New Workstation
- Bimbox
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Re: New Workstation
I will send you a few good recommendations. Would be to our site, but we don't ship across the pond yet.
- Bimbox
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Re: New Workstation
https://www.amd.com/en/thermal-solutions-threadripper
I would go with the Coolermaster, Thermaltake, or NZXT 360mm AIOs. All come with solid fans.
I would go with the Coolermaster, Thermaltake, or NZXT 360mm AIOs. All come with solid fans.
- smacl
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Re: New Workstation
Sounds really interesting, can you post a link to the article here once you've released. I'm also on the software dev side working with point clouds and imagery and would be very interested in the optimization specifics employed, both in hardware and software terms.Bimbox wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 11:33 pmWe have a pretty cool article coming out on the AMD page in the coming months about the partnership between AMD Leica and BIMBOX. AMD is working with the Leica team on some software optimization for the Threadripper processor, and we have provided the systems for their testing. Our role is to be monitoring the hardware to see limitations in the registration process, i.e. when it does not scale to 128 cores, or does not use expected % of RAM. Will share, but Cyclone is a great product and their team is constantly working to make the processing better.
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Re: New Workstation
I’m going to counter the AIO cooling solution for threadrippers. Speaking from experience and had to RMA 2990wx after my Endermax failed. Noctua cooler with a good case and air flow is all you need. It will never let you down. Never gonna give you up... or hurt you.
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Re: New Workstation
On a 1950x here with a big case and well thought out air cooling, never been let down by it yet. Not a big fan of overclocking for sustained workloads, if I'm going to be doing something that takes a few hours, I'll run it on a separate headless PC using remote desktop. As I've mentioned before, I reckon for many people doing heavy processing, it makes sense to have two or three workstations on the go.Carbix wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:29 am I’m going to counter the AIO cooling solution for threadrippers. Speaking from experience and had to RMA 2990wx after my Endermax failed. Noctua cooler with a good case and air flow is all you need. It will never let you down. Never gonna give you up... or hurt you.
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Re: New Workstation
Shanesmacl wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:42 amOn a 1950x here with a big case and well thought out air cooling, never been let down by it yet. Not a big fan of overclocking for sustained workloads, if I'm going to be doing something that takes a few hours, I'll run it on a separate headless PC using remote desktop. As I've mentioned before, I reckon for many people doing heavy processing, it makes sense to have two or three workstations on the go.Carbix wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:29 am I’m going to counter the AIO cooling solution for threadrippers. Speaking from experience and had to RMA 2990wx after my Endermax failed. Noctua cooler with a good case and air flow is all you need. It will never let you down. Never gonna give you up... or hurt you.
Having at least two muscle machines is definitely important and maybe more if your workload improves, but one of the important items of discussion I might have missed on this thread is the availability of multiple high speed transfer ports on the work stations such as USB-C.
From a discussion on this LSF from two years ago on the importance of USB-C:
viewtopic.php?p=73968#p73968
Many devices are using USB-C ports for higher speed storage devices as the Samsung T5, T7, and X5. Fortunately my ASUS ROG ZENITH II EXTREME + Ryzen 3990X system has a USB3.2 Gen 2X2 port which is supposed to transmit 20Gbps as well as a bunch of USB3.2 Gen 2 ports transmitting at 10Gbps.
The NavVis VLX that we have, originally came with a T5 as a storage device, transferring at 500MBps. Decided to replace it with red T7 rated at 1GBps which can move files into the workstation at 650MBps so you do not have to wait as long if you are a busy person. Also be sure to label your cable, so you have the correct speed since all USB-C cables are not equal.
Many new things coming in the next 6 months including USB4.
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- smacl
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Re: New Workstation
Dennis,dhirota wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 12:28 am Shane
Having at least two muscle machines is definitely important and maybe more if your workload improves, but one of the important items of discussion I might have missed on this thread is the availability of multiple high speed transfer ports on the work stations such as USB-C.
From a discussion on this LSF from two years ago on the importance of USB-C:
viewtopic.php?p=73968#p73968
Many devices are using USB-C ports for higher speed storage devices as the Samsung T5, T7, and X5. Fortunately my ASUS ROG ZENITH II EXTREME + Ryzen 3990X system has a USB3.2 Gen 2X2 port which is supposed to transmit 20Gbps as well as a bunch of USB3.2 Gen 2 ports transmitting at 10Gbps.
The NavVis VLX that we have, originally came with a T5 as a storage device, transferring at 500MBps. Decided to replace it with red T7 rated at 1GBps which can move files into the workstation at 650MBps so you do not have to wait as long if you are a busy person. Also be sure to label your cable, so you have the correct speed since all USB-C cables are not equal.
Many new things coming in the next 6 months including USB4.
Your post raises an important point here in that the bottleneck in your end to end workflow might not be where you think it is. You could possibly end up replacing a $10k workstation with a $20k workstation where you'd get a bigger performance boost replacing a $2 cable with a $10 cable. Like everything in the survey world, it makes sense to make your decisions based on measurement
Regarding beefy workstations, I tend to look at it from a critical path point of view. If there is an expensive resource, e.g. a salaried employee or expensive scanner, lying idle waiting for a computer to finish processing, more computer resource is required. If adding an additional mid-range workstation frees the blockage, it can be a good option. A good example of this would be a mobile mapping unit like the Pegasus, where the rate at which you collect data far exceeds the rate you can typically process it. You want to keep your mobile mapping rig out surveying full time as it is a very expensive piece of kit. To achieve this you break the data down into tiles and process across multiple workstations and operators. Where the top tier workstation comes in is where you have part of the processing workflow that sits on the critical path but can't be divided up.
Way more difficult to quantify is the psychological impact of many small processing delays. I think people's attention span wanes looking at slow task bars, I know mine certainly does, and you lose productivity working on slower systems. While this is something I don't know how to measure, I tend to look for the sweet spot in price performance terms when buying new kit. This is the point between where you're getting a lot more performance for not so much more money and where you're paying a lot more money for not so much more performance.
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Re: New Workstation
I think the 3950x is a great choice but according to Faro if your projects are 100 scans plus you'd be better off with even more cores than the 3950x's 16.Carbix wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 3:44 am This is what you need 99% of the time.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7vCtzN
SCENE 2019 is designed to make efficient use of multiple processing cores. Increasing your PC's number of physical cores to 16 will provide a substantial boost to processing speed. If you have to process projects with more than 100 scans regularly, consider using 32 physical cores.
If you regularly use projects of more than 500 scans and want to expand beyond 32 physical cores, increase your system's RAM using the formula: RAM = Cores x 2GB. (i.e. 32 cores = 64GB RAM).
- smacl
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Re: New Workstation
I agree, if you've got a build with 3 x 2TB fast SSDs and a decent GPU, something like a TR 3960X or 3970x is worth the extra. Between motherboard and CPU it brings the cost up by ~15-30% but will potentially bring the performance for heavily multi-threaded code up by 50-100%. You've got more cache memory and a higher base clock speed (though slower turbo speed) on the threadripper, so throughput on sustained single threaded code is also likely to be slightly bettter. Also worth checking whether the software you're using makes much use of the GPU as the $1k 1080ti is only warranted if you're bottlenecking on GPU performance. This is something worth checking with you're software vendor.
Going for a 3960x also gives you headroom to expand performance by dropping in a 3970x or 3990x at a later date without having to fork out for a new rig.