Programmer computer early planning stage

[Hrillo666]

Budget: £1500

Location: London

Goal:

I am planning to build a computer used only for programming. 0 gaming. Fast compile/ test cycle

 

TL;DR I want to compile fast and run my tests fast, despite being on Windows

 

I'll mainly be using Visual Studio (which is bottlenecked by it trying to write very many small files on NTFS) and a tool called ReSharper which is The Best, but also reads and writes many _many_ small files and uses all of the memory in the universe, but I will only give it 32gb To be honest I'm not sure if VS is able to saturate all cores while building or if it builds one project at a time. I seem to remember something about a setting for parallel builds. but I could also use a tool like ncrunch ( to run all my unit tests in the background, it farms out subprocesses that compile and run all tests on almost every keystroke) to leverage all cores. All my code lives elsewhere so I don't need long term reliable storage.

 

What type of processor do I get? I am guessing I need to get something overclockable with many but not absurdly many cores and PCIe lanes, and a motherboard with which I can clock of course but also set up m.2 nvme ssd raid (1)0?. Low latency is important. That should work?

I need graphics just enough to drive two monitors with low resolution as I'm old so "full HD" is enough. How bad graphics can one buy? I live in the UK, so my internet speed is nearly non-existent and I have no NAS - so no need for fancy networking.

[Fasauceome]

Getting a threadripper CPU sounds like what you need. Loads of PCIe, really affordable core counts, overclocking capability, and for GPU you can probably grab a GT 1030 

[Queen Chrysalis]

9 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Getting a threadripper CPU sounds like what you need. Loads of PCIe, really affordable core counts, overclocking capability, and for GPU you can probably grab a GT 1030 

If its minimalism, any old hd 5xxx or geforce 88xx can be had for ~$15.  but the 1700x is currently only $150, and at microcenter there are x370 boards ofr under $70, plus a $30 board+cpu combo discount.  Threadripper is not a great value for that kind of work, gen 1 r7s are about as good a value as you can get atm.

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

If its minimalism, any old hd 5xxx or geforce 88xx can be had for ~$15.  but the 1700x is currently only $150, and at microcenter there are x370 boards ofr under $70, plus a $30 board+cpu combo discount.  Threadripper is not a great value for that kind of work, gen 1 r7s are about as good a value as you can get atm.

Threadripper is excellent for programming, my friend who writes code says heavily multi core CPU is the way to go. Not to mention the need for pcie Lanes in OP's post, and quad channel helping with those slow writes.

[Happycowdance]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Threadripper 1920X 3.5 GHz 12-Core Processor	£365.47 @ Scan.co.uk
CPU Cooler	Noctua - NH-U14S TR4-SP3 140.2 CFM CPU Cooler	£64.98 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard	Asus - PRIME X399-A EATX TR4 Motherboard	£292.94 @ More Computers
Memory	Crucial - Ballistix Sport AT 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	£407.37 @ Amazon UK
Storage	SanDisk - Ultra 3D 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	£81.16 @ Amazon UK
Storage	Toshiba - P300 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	£65.19 @ CCL Computers
Video Card	Gigabyte - GeForce GT 1030 2 GB Low Profile Video Card	£70.97 @ Amazon UK
Case	Corsair - Carbide 400C White ATX Mid Tower Case	£74.39 @ Aria PC
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	£80.47 @ Scan.co.uk
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£1502.94
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-16 23:24 GMT+0000

try this I wasnt able to fit a higher gen threadripper for under your budget but I was able to give you 64gs of ram

[Hrillo666]

Amazing! Thanks! Yes, multicore perf is more important now than before. Used to be you just be writing stuff in a text editor and occasionally compile. Now with TDD you run tests all the time (which means running a build, even on JavaScript due to pre-processors, minifyers and so on ) with live test status reporting and preview in your editor.