CPU / RAM for image processing

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

Am thinking about an upgrade to my imaging PC. I'm currently using an AMD Phenom II X6 1075T with 6GB ram. My MoBo is a Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 which only supports DDR2 ram and will not support an AM3+ processor. I use PixInsight running natively on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

My first thought was to upgrade to the 8-core AMD FX-8350 on a new AM3+ board with say 16GB of DD3 ram, with the possibility of another 16GB at a future date.

But I've since been wondering about how a hyperthreaded 4-core i7 such as a 3770 would compare...? And then on top of that I came across the i7 3820, which is a 2011 socket processor that has 4 channels of memory. Boards such as the GA-X79-UP4 have 8xDDR3 ram slots and support up to 64GB of memory!

The AM3+ chip is definitely the cheaper option by far. I'm not sure how its performance would compare with an i7 3820. The intel option is more expensive, but with the socket 2011 board and 8 rams slots is perhaps a better upgrade path...?

Advice/comments welcomed

[cfranks (Charles)]

Richard,

I know nothing about the AMD processors but RAM is good! I would get as much as you can afford. I use 32GB but allocate 16GB to a RAMdisk and use that for PixInsight's cache. It speeds the processing a lot. My CPU is a 6 core i7 but it is seldom used at 100% suggesting that CPU speed/#cores is/are not a prime requirement. I do use 3 monitors though, giving me a lot of 'real estate' for PI.

Charles

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

Interesting, thanks Charles. Perhaps a simpler upgrade then might be to keep my processor and just get a new motherboard and 32gb of ram... And maybe a bigger CPU cooler so I can overclock?

hmmm

[Tandum (Robin)]

I doubt you'll find an AM2 motherboard that supports large amounts of RAM if you can find one at all, they are obselete. The memory controller is built into the CPU and AM2 CPU's can only control DDR2 memory.

The 2011 socket i7 has huge bandwidth to the memory. That is the sort of chip I put into CAD/Mapping machines. It will be the fastest for heavy calculations. It's not all about CPU speed and loads of RAM these days, the amount of data you can move in/out of memory is also important as is hard drive speed.

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

My current motherboard will support up to 16GB of DDR2 memory. Problem is that DDR2 is wildly expensive now compared to DDR3. The AMD Phenom II X6 1075T is actually an AM3 processor, so in a suitable motherboard (like this) it can use DDR3 memory (up to 1333MHz).

Im now thinking that a simple motherboard upgrade (to that linked above) together with 4x8GB of DDR3 1333MHz RAM and a SATA3 hard drive might be the way forward. Will also mean that I can use the surplus funds to upgrade my wife's PC (which is more gaming orientated).

[Tandum (Robin)]

I looked it up, it is an AM3 cpu so your laughing. The Intel chips are not cheap.

[multiweb (Marc)]

I've got an i7 950 @3.07GHz with 24GB DD3 RAM. CCD Stack uses a lot of RAM. PI not so much but it's very CPU intensive. I find that you need to let it use 7 cores out of 8 or it can easily lock up the machine. The heaviest programs on the system are by far Adobe Premiere Pro & After Effect when encoding high resolution videos. You'll maxout all the cores at 100% for a long period of time. Without adequate ventilation you'll stabilize around 70c with air at 25c ambient and about 45c with water cooling. I use a coolant filled radiator sandwiched between two push/pull fan. I had the system going on 3yrs now and no major drama. TBH 24GB of RAM is plenty. I've never topped it up even with a couple of VMs running. I could always do with a faster CPU though, but as pointed out they'e not cheap.

[AG Hybrid (Adrian)]

As much as I like AMD processors I am sad to say that Intel chips of similar design as in i7's vs 8000 series AM3+ eats them alive. $ to performance though they are about equal.

I am holding off personally in upgrading my PC till the 4th quarter this year. Its expected that the next iteration of their performance line, piledriver architecture CPU's will be launched. They are reported to have a 40% performance increase per core.

Don't even think about buying the two new 8 core chips they just released. Its just the same chip with better base clocks and a much much bigger price tag.

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Hi guys,

As i'm getting closer to getting my imaging setup together i realise that PI is probably going to have to be purchased, the problem is i have a 2 year old $450 laptop, which ain't going to cut the mustard by the sounds of it.

I knew a fair bit about computers back in 1998 but am out of my league now, is something like this http://www.mln.com.au/product/?itemID=4699 appear to be a good buy? What should i be looking for? I was hoping to keep the price between $1000-$1500.

any guidance would be appreciated.

Cheers

Rusty