CPU for scientific image processing: X6 1100T or i5-2500K or i7-2600k or Fx-8130P

[harshal]

Thanks @Idontcare and@Broheim.
I would be writing a few small applications myself.

 

[harshal]

So finally I am going with 2600k and here is the configuration. Has anybody faced any issue with this or similar config?

• i7 2600k
• ASUS P8Z68 V-Pro
• Corsair 8GB Vengeance @ 1600 MHZ
• Seagate 1TB
• Cooler Master CM690 Basic :|
• Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 600W (is it enough?)

Little confused for monitor and GPU, so any suggestions would be valued. I am now concerned over budget. But if a good GPU demands some more money, I would delay its purchase to buy it cheaper.

• Monitor (Order does not indicate precedence)
  • ASUS VS247H-P
  • ASUS VE248H
  • ASUS VH238H
  • ASUS VH242H
  • Dell ST2420L
• GPU (Primarily for OpenCL/OpenGL + Games such as Civ V, Caesar IV)
  • AMD 6950
  • NVIDIA GTX 560

Using stock heat-sink, how much can I overclock i7 to? 4.5GHz? At what limit I should consider buying an aftermarket cooler?

 

[Lex Luger]

The stock coolers on sandy bridge are pretty crap. If you want to do it right, you will need an aftermarket cooler for doing anything above 3.7-3.8.

That said with aftermarket cooler, you wont be limited by temperature, but safe amounts of voltage.

If you have a good chip, 24/7 5 ghz might be possible, if the chip is bad, were talking 4.5 ghz.

Heres what I recommend for cooling. Its the same thing AMD is including with certain FX-8000 cpus, and Intel will include it with some upcoming sandy bridge e 6 core cpus(they will be very expensive cpus)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tec-_-35209054

Or you could try something a little cheaper like

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103100

 

[harshal]

However, it seems AnandTech is positive about stock cooler of 2600k. http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/3

 

[jacktesterson]

I'd grab a Corsair/Seasonic/XFX 650w power supply. Just better quality.

My XFX is running a 2500k o/c'd @ 4.5 GHz with 2 GTX 560's no problem

 

[exar333]

2600K; very soon I would recommend any SB-E hexacore to replace this recomendation.

 

[harshal]

Hmm ! I will go with Corsair TX650W.

 

[harshal]

Is 'ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball' CPU cooler any better than above ones?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118003

 

[sm625]

For all we know your software only uses one thread. In which case a 2500k would be a better choice. But that dont stop 42% from saying 2600k.

 

[jhu]

What software are you running?

 

[harshal]

Well, I would be hand-coding application using C++, OpenCV, etc and would definitely be multithreaded using POSIX threads on Linux. So more the threads, better for me. The operations would be integer ones and occasionally bursts of single/double precision ones.
I would also be doing mix of Java/Scala/JRuby involving some heavy threading.

 

[d4a2n0k]

Watch the height of those RAM sticks, they have pretty big heatsinks on them from what I remember. It might cause problems with aftermarket CPU heatsinks.

 

[harshal]

Do you think Zalman cooler too would obstruct?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118019

Any thoughts on GPU, Monitor?

 

[d4a2n0k]

Im not familiar with that heatsink. Are you stuck on getting Corsai RAM? This G-Skill RAM has smaller heatsinks and fits under my Noctua NH-D14. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231428

 

[harshal]

@d4a2n0k, being in India, I am far away from newegg. It seems G.Skill Sniper is available. Any idea about how does it perform vis-e-vis Corsair Vengeance?

Only cooler brands available are CM (such as Tx3, Hyper 212 Plus), Thermaltek and Antec. Noctua NH-D14 is way too much above my budget.

 

[Cerb]

It seems G.Skill Sniper is available. Any idea about how does it perform vis-e-vis Corsair Vengeance?

Get some fast enough, and don't OC it. If you have a case fan, any case fan, the chips will be able to cool themselves just fine through their packages and the PCB. Over 1.5V is bad. Heatsinks that stick up are annoying. Heatspreaders that cover the whole DIMM are acceptable, but really useless.

RAM speed can make a very small difference, but not enough to worry about, these days. Get 1600MHz DDR3, rated for at most 1.5V, and with a CAS latency of no higher than 9.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/1

A Cooler Master Hyper212 should do just fine for cooler on a budget.

