how to select GPU for workstation

[UserXY]

Hello,

 

I want to build a workstation for lots of parallel compilation and single-threaded compilation. I am very unsure about GPU I should choose. There is no CAD software, graphics rendering, video processing involved etc.

 

Here is my summary of descriptions from other users of the software of what such system should look like:

 

Quote

 

• RAM will only make a difference if you are hitting swap frequently
• Get yourself a good DDR4 and get a NVME (+2GB/s) instead of SSD or 7200 RPM drive.
• My experience is that you would use 32 GB RAM when running jobs in parallel (+6 cores).
• Many of the longest-running operations are single-threaded. And in most part of the compilation, 2 CPU maximum will be used. The i7-8700K is still the king in single threaded performance. And you can easily overclock it to 4.8 GHz on water alone.
• I've found that a very large L2 cache is the best speed enhancer, more L2 cache / CPU is better than nº of CPUs.
• I myself run a 32Gb station with a 2-year old i7-5830 overclocked to 4.2 GHz and it has never gone over 70C, even when running those massive overnight jobs in the summer.

 

The only advice I could find about GPU:

Quote

 

The software doesn‘t use a GPU.

 

So should I care about GPU performance at all, is it important?

 

thank you

[Guest]

What kind of work are you doing? 3d and video editing needs a good gpu, but for example for doing calculations etc you dont need. 

[UserXY]

yes, forgot to mention: no video editing, 3D, CAD only compilations. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 minutes ago, UserXY said:

yes, forgot to mention: no video editing, 3D, CAD only compilations. 

if your getting a 8700k just use the igpu then.

[Energycore]

22 minutes ago, UserXY said:

And in most part of the compilation, 2 CPU maximum will be used.

Looking at those guidelines, it seems like you can get away with a really cheap GPU. Look for a cheap Quardo just in case, like this one

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/m6H48d/pny-quadro-p600-2gb-video-card-vcqp600-pb

 

And I'm taking this

22 minutes ago, UserXY said:

And in most part of the compilation, 2 CPU maximum will be used

To mean that you'll at most use 2 cores, not 2 actual CPU dies in a dual socket board.

 

For that reason it's no use to get the 8700K, grab an i3-8350K and overclock it, should hit at least 5GHz especially if you cool it well.

 

Spend most of your money on the NVMe drive, like this one - https://pcpartpicker.com/product/TstWGX/samsung-960-pro-512gb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-mz-v6p512bw

Or a 1TB if you can afford the high price tag - https://pcpartpicker.com/product/C3mxFT/samsung-960-pro-10tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-mz-v6p1t0bw

 

Those are my recommendations for this workstation.

 

[UserXY]

hey, thank you all this is very helpful

49 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

if your getting a 8700k just use the igpu then

I wasn't aware these chips have IGPU. 

33 minutes ago, Energycore said:

And I'm taking this

1 hour ago, UserXY said:

And in most part of the compilation, 2 CPU maximum will be used

To mean that you'll at most use 2 cores, not 2 actual CPU dies in a dual socket board.

Yes, 2 cores in 1 CPU, sorry. 

33 minutes ago, Energycore said:

grab an i3-8350K and overclock it, should hit at least 5GHz especially if you cool it well.

I am a bit nervous about overclocking. Is air cooling good enough? I have no experience with overclocking and cooling this is my first build. Is watercooling expensive/complicated to install?

33 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Spend most of your money on the NVMe drive

I have no experience with NVMe. I recently bought a 500GB Samsung EVO 850 SSD, 2.5''. 1 TB version is too expensive for me. 

I'd install my OS'es on 850 SSD and Software and my working directories on NVMe, correct?

The Software uses a lot of disk space on temporary files for "caching", can reach 10GB+ per project. Software installation itself has 25GB, too. 

 

 

 

[Energycore]

22 minutes ago, UserXY said:

Yes, 2 cores in 1 CPU, sorry. 

I am a bit nervous about overclocking. Is air cooling good enough? I have no experience with overclocking and cooling this is my first build. Is watercooling expensive/complicated to install?

 

I have no experience with NVMe. I recently bought a 500GB Samsung EVO 850 SSD, 2.5''. 1 TB version is too expensive for me. 

I'd install my OS'es on 850 SSD and Software and my working directories on NVMe, correct?

 

The Software uses a lot of disk space on temporary files for "caching", can reach 10GB+ per project. Software installation itself has 25GB, too.

Install your OS on the 850, yeah, then use the NVMe for all your software files and the caching since those are the ones that you need to be super high performance on.

 

Overclocking isn't terribly hard, and you can do it on air cooling if you've got an i3-8350K.

This link is how tomshardware overclocked their 8350K. Set the same settings as they did (1.32V, 5GHz, -2 AVX offset), then stress test with Prime95 and AIDA64 for 2 hours each at least. If you don't pass any of the stress tests, you can up voltage to 1.35V or decrease clocks to 4.9, should be stable on an 8350K.

 

For cooling, liquid cooling on a retail "all in one" unit is pretty simple, you just need a place in your case to screw in the radiator, put it there and mount the CPU block. Pretty straightforward. If you want to go air there are good powerful solutions that can handle this overclock just fine - anything from tier 5 up in this list

If that list is too much info, grab one of these 4:

Cryorig H5 Ultimate/Universal

Raijintek Ereboss

Thermalright Macho Direct / Macho Rev. A

Noctua NH-U14S