Need advice for a new cruncher

[DrBackJack]

Hi Teamies !


Do you guys like this computer here ?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=T71-12003

My budget is $1,000 for the box.

I'm more interested in putting money into a fast CPU not only for crunching but so 5 years down the road, it will still keep up.

Any advice would be great even if that means building one at home.
It would be crunching for the team most of the time.



DrB

[zombie67]

Talking with DrB, he is not intending that this be a gaming machine. He is most interested in a long-term CPU cruncher. But it will need a GPU of some kind anyway, so it should be capable of crunching. Probably nvidia to have the widest project scope, over max performance. Also, assume 2gb RAM per thread.

[John P. Myers]

Hi Teamies !


Do you guys like this computer here ?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=T71-12003

My budget is $1,000 for the box.

I'm more interested in putting money into a fast CPU not only for crunching but so 5 years down the road, it will still keep up.

Any advice would be great even if that means building one at home.
It would be crunching for the team most of the time.



DrB

Are you open to building your own? Just for crunching, a 2TB HD is a waste of money. So is the GT 545

[zombie67]

Are you open to building your own? Just for crunching, a 2TB HD is a waste of money. So is the GT 545

He is open to building, if that would be better than his OP. He is really looking to maximize his budget. I asked him to post here, since I was not familiar with the mid-range HW. I tend to buy only the stupid-expensive stuff.

[Fire$torm]

Are you open to building your own? Just for crunching, a 2TB HD is a waste of money. So is the GT 545

++1

If you go the DIY route then maybe something like this

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 $299.99 (Link)

MB: MSI Z77MA-G45 LGA 1155 $109.99 (Link)

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) $73.99 (Link)

SSD: OCZ Agility 4 2.5" 64GB $59.99 (Link)

PSU: Rosewill Green Series RG630-S12 630W $49.99 (Link)

Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower $49.99 (Link)

Total (Before Shipping) $643.94 / After Rebates: $633.94

Optional

GPU: GIGABYTE GV-N630-1GI GeForce GT 630 1GB $59.99 (Link)

Operating System: Linux is FREE / Windows 7 HP $99.99 (Link)

If you shop around you might find better prices but Newegg has everything you need. And don't forget to shop through Fat Wallet or eBates to get another 4% or 5% off your total.

[DrBackJack]

Whoa !

Hey thanks Firestorm !

That is what I'm looking for right there..exactly what to buy.

That case is nice with all those fans. Good for the desert !

Two questions:

1) Is the heat sink and heat sink fan a separate item to purchase or does that come with the cpu or motherboard ? I have the cpu grease.

2) On that SSD, is that better for crunching as oppossed to a sata 7200 rpm drive ?

It looks like all the components are compatible ?
Ram sure is cheaper nowdays.

I'll try to catch up with you on teamspeak or team chat.

Thanks a bunch for the advice !

[Fire$torm]

The 3770 comes with a stock cooler that looks something like this



If you prefer an aftermarket cooler I would recommend the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus (Link)

The SSD isn't really better in terms of noticeable improvement of crunching output. But it is immune to mechanical failure since it doesn't have any moving parts. And its COOL

[c303a]

Boy F$ you hit that build right on the head. Wish I had some spare change about now.

[zombie67]

The stock CPU heatsink/fan is usually very NOISY. For that reason alone, I suggest an aftermarket version.

[Slicker]

The SSD isn't really better in terms of noticeable improvement of crunching output. But it is immune to mechanical failure since it doesn't have any moving parts. And its COOL

I finally broke down and put an SSD into my new laptop. I had to reboot my desktop (without SSD) several times yesterday and I have to say, it took forever to boot up in comparison. It isn't slow either. The desktop has high-end drives in a raid config for speed. But, the SSD blows it away. If you aren't storing music or videos on it, you can probably get by with only an SSD. Otherwise, using an SSD for boot and applications and a HDD for data is probably the way to go. The SSD cost per gigabyte is still too high to store everything on them. Unless you had a rich uncle who left you a fortune. (Mine are all poor.)