 

[Dadofamunky]

2600Ks are monsters. Even with a respin, BD will never match Intel's single-core performance. Don't bother trying to OC the RAM.

 

[Dadofamunky]

Do you think Zalman cooler too would obstruct?

Any thoughts on GPU, Monitor?

Stay away from Zalmans they are ***junk*** :thumbsdown::thumbsdown::thumbsdown: in my experience. Get the cooler in my sig for $25 and it will perform MUCH better.

I don't think you need a mondo GPU unless you want to use libraries that would leverage it. Any decent low-end card will do. A monitor is pretty much entirely up to your taste and budget. Asus seems to make decent cheap panels.

 

[AtenRa]

Well, I would be hand-coding application using C++, OpenCV, etc and would definitely be multithreaded using POSIX threads on Linux. So more the threads, better for me. The operations would be integer ones and occasionally bursts of single/double precision ones.
I would also be doing mix of Java/Scala/JRuby involving some heavy threading.

I would suggest to get a BD (heh, the entire forum will bury me now ).

Since BD has more Integer Execution Units and since you can code your own apps, you could take advantage of BD,s strengths.

Core i7 2600K is great with current apps but the only advantage it has over BD (if you can code specifically for each of them) is in AVX and you will not use that.

BD will be much faster than Core i7 2600K if you use its ISA's (FMA4, XOP and even SSEs). Especially if you can code towards TLP and DLP using BDs 2x ALU and 2x AGU’s inside each of the 8 Integer Units.



http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8150-zambezi-bulldozer-990fx,3043-14.html

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1741/6/

In Integer SSE4.1, BD is almost as fast as 6 core Core i7.

 

[jmarti445]

The stock coolers on sandy bridge are pretty crap. If you want to do it right, you will need an aftermarket cooler for doing anything above 3.7-3.8.

That said with aftermarket cooler, you wont be limited by temperature, but safe amounts of voltage.

If you have a good chip, 24/7 5 ghz might be possible, if the chip is bad, were talking 4.5 ghz.

Heres what I recommend for cooling. Its the same thing AMD is including with certain FX-8000 cpus, and Intel will include it with some upcoming sandy bridge e 6 core cpus(they will be very expensive cpus)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tec-_-35209054

Or you could try something a little cheaper like

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103100

Are you the real Lex Luger or is that just your handle? I like the Phenom 2 x6 1100T btw. If Bulldozer can ever get itself righted and produce the 15-20% IPC for the upcoming refresh it maybe worth it to get the 1100T since the AM3+ sockets are upgradable.

 

[harshal]

Since BD has more Integer Execution Units and since you can code your own apps, you could take advantage of BD,s strengths.

Exactly for this reason, I included BD in poll and waited for 4+ months. I still believe in its architecture's potential for future, but I can't wait for a better BD (sadly I am not sure if it is going to be next BD or next next BD and so on).

I agree that I would be writing the applications myself and can take advantage of BD. Apart from that application, my system will crawl for others. However if BD were 25-30% cheaper, I could have considered seriously. I considered even Phenom II 1100T before deciding on 2600k, to save bucks (and help AMD compete). ()

Makes sense?

 

[harshal]

Any idea how to connect ASUS P8Z68 with an old Seagate 80 GB barracuda HDD?
Though this is an old one, but still rocks today. Will I be able to boot also?

 

[drizek]

Any idea how to connect ASUS P8Z68 with an old Seagate 80 GB barracuda HDD?
Though this is an old one, but still rocks today. Will I be able to boot also?

If youre trying to get data off of it, use an IDE-USB adapter.

If you're trying to use it as an actual drive... just... no.

 

[harshal]

Would IDE-to-SATA converter work?

 

[Ken g6]

I can think of four options, in order of increasing speed:

1. Some kind of adapter from the original HDD. SLOW!
2. Copy the partition from the original HDD to a new HDD - of any size > 80GB. A very good option if you have any SATA HDD and want to save money. You can partition the rest of the space for other uses.
3. Copy the partition to an Intel 80GB HDD. All 80GB HDDs seem to be only SATAII, so they're not as fast as some, but faster than most mechanical HDDs.
4. Copy the partition to a Crucial M4 128GB. You can also make another partition with the rest of the space for SSD caching of any HDDs if you want.