System setups for devs

[flipbook]

Afternoon!

I'm looking to build a new computer and I was wondering what you guys at Chaosgroup use for your testing, dev etc. Of course I use phoenix almost everyday and simulations in other packages.

My current machine is an i7 3930k 6 core (overclocked to 4.2) built on the X79 boards from a few years ago now. I am currently looking to go back down the enthusiast route and build around the X99 and stick with an i7. I am also tempted to stick with a 6 core (6850k) overclocked (I know Broadwell-E cant be overclocked very well and may get 4.2ghz-4.4ghz if I am lucky) so I can put more money into faster memory and lots of fast storage.

Would you recommend the faster performing memory and storage over getting an 8 core (6900k) for example which would mean I have to get mid-high end memory instead. If only I didn't have a budget!

Thanks for any input!

Adam

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey,

For simulations, the most important factor is the bus speed. Many cores and fast CPU are welcome as well, especially if you will render on that machine as well, but the bus speed is vital to a quick simulation because for a single simulation step of a 10GB grid you might need to run that through the bus 20-30 up to a 100 times.

Hope this helps

[Ivaylo Katev]

yes, beside the bus speed i would add the HDD speed, i have observations that simulations with high particle count export (50M or more) the HDD writing speed is the slowest part of the entire process.

[Simple Freeze]

I asked the same question a while a go and with helpful notes from Ivaylo and Svetlin and some other guys in the forums I got my new machine. i7 5960x 8core(overclocked 4.6), 64GB 3000mz, Asus x99 Pro, 512GB M.2 main Drive, 1TB EVO for storage. Now it's working perfectly fine but for some reason when I try to cache the sim on the M.2 it's a little slower than the EVO which is strange cause the M.2 suppose to be way faster, I was mostly using it for liquid sims. I also had to clock down the RAM from 3000mz to 2400mz cause it kept on crashing when I was using Thinking particles, also didn't know why. You can play around with the memory timing settings to get the best Latency possible for you machine.
I hope this was helpful.

Ali

[flipbook]

ok great, thanks guys! I am torn between the older 5960 (as can be overclocked a lot higher) and the newer 6900k. I dont know if the PCI lanes on the cpu will help when having SSD's or if its more for the M2 storage. Realistically the 6900k is only going to hit 4.2 stable. Definately be loading up on SSD's for sim drives and staying away from M2 for now.

[flipbook]

The battle in my mind is over .. going to go for the older 5960 as I can't ignore the much higher overclock potential along with lower temperatures too.

[flipbook]

Ahhh battle wages on. I do have a dual Xeon machine which I could purchase 2x 10 core Xeons and better memory/storage for the same price but its on the old Ivy-Bridge motherboard so it would be DDR3. Argh, what to do!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

The dual won't do you much good with the simulation though.

[flipbook]

Fair point, going to go for the i7 ... need to stop changing my mind!