http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/PC-requirements-tp7587774p7587785.html
which definitely makes things easier. I'll have to tinker around with this
> *****
> 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,
>
> It is actually more simple than that. Motherboard support is required if
> you want to boot an OS like Windows from the NVMe device because the UEFI
> ROM has to have an NVME driver to actually read the OS into memory during
> boot. That is all motherboard support means.
>
> Once the computer boots the motherboard's UEFI ROM is no longer used, and
> you use the OS's driver instead. You can use NVMe storage at full speed on
> any PCIe 3.0 device regardless of motherboard support for booting or the
> presence of M.2. sockets on the board so long as your OS has a driver.
> PCIe 2.0 devices will be a slower due to the lower transfer rate (2GB/s),
> but will also work. You can actually use NVMe devices with 10+ year old
> computers if you really want to, but you will need a second ATA device to
> boot from.
>
> Mike
>
> On Mon, Jan 15, 2018 at 5:35 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.
> > *****
> >
> > Should have clarified: PCIe is only part of the attachment process. The
> > motherboard must also support the NVMe standard via PCIe to achieve
> maximum
> > performance. Most motherboards that support the latest NVMe protocol
> have a
> > dedicated M.2 slot (or two) specifically for mounting M.2 NVMe compatible
> > drives. (Some also are backwards compatible with SATA, this is slot
> > dependent!) You *can* attach such drives via PCIe adapter cards but this
> > depends on if the motherboard supports NVMe through the standard PCIe
> > slots. The drives will still work in a PCIe slot, but you really only get
> > the full potential out of them with the NVMe protocol implemented on the
> > motherboard.
> >
> > Craig
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 15, 2018 at 11:04 AM, Michael Giacomelli <
[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 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
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>