platform for number crunching

[Oleg Goldshmidt]

On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 1:23 PM, Shimon Panfil <info at industrialphys.com> wrote:
>
> Hi folks,
> I'm looking for affordable workstation for heavy number crunching, not

What's "affordable" and what is "heavy number crunching"?

For most large-scale scientific/engineering number-crunching physical
parallelism (multiple CPUs/cores) is important for performance. Will
you benefit from many more than 4 cores? Will anything more than
commodity 4 core desktop be prohibitively expensive? Will you benefit
/ can you afford, e.g., a CUDA-based number-cruncher under your desk?

> x86-64 multicore. It seems that multicore systems have problems with cooling
> (physically it is pretty clear). My current amd-64 4-core machine works fine
> only if less than 2 cores have 100% load. Rougly 2*100 work 20 min before
> temperature becomes high, 4*100 can last couple of minuts only. Last year I
> have already burned  processor and do not want repeat the experience.

I am guessing, but this sounds like a poorly balanced system with not
enough cooling for the punch it is supposed to deliver. Emphasis on
"system" as opposed to CPU/whatever. Probably needs a better box, with
more power for cooling, more/better fans, improved airflow,
temperature indicators and alarms?

Cooling is always a problem in large-scale number-crunchers. High end
systems are specifically designed with cooling (and power-consumption)
per unit of performance in mind. Desktops aren't. However, there
should not be any reason why a 4 core desktop could not be fully
loaded without overheating, but one needs to provide the cooling, and
it's a function of the enclosure. A *decent* retail computer store
should be able to advise you on higher end enclosures used by heavy
gamers, etc.

An additional consideration is as follows. It sounds like you crunch
numbers on a box under (or on top of) your desk. Assuming the computer
generates much heat and is well cooled, it follows that its immediate
environment - including you! - will need to dissipate the heat. Are
you sure you want it? ;-)

-- 
Oleg Goldshmidt | pub at goldshmidt.org