Data Analysis/General Business Computer

[grofcsik]

I planning on building a $1000 to $1500 computer for the primary purpose of data analysis. I work with very large data sets of stock market data. (Large arrays of double values) The data processing will be very SQL database intensive. Additionally, I will be loading/analyzing flat files and compressed binary files. These files easily reach gigabytes in size. Most of the processing will be performing simple math on arrays.

I will also be doing a lot of .Net development. The main reason I'm buying a new computer is the long build times I'm encountering now. I'm pretty much set on AMD, as I understand they have faster complile times in MSVS.NET.

Here's what I have so far:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200DAA4BP - OEM $197.99

MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $88.00

2 STICKS: OCZ Peroformance 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model OCZ4001024PF - Retail $138.98 X 2 = $277.96

MSI NX6600GT-TD128E Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail $176.00

NEC ND-3520A Black IDE DVD Burner - OEM $49.99

THERMALTAKE Silent Purepower W0014RU ATX 480W Power Supply - Retail $58.99

Antec Performance I P-160WF Silver 1.2mm Anodized Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $128.99

THERMALTAKE VENUS 12 80mm Ball Cooling Fan - Retail $37.99

Total $1015.91


Additional Parts:
Already have a Seagate 160 GB hard drive, Sound Blaster Audigy, and Matrox G200 PCI video card (allows up to 4 monitors to be added) that I plan on stripping from my old system. I will be buying a couple of good SATA drives when I see some good deals. Right now I can get by with what I got.

I would appreciate any recommendations or criticism. One question I have is whether I should bump up to the San Diego. Would the additional cache provide a significant performance improvement?

Thanks
Steve

 

[imported_Kensai]

Hell, you don't need a 6600GT to do number crunching. The San Diego will increase performance significantly with number crunching stuff.
Maybe get a 6200 non TC. You won't need that much power for a number cruncher.

 

[Chapbass]

agreed on the 6600...

you could save a few bucks and maybe get either a faster proc, or (im not sure exactly the details of the program), but if its accessing the HD or something you could get a higher end HD.

 

[grofcsik]

Thanks for the replies. I agree the video card is overkill for a pure number cruncher. I should have mentioned that the computer is for my home, so I'll probably have a few games on it.

Regarding hard drives... my program will be doing a lot of writing and reading from disk, so performance is a key issue. The only reason I'm waiting on purchasing because I was lazy and have not researched them at all. Figured I could do a little studying and wait for a nice rebate deal.

I'm still on the fence regarding San Diego vs. Venice. Trying to decide whether the extra 150 bucks is worth it right now, or if I should just upgrade later on.

Cheers
Steve