High end workstation for point clouds

[accident94]

Hi All,

 

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I work in a design and engineering firm. As a part of our workflow we are constantly processing point cloud data from our surveyors in the field.

 

I am hoping to improve efficiency by upgrading the workstation responsible for processing this data

I am not up to speed on professional grade hardware and requirements, and want to make an informed decision about whether upgrading is worth the outlay.

 

My first thought was that it was bound by ssd speed, but it looks to me like this is a CPU issue. Disk usage rarely spikes over a few percent but opening a project sees a single core max out, and exporting sees one die maxed out and the other between 80-100%. ram rarely exceeds 75% usage

 

The machine processes data from lecia laser scanners, registers the data (alligns cloud), trims the data, decimates the point clouds (removes overlapping/statistical outlying points), into files that are within the realm of possibility for a regular workstation.Typically using Cyclone or Realworks. Files are as big as a few TB of raw data.

 

The current system is a

dual socket HP z8 with 2x Xeon 4116 (2x12c24t)

Quadro p6000

512gb ram

 

Projects are stored locally on SSD's and backed up to a NAS

 

Budget is effectively unlimited provided it significantly impacts the workflow.

 

[boggy77]

upgrade your cpu's on the same platform. here's a list of inte's cpu's that work with your current config. I'd go for something with bigger boost clock and at least 16c/32t, like the 6130 or 6142. if your budget allows, go for a 24 core one like the 8160.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/series/125191/intel-xeon-scalable-processors.html

[315jordan09]

Have you heard of A.M.D.? Lol. Look at threadripper or epyc. Instead of the 4000 dollar 8160, you can get an entire 32 core threadripper with all the system components for 4000. And the Threadripper 3970x was released in 2019 while the 8160 was released in 2017. I do not see a valid reason to go with intel. Even the 16 core ryzen 3950x costs like 750. Threadripper does support more ram and more PCIe lanes if you need that many.

[boggy77]

11 minutes ago, 315jordan09 said:

Have you heard of A.M.D.? Lol. Look at threadripper or epyc. Instead of the 4000 dollar 8160, you can get an entire 32 core threadripper with all the system components for 4000. And the Threadripper 3970x was released in 2019 while the 8160 was released in 2017. I do not see a valid reason to go with intel. Even the 16 core ryzen 3950x costs like 750. Threadripper does support more ram and more PCIe lanes if you need that many.

threadripper supports max 256GB ram, the 3950 max 128. OP currently has 512GB of ram. epyc is the only option from AMD and i'm not sure it's worth upgrading the whole platform if OP already has everything in place and set up, just requiring a cpu swap

[315jordan09]

6 hours ago, boggy77 said:

threadripper supports max 256GB ram, the 3950 max 128. OP currently has 512GB of ram. epyc is the only option from AMD and i'm not sure it's worth upgrading the whole platform if OP already has everything in place and set up, just requiring a cpu swap

The 2990WX, which is based on their Zen+ microarchitecture, is fabricated on a 12 nm process. The 2990WX operates at a base frequency of 3 GHz with a TDP of 250 W and a boost of up to 4.2 GHz. This MPU supports up to 2 TiB of quad-channel DDR4-2933 memory. The 3970x supports 1TiB.

[Jeppes]

14 minutes ago, 315jordan09 said:

The 2990WX, which is based on their Zen+ microarchitecture, is fabricated on a 12 nm process. The 2990WX operates at a base frequency of 3 GHz with a TDP of 250 W and a boost of up to 4.2 GHz. This MPU supports up to 2 TiB of quad-channel DDR4-2933 memory. The 3970x supports 1TiB.

On what motherboard? TR40X has max 256GB on all boards Ive seen.

[igormp]

18 minutes ago, 315jordan09 said:

The 2990WX, which is based on their Zen+ microarchitecture, is fabricated on a 12 nm process. The 2990WX operates at a base frequency of 3 GHz with a TDP of 250 W and a boost of up to 4.2 GHz. This MPU supports up to 2 TiB of quad-channel DDR4-2933 memory. The 3970x supports 1TiB.

That's only in theory. Good luck finding a board that supports more than 256gb of ram in a single socket.

[315jordan09]

16 minutes ago, Jeppes said:

On what motherboard? TR40X has max 256GB on all boards Ive seen.

You are right. Threadripper theoretically supports it but there is not a motherboard that allows it. Looks like epyc is the only AMD option for 512gb of ram or more.

[Kungr]

I don't know that AMD is good for Autodesk Product, plus the rest of your build is bang on. Upgrade the Xeons

[cassius769]

On 1/29/2020 at 2:51 PM, boggy77 said:

threadripper supports max 256GB ram, the 3950 max 128. OP currently has 512GB of ram. epyc is the only option from AMD and i'm not sure it's worth upgrading the whole platform if OP already has everything in place and set up, just requiring a cpu swap

so what it does support this much RAM? For Point Ccloud processing 64GB seems way more than enough

[cassius769]

Really the question is not - what should I change in the PC to upgrade it. There will be a ton of do-gooders with beans for brains who will pull the answer from the hat like "oh you need more RAM! 128 GB of RAM!" while the other will cry "better GPU!" F..k that. It is completely irrelevant and just looses time.

 

The question is - is there a way to check the stress of all components of PC while the software is being used and running and create a report with timescales which can be correlated with different actions taken within that software (Cyclone or SCENE) while using it? Can anyone point me to that?

[cassius769]

On 1/30/2020 at 3:20 AM, Kungr said:

I don't know that AMD is good for Autodesk Product, plus the rest of your build is bang on. Upgrade the Xeons

Why? What is exactly the reason for upgrading the Xeons? How is that going to improve the performance? Or did you just pull it out of your ear and straight away put it in your mouth?

 

[boggy77]

8 hours ago, cassius769 said:

The question is - is there a way to check the stress of all components of PC while the software is being used and running and create a report with timescales which can be correlated with different actions taken within that software (Cyclone or SCENE) while using it? Can anyone point me to that?

OP literally explains that in the first post

 

"My first thought was that it was bound by ssd speed, but it looks to me like this is a CPU issue. Disk usage rarely spikes over a few percent but opening a project sees a single core max out, and exporting sees one die maxed out and the other between 80-100%. ram rarely exceeds 75% usage"

[cassius769]

2 hours ago, boggy77 said:

OP literally explains that in the first post

 

"My first thought was that it was bound by ssd speed, but it looks to me like this is a CPU issue. Disk usage rarely spikes over a few percent but opening a project sees a single core max out, and exporting sees one die maxed out and the other between 80-100%. ram rarely exceeds 75% usage"

So you got it... -why don't you answer the question if you understand it and actually now the right answer?

[boggy77]

3 minutes ago, cassius769 said:

So you got it... -why don't you answer the question if you understand it and actually now the right answer?

I'm not sure what you're saying. OP has identified the issue - high cpu usage. I have in a previous post identified the optimum solution - upgrade cpu to a better xeon.

what is it that you're not happy with?

[cassius769]

How do you know that is CPU upgrade is going to improve the processing times?

 

You don't. You are just guessing. Guess as good as anyone's - you have not added here any value with this comment. You are right though. It will improve - I agree.

 

What we are looking for is to KNOW how is that going to improve the processing times. We want to know the numbers and how other components are stressed during different operations while processing in Cyclone or Faro Scene.

 

Now the question still stands - do you know of any software which could monitor the stresses of components during processing? To establish the bottlenecks and therefore spend money wisely on components.

[cassius769]

 

 

check this one out. Linus mentions very good performance monotoring software in this vid. Im going to check it out.