GL/CUDA Machine

[conandoyle]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Advanced GL/CUDA Development

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
$600

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
AMD, NVIDIA

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Mouse, KB, Monitor

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
YES

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Don't know... maybe overclock if it won't harm hardware

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.
My monitor is a HD monitor so I guess I will set the res at that, but I don't game.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Within the next month, the sooner the better.

10. Don't ask for a build configuration critique or rating if you are thin skinned.
I am not thin skinned


I have put together the following systemIt will be used for GL/CUDA development. Budget after rebates etc. ~$600 USD.

CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103727

Mother Board - (I CHOSE THIS FOR FUTURE UPGRADABILITY WITH NEW AMD PROCESSORS) TOO MUCH?)
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128514

DVD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204
Case - Antec NSK 6582B Black 0.8 mm Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 430W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129083

GPU (A GOOD FERMI BASED CARD IS A MUST HAVE) - EVGA 01G-P3-1372-TR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127510

HD - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136769

Memory - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9S-4GBRL

I think I may need a beefier PS. Any suggestions to make this machine a better value? Or just better? Right now the cost is almost $700 before shipping/taxes, so I need to shave some off the total cost. I am really curious what you all think about this setup. It's my first one. Have I forgotten anything (don't need monitor keyboard mouse etc)

CD

 

[Ken g6]

I'm familiar with CUDA development, but can you elaborate on the GL development you'll be doing? Technically, if you don't need your CUDA programs to run fast on your own machine, you could get a GTS450/550 (1/2 a 460/560, roughly) or even a 430 (1/2 a 450). But this is coming from a guy with an MSI 460, so take it with the grain of salt it deserves.

At least recent versions of CUDA were unable to use more than one CPU thread per GPU kernel. Which would mean that if you can't offload enough work to the GPU your application might be CPU-limited. (The latest version may allow multiple threads, but do you really want to fiddle with C threads?) I'd also suggest a motherboard with at least two long PCIe slots - testing on two GPUs can be a very good idea. So, suggestions assuming you don't want to overclock:

If you want quad-core: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.738334
If a dual-core, quad-threaded i3 will do, get more RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...82E16819115078

 

[conandoyle]

Basically I need the Fermi for coda 4 features such as gpudirect 2 and the peer-to-peer access etc. Granted, with only 1 GPU for now, the peer-to-peer stuff I can do is basically nil, but i am looking at upgradeability too.

As for the two cpu you suggested, I notice they are both intel... Are these better values than the AMD/Gigabyte combos? We use a lot of AMDs at work and find they provide high bang/buck.

CD

I'm familiar with CUDA development, but can you elaborate on the GL development you'll be doing? Technically, if you don't need your CUDA programs to run fast on your own machine, you could get a GTS450/550 (1/2 a 460/560, roughly) or even a 430 (1/2 a 450). But this is coming from a guy with an MSI 460, so take it with the grain of salt it deserves.

At least recent versions of CUDA were unable to use more than one CPU thread per GPU kernel. Which would mean that if you can't offload enough work to the GPU your application might be CPU-limited. (The latest version may allow multiple threads, but do you really want to fiddle with C threads?) I'd also suggest a motherboard with at least two long PCIe slots - testing on two GPUs can be a very good idea. So, suggestions assuming you don't want to overclock:

If you want quad-core: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.738334
If a dual-core, quad-threaded i3 will do, get more RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...82E16819115078

 

[mfenn]

If you are just testing programs, you don't need to get the fastest GPU around. If GPUDirect is of interest to you, you'll be better off getting two slower cards so that you can experiment with the functionality. Try this:

Core i3 2100 $115 AR
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 $125
PNY DDR3 1333 8GB $37
GTX 450 x2 $140 AR - It's still a Fermi
Hitachi 7K1000.D $70
ASUS DVD Burner $20
Corsair 600CX $40 AR AP
Antec Three Hundred $45 AR
Total: $597 AR AP

 

[Ken g6]

If you are just testing programs, you don't need to get the fastest GPU around. If GPUDirect is of interest to you, you'll be better off getting two slower cards so that you can experiment with the functionality. Try this:

Core i3 2100 $115 AR
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 $125
PNY DDR3 1333 8GB $37
GTX 450 x2 $140 AR - It's still a Fermi
Hitachi 7K1000.D $70
ASUS DVD Burner $20
Corsair 600CX $40 AR AP
Antec Three Hundred $45 AR
Total: $597 AR AP

Let's see, the bad news: When you buy two of something with a rebate, you can usually only use it on one:

GTX 450 x2 $172 AR - It's still a Fermi

The good news: You can bundle the CPU and RAM and save $10.

If you really need to save that extra $20, you could go with this board instead. You can't overclock with the i3, but with this cheaper board you couldn't even overclock if you replaced it with any k-series processor.

 

[mfenn]

Let's see, the bad news: When you buy two of something with a rebate, you can usually only use it on one:

GTX 450 x2 $172 AR - It's still a Fermi

The good news: You can bundle the CPU and RAM and save $10.

If you really need to save that extra $20, you could go with this board instead. You can't overclock with the i3, but with this cheaper board you couldn't even overclock if you replaced it with any k-series processor.

Actually, the fine print on the rebate says, "Limit two (2) rebate per qualifying rebate offer, per person ...". I chose the mobo because it's x8/x8, which could have a decent impact since the OP wants to play with GPUDirect.

Good find on the combo though.