best motherboard for a number cruncher

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jim.cox

220 posts

Master Geek

#273179 9-Aug-2020 17:26

Tihei Geekzoners,

Thinking to put together a new build to run Ubuntu.

Based around an unlocked Intel Core i7-9700K, with the expectation of overclocking it.

I will be using it for mathematical modelling and GIS.

What motherboard's are going to work? Z390 chipset if there is support maybe.

I've had good experience with Gigabyte MB's in the past.

Your collective advice would be most welcome.

AdvTHANKXance.

Jim

=mjc=
.

richms

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#2537253 9-Aug-2020 18:36

You need to see if the workload you have will benifit from more cores, and if so look at threadripper. So much better value than whatever team blue is pushing out. AMD have really killed it this generation and I wouldnt be looking at anything from them unless it was a very compelling case for it being faster, because with more cores you can have a much more pleasant computer to use for other things while it is smashing away at whatever numbercrunching you have started it on.

Richard rich.ms

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Lias

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#2537462 9-Aug-2020 21:04

What RichMS said.. you simply cannot go past Threadripper for multi threaded CPU bang for buck right now. AMD haven't been beating Intel this badly for decades.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.

zenourn

255 posts

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#2537475 9-Aug-2020 21:40

What memory demands do your applications have? If are potentially considering a complete new build, I’ve got both Threadripper (32 cores) and Epyc systems (128 cores), biggest difference is maximum memory - threadripper can only handle 256 GB while the Epyc goes to multiple terabytes.

I had an analysis on an Intel Xeon 20 core systen that took 2 months, on Epyc system took 2 days. Zen 2 is fantastic when it comes to number crunching.

thenwhat

28 posts

Geek

#2540747 14-Aug-2020 09:54

I usually find the RAM limit is the limiting factor for future proofing. 64GB limit is the absolute minimum for high end stuff now.

If you can't afford thread ripper (which is good BTW) you can get a 3970X which still has 16 cores and 32 threads. Not sure what the RAM limit is though.

A lot of number crunching can be done on the GPU nowadays too.

Nvidia tends to be the best for that because it supports CUDA AND OpenCL.

Again (video) RAM is a factor here. This is not upgradeable without buying a new GPU.

On the motherboard front I tend to have the least pain the Asus although they are far from perfect.

I tend to have more trouble with Gigabyte.

I've never tried an MSI but have heard good things about them.