supported at least 64gb (which I will eventually need). I will eventually buy a second ssd hd.

Major concerns:
- Are the parts compatible? Primarily, is the ssd compatible?
- Is the power supply reliable, safe, and powerful enough?
- Can I get a better processor with more cores that still supports LGA 2011 while staying in budget?
- Is the case big enough for the heatsink?

 

[fpoon]

If you can afford it, this is a must:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116492
Intel i7-3930K 6-core processor, Overclockable.
$589.99
The PSU should be able to handle it, the SSD is compatible, and the heatsink will fit.
Also, do you have a DVD Drive?

 

[naifwonder]

If you can afford it, this is a must:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116492
Intel i7-3930K 6-core processor, Overclockable.
$589.99
The PSU should be able to handle it, the SSD is compatible, and the heatsink will fit.
Also, do you have a DVD Drive?

Good suggestion on the CPU. I'll upgrade it to that one. I totally forgot the dvd drive. The following should take care of it:

ASUS 24X DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

 

[jprahman]

I would recommend going with a different case to save some money to free up some room in your budget. Something like a HAF 992 or a Antec 900 series would be just fine, and would cost ~$50 less, freeing up room in your budget for something like an HDD for bulk storage. That PSU is also overkill for running a single video card. A high quality 650-750 watt unit should have plenty for power for a single card and an overclocked CPU. The SeaSonic USA X650 Gold has great reviews and has enough power for your build, saving about $30 in the process.

 

[naifwonder]

I would recommend going with a different case to save some money to free up some room in your budget. Something like a HAF 992 or a Antec 900 series would be just fine, and would cost ~$50 less, freeing up room in your budget for something like an HDD for bulk storage. That PSU is also overkill for running a single video card. A high quality 650-750 watt unit should have plenty for power for a single card and an overclocked CPU. The SeaSonic USA X650 Gold has great reviews and has enough power for your build, saving about $30 in the process.

I should have mentioned this in my initial post. I want the option to be able to add another 3 or so hard drives going forward, so I figured a case with that much cooling and a 850 power supply would be ideal.

 

[naifwonder]

I ended up upgrading the motherboard, changed the harddrive and ram, added a fan control panel, and a memory cooling system. Also added in some Arctic thermal compound. It's the same link as before to see the new parts:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=19223245

I'm at $1,817.88 total, which is fine.

Any other suggestions?

 

[fpoon]

You should be fine, although I want to ask, why do you have a GTX 670 there?

 

[naifwonder]

You should be fine, although I want to ask, why do you have a GTX 670 there?

Turns out I have an extra $600 in my budget. Since I want to modify some projects I am working on to work with CUDA, this seemed like a good opportunity to do it. I'm looking at the following options:


2 x EVGA 02G-P3-1568-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683


EVGA 03G-P3-1588-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) Classified 3072MB 384-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130732


EVGA 025-P3-1579-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) HD 2560MB 320-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687

 

[fpoon]

No, don't get any of them, the 670 is better than all 3, and cheaper than the 580. If you are lucky enough, get a 680.

 

[jprahman]

You probably want to steer clear of the GTX 670 for GPU Computing work. The new GK104 Kepler GPU sacrificed many compute oriented features, especially instruction schedulers and double precision operation performance. If you want a card the will run CUDA kernels fast you'll either want to wait for the GK110 based Kepler cards (these will probably be released in the August-November timeframe), or go with a GTX 570 or GTX 580. You could also get the pair of GTX 560s, but then you would have modify code to split the workload across both GPUs.

 

[naifwonder]

Just googled the specs on the Keple; That thing is beastly. I'm probably going to go with the 500 series though mostly since I don't want to halt my work to wait for the card, and has a reasonable price.