I doubt there is any need for 80 bit float. I'm going to try compiling
myself as Grumble suggests, so I'll take a look at the code. I'll also spend
a few hundred on a faster processor and better RAM and HDD. I'll probably
build the machine myself as most of the higher end PCs seem to have flashy
video/sound/TV cards etc which ! will not needed and then they seem to skimp
a little on HDDs.
Any further suggestions on a good MOBO, CPU and RAM conbination will be
appreciated.
First, you need to figure if a dual core processor is worth anything to
you, either because the program is efficiently multi-threaded or possibly
because you want to be able to do other useful things while it's running.
I don't know your application but for most general purpose work AMD64 CPUs
are beating Intel P4s quite handily and running cooler into the bargain.
Next you need to figure if ECC memory is desirable. The AMD64 field is a
bit confused right now: there are Athlon64s & Opterons which fit in a
socket 939 and Opterons which fit in a socket 940; both Athlon64s &
Opterons can do ECC but AFAIK there is only one mbrd mfr, Tyan, who makes a
s939 version. All s940 mbrds should handle ECC.
If you go s939, it doesn't matter if you get an Opteron or Athlon64 - the
former is claimed by the overclocking/gamer crowd to have a better memory
controller but I'm not sure why. In fact I'm baffled as to why AMD has
decided to sell s939 Opterons - it only makes choosing a CPU confusing.
For a mbrd, I've been using MSI recently and I haven't had any problems
with them apart from some which came with a bad batch of chipset fans...
which they replaced promptly. MSI's BIOS updates, for new CPU
compatibility and chipset feature improvements have been very good and
timely. Now you need to figure which chipset feature set you want: e.g. is
Firewire and dual network interfaces something you'd want?... things which
are generally only on the higher priced mbrds.
For the mbrd chipset, I've used both VIA and nVidia and for performance
it's a toss-up - nVidia has been a bit in front with latest features like
SATA-2 but the advantage is debatable. nVidia has some fancy hardware
assist in their NIs but it just doesn't work right - in fact I had to turn
off Checksum Offload to get the damned thing to work right.
For memory, I wouldn't even bother considering anything but Crucial but for
best performance, you want to keep the rank count down: with AMD64 CPUs,
above 3 ranks of memory, you might have to back off on memory timings or
clock speed. This means you should try to get DIMMs with 512M-bit chips...
preferably with the Micron memory chips; Crucial *is* selling some DIMMs
just now with Samsung chips and they are fussier about timing.
For a HDD, especially SATA-2, Seagate is working well (best ?) with nVidia
nForce4 chipsets. Maxtor has, of course been taken over by Seagate
recently but there have been problems with their HDDs at SATA-2 speeds.
If you tell a bit more about features important to you you'll get pointers
to specific mbrds.
I'm not sure you're going to get down to 2mins for your jobs but I'd think
5mins is certainly feasible. Good luck with it.
