Need suggestions, buying a new computer

[claudiapenaloza]

I want to buy a "monster" computer mostly for crunching big MARK models (imagine multistate robust design models with 10+ states and 30+ years of data -some of which can take weeks to run on flimsy dual core machines-).

I don't know much(at all) about processing/computers, but I've picked up that with the new(-ish) parallel processing capabilities in MARK, more cores = faster model runs = better.

Given that, and a budget of $3,000-$3,500, which is the best/fastest computer you would recommend? (If possible please give specifics pertaining to which processor, how much RAM, etc.).

The same computer may be used to run optimization models in Matlab (though I don't think Matlab would benefit from multiple cores... but it would benefit from having a lot of RAM? Is that true?).

Any help greatly appreciated!
Claudia

[cooch]

I want to buy a "monster" computer mostly for crunching big MARK models (imagine multistate robust design models with 10+ states and 30+ years of data -some of which can take weeks to run on flimsy dual core machines-).

Be advised that whatever you buy is obsolete in 18-24 months.

I don't know much(at all) about processing/computers, but I've picked up that with the new(-ish) parallel processing capabilities in MARK, more cores = faster model runs = better.

More or less

Given that, and a budget of $3,000-$3,500, which is the best/fastest computer you would recommend? (If possible please give specifics pertaining to which processor, how much RAM, etc.).

MARK is rarely, if ever, RAM bound. 8 Gb is fine for almost everything, 16 Gb probably overkill. Spend more money on processor - realizing that really high-end processors will run hot (meaning, fan noise), and have a propensity to melt down, eventually (meaning, sooner than processors which aren't pegged at maximum cycles). At this point your best bet are the Intel i7 Extreme CPU's (or the AMD Llano chip), on a mobo (motherboard) that has multiple CPU slots. Very few 'commercial vendors' sell multi-processor systems - almost inevitably requires a custom build. I personally like Puget Systems (really good, but expensive), but there are a number of good 'custom' builders out there.

The same computer may be used to run optimization models in Matlab (though I don't think Matlab would benefit from multiple cores... but it would benefit from having a lot of RAM? Is that true?).

MATLAB benefits from multi--core, but full parallelization of things requires the parallel optimization toolbox, which is *really* good, but expensive. Your real speed gain for MATLAB is using a GPU and Jacket (i.e., a graphic processor unit, which is *much* faster than your CPU, in an environment which optimizes your code for GPU processing - Jacket is probably the best such environment). Again, whip fast, but pricey.

[bacollier]

I want to buy a "monster" computer mostly for crunching big MARK models (imagine multistate robust design models with 10+ states and 30+ years of data -some of which can take weeks to run on flimsy dual core machines-).

I don't know much(at all) about processing/computers, but I've picked up that with the new(-ish) parallel processing capabilities in MARK, more cores = faster model runs = better.

Given that, and a budget of $3,000-$3,500, which is the best/fastest computer you would recommend? (If possible please give specifics pertaining to which processor, how much RAM, etc.).

The same computer may be used to run optimization models in Matlab (though I don't think Matlab would benefit from multiple cores... but it would benefit from having a lot of RAM? Is that true?).

Any help greatly appreciated!
Claudia

Claudia,
For what its worth, I actually talked to quite a few folks before I got my system. I used a Dell Precision workstation laptop as my day to day computer (partitioned Windows and Linux), 64bit dual quad core, SSD with Intel i7 as Evan suggested (I guess I have about 13 months left), 32gb ram and I can't find anything that slows it down to a crawl like you said even when I have 8 other things going on. If you want a benchmark, I will run your big old model on both sides and let you know how my set up works.

Bret

[claudiapenaloza]

Thank you both!