Like Tree9Likes

Best office computer for high computational load

Closed Thread
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 LastLast
  1. #1

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    12,323

    Best office computer for high computational load

    Any views?

    We have an office full of Lenovo Think pads right now -- need to buy some more and pondering if we should change to any other brand.

    Does anyone have any views on whether there is a "best" brand for good quality, fast, durable but not overly expensive laptops? Or any other considerations I have not though of?

    They are used for Word, Excel but also running GAMS-based models, with pretty high computational load.


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884

    I'd say that the most important non-subjective thing to look for is support services. Basically length of warranty and whether onsite visits are provided in case anything goes wrong. Oh, and some companies provide accidental breakage warranties, which given how laptops are treated is quite a good thing.

    Subjective things to look at is ergonomics (maybe it's just me, but I can't stand most modern laptop keyboards and touchpads).

    Specific branding stuff is hugely subjective... I personally like Thinkpads because of their red mouse pointer thingie and because their service centre is still remarkably competent (well, their techs panic if you speak English to them over the phone, but they are still pretty good). Oh, and because you can also carry spare batteries for them, instead of the bloody stupid trend of having batteries built into a solid aluminium chassis (shiny, pretty, but hard to service and impossible to keep away from power points for long periods of time... and if you're doing serious