http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/PC-requirements-tp7587774p7587782.html
Should have clarified: PCIe is only part of the attachment process. The
performance. Most motherboards that support the latest NVMe protocol have a
drives. (Some also are backwards compatible with SATA, this is slot
slots. The drives will still work in a PCIe slot, but you really only get
> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy> Post images on
http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Hi Craig,
>
> You can buy M.2. NVME to PCIe adapters for a few dollars on Amazon.
> They're pure passive (they just route the PCIe pins to the M.2. connector)
> and work well for adding M.2. to motherboards that don't support it. You
> lose an x4 PCIe slot, but usually there is at least one extra on a full
> size motherboard.
>
> Otherwise we usually just use Intel's single socket HEDT platform
> (currently X299-based) which supports up to 18 cores and 8 DIMMs (128GB of
> RAM). These typically come with 2x M.2. slots for NVME storage. Dual
> socket would allow more than 20 cores, but the value is lower due to the
> cost of the Xeon platform.
>
> Mike
>
> On Mon, Jan 15, 2018 at 12:02 PM, Craig Brideau <
[hidden email]>
> wrote:
>
> > *****
> > To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> >
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy> > Post images on
http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your
> posting.
> > *****
> >
> > Comment on the M.2 drives: They are significantly faster than SATA SSDs,
> > but for full speed the motherboard must support NVMe which is a dedicated
> > protocol for M.2 drives featuring a dedicated slot on the motherboard.
> > Annoyingly, most dual-CPU-socket 8-DIMM slot motherboards don't feature
> > this, so it is not an available option if you also want >64GB of RAM. If
> > anyone happens to come across an NVMe board that also has 8-DIMM slots
> > please let me know!
> > I use an M.2 NVMe for a system at home and it boots absurdly fast with
> only
> > an older i5 core.
> >
> > Craig
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 15, 2018 at 8:06 AM, Menelaos Symeonides <
[hidden email]>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > *****
> > > To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> > >
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy> > > Post images on
http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your
> > posting.
> > > *****
> > >
> > > Hi Peter,
> > >
> > > If you have ever built your own PC, or know someone who has, you can
> > > benefit greatly from building it custom. Off-the-shelf systems can be
> > > upmarked considerably and often use outdated components or skimp on
> > > important things like a good power supply. Of course, the benefit of
> that
> > > would be presumably a warranty on the whole system, in case you are not
> > > able to diagnose things yourself, but if you build a custom system,
> each
> > > component will come with its own warranty. It would just be up to you
> to
> > > determine which component is faulty and claim the warranty on it
> > yourself.
> > >
> > > I recently built such a computer for light sheet data acquisition and
> > > processing/analysis. Here is the configuration:
> > >
> > > Motherboard: Asus Z10PE-D16 WS
> > > CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2650 V4 (x2)
> > > CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U12DXi4 (x2)
> > > Memory: Samsung M393A2G40EB1-CRC 16GB DDR4 2400MHz ECC-Reg (x8 = 128 GB
> > > total)
> > > OS drive: Samsung 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 SSD (on a PCIE M.2 adapter
> > > because the motherboard runs its onboard M.2 at SATA speed)
> > > Data drive: Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SATA (6 drives in RAID10 configuration)
> > > Video card: GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB
> > > Case: Phanteks Enthoo Primo
> > > Power supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 1200W 80+ Platinum
> > >
> > > You will obviously also need monitors, keyboard, mouse, Windows
> license,
> > > and some kind of data server - you should assume that you will not be
> > > storing your data on this computer if you are generating 1TB datasets.
> I
> > > got a Synology DS1817+ 8-bay NAS with a 10GbE adapter and loaded it
> with
> > 8
> > > Western Digital Gold 10TB drives (WD101KRYZ), and run them in SHR2
> > > (basically RAID6, for double-parity, i.e. you can lose two drives and
> > still
> > > be able to recover). I also got a 10GbE adapter for the workstation PC,
> > > this allows utilization of the maximum transfer rates the RAID array is
> > > capable of, which is 3-4 times faster than standard Gigabit Ethernet.
> > This
> > > data server is costly but, for light sheet data, basically necessary if
> > > your institute does not provide substantial data storage.
> > >
> > > Another thing to note is that component prices can fluctuate quite a
> bit.
> > > I bought the video card in the summer for under $740. Right now they
> are
> > > out of stock everywhere (1080 Ti of any brand), and when they are in
> > stock,
> > > they go for anywhere up to $2,000 (you have bitcoin mining to thank for
> > > that). You can get a Titan Xp for less than that now so the
> > > price/perfomance advantage of the 1080 Ti is no longer there, but look
> > for
> > > the Titans to also disappear off the market really quickly as mining
> > > expands higher up the range.
> > >
> > > All told, I spent around $9,000 for the workstation and $4,500 for the
> > > data server. Comparable off-the-shelf workstations cost around $12,000
> -
> > > $15,000 (and possibly even more now with the GPU market up in the air
> and
> > > RAM prices currently rising), and off-the-shelf data servers of similar
> > > capacity would cost much more than that.
> > >
> > > Assembly and setup of the PC was not trivial, so you will want someone
> > > with experience to help you. Workstation (Xeon) motherboards can be
> very
> > > finicky, and the installation manuals for some components can be pretty
> > > incomprehensible. Also be aware that if you need multiple PCIE slots
> > > available for data acquisition cards etc., the GPU only takes one but
> > > actually occludes at least one more slot (my card took up three slots
> > > total) so your choice of case/card should be made carefully. I ended up
> > > cutting a hole in the back panel of the case and mounting the GPU
> > > vertically with a 2-slot PCI bracket and PCIE riser cable, as I needed
> > > every last PCIE slot on the motherboard. Some cases come with vertical
> > GPU
> > > mounting positions, but some of those will block the regular PCIE
> slots,
> > or
> > > will be incompatible with SSI-EEB format motherboards (which is what
> most
> > > dual CPU boards will be).
> > >
> > > Good luck!
> > >
> > >
> > > Mel
> > >
> > >
> > > On 1/15/2018 7:22 AM, Owens, Peter wrote:
> > >
> > >> *****
> > >> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> > >>
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy> > >> Post images on
http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your
> > posting.
> > >> *****
> > >>
> > >> Dear listers,
> > >>
> > >> I am looking into purchasing a high end image processing PC , that
> will
> > >> be capable of processing large multidimensional data sets up to 1 TB
> in
> > >> size.
> > >> Does anyone have any recommendations on a PC configuration that would
> be
> > >> suitable?
> > >> Do people build custom PCs or buy off the shelf?
> > >> Are high spec gaming PCs up to this task?
> > >>
> > >> thanks for any advice on this .
> > >>
> > >> all the best
> > >>
> > >> Peter
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Peter Owens
> > >> Centre for Microscopy and Imaging,
> > >> National University of Ireland Galway.
> > >> P: +35391494036 m: +353863326749
> > >> W: www.imaging.nuigalway.ie e:
[hidden email]
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > > Menelaos Symeonides
> > > Post-Doctoral Associate, Thali Lab
> > > Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
> > > University of Vermont
> > > 318 Stafford Hall
> > > 95 Carrigan Dr
> > > Burlington, VT 05405
> > >
[hidden email]
> > > Phone: 802-656-1161
> > >
> >
>