Ph.D. Research Rig

[CogitoErgoSum]

Hello,

I have a bit of a conundrum. This spring, I started my first semester as a graduate student pursuing a degree in theoretical physics. I was recently given my first large computational project to begin working on, (some old Fortran code running a 1 dimensional simulation that I've been asked to update to a more modern format, using CUDA Fortran, and improve upon, with the goal to be to expand this to 3 dimensions), and I'm seriously doubting that my 5 year old craptop is up to the task.

 

I should, at this point, probably clarify my motivations. I'm working as a research assistant at the university, specifically studying applications of high performance computers in physics. I'm hoping to one day get a job creating simulations for physicists and educators and have spent the last couple years learning how to use CUDA Fortran, CUDA Python, Cinema 4D, and Maya to achieve that goal. I'm in the process of getting grant money (I won't say how much, but it will be no object) with which to build a high performance beast of a computer. The goal of this computer is to practice writing code to take advantage of a highly parallelized computing environment, and as a side project, to try and make such a computer as efficient as possible by whatever means necessary (including using cryogenic liquids for cooling and overclocking). Basically the university has hired me to write code to send to the Titan Supercomputer at Oak Ridge, but because the darn thing costs so much to use, its cheaper for them to give me whatever resources I need to make sure that the code is efficient as possible before they ship it off. I just have to spend the next couple years proving my salt, and to do that, I'm going to practice at home.

 

I've been collecting parts over the last few months to build a computer (the first that I've ever actually built myself), and all that is left is to purchase the motherboard and the CPU to get the computer off the ground (I will purchase a GPU later). I was planning to wait until the new 6950X came out (to give myself time to save up for that, whatever is the best extreme edition x99 motherboard when it comes out, and several graphics cards), but unfortunately I NEED to build a computer right NOW. So because I only currently have a couple thousand dollars to throw at it, I would like to poll the forums to make sure that I don't waste what resources I do currently have. This current computer doesn't have to be optimized for highly parallel computing just yet. It's my first project in grad school and it's not difficult code to work with. This will probably be downgraded in the near-ish future to a LAN rig since it is less than ideal for what I'm trying to do, but c'est la vie.

 

I currently have a chassis, the Cooler Master HAF XB Evo, 16 gb (4x4) of Crucial Ballistix Sport Ram, a 256 gb Samsung Pro SSD, a 1 tb Western Digital HDD, a Corsair HX 1050 PSU (I was planning on X99 and 2 to 4 way SLI), and a Cooler Master V8 GTS CPU Cooler. These were all the parts that I could buy one at a time and not really worry about them, but I felt like the CPU, motherboard, and graphics card all needed to be purchased at the same time to make sure they all work, and still be able to return them if they don't. (All of the other components, except for the ram have been tested and do indeed work.)

 

I'm in a toss up about whether to get the ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme, the ASUS Z170 Sabertooth Mark 1, or the ASUS Maximus VIII Formula (I'm leaning towards this one). I'm definitely going to be getting the 6700K. And in a month or so I'm going to be getting some variation of the 980ti to get started with. 

 

Do these (ASUS Maximus VII Formula, 6700K, 980ti) seem like reasonable choices to cut my teeth on for a first build? Would anyone choose different components? Would these suit me well for a while until I am a bit further down the road and need to upgrade? Would anyone have any advice or suggestions for a new computer builder and young programmer? 

[Frame Drops]

What is your budget & location ( country )?. and your description is way to long .

[g4m3cr34tor]

I can see that you probably want as much reliability as possible so you should probably go with the Sabertooth Mk1. It's not ROG, but it is still a very good board for OC and the quality and warranty is exceptional 

[Zagna]

5 hours ago, CogitoErgoSum said:

Basically the university has hired me to write code to send to the Titan Supercomputer at Oak Ridge

Considering, Wikipedia says that the Titan is composed of an Opteron 6274 + Nvidia Tesla K20X, why not go with that? You aren't building a gaming computer.

A Super Micro H8SGL-F, some DDR3 (maybe even ECC), Opteron 6274 with a Noctua NH-U12DO A3 and an Tesla K20 or K20X? Somewhat cheap on eBay.

980 Ti has 176 Gflops double precision, while those two Teslas have 1175 and 1312 and the 980 is a different architecture.

Also why optimize your code on Haswell-E when it's going to be run on Bulldozer?

[CogitoErgoSum]

A single tesla costs $2500, 980 ti costs about $650. My issue is that the computer needs to be built and running by like next week, and while I have some saved for the purpose, I only have a couple thousand to use. This is about as good as I can do with what limited time and money I have. If I could have waited 3 months, I could have thrown another 4 or 5 grand at it, but I couldn't, so I don't. 

 

The sabertooth seems like a great board, which is why I was intrigued by it. Does anyone know of any good online side by side comparison videos or tools? 

[Zagna]

There's a K20 on eBay for 1200$, 64GB of DDR3 ECC for 150$, Opteron 6274 for 60$ and H8SGL-F for 169$ so just little over 1500$.

Part of me just imagines that you could prove your salt much better if you had as close to the actual hardware that the Titan supercomputer has.

And making sure the code can run on 16 cores, instead of the 4 cores of i7.

Maybe get the Opteron and the original Titan since it's the same architecture as the Tesla K20X (and similar double precision). There's a GTX Titan for 700$ on eBay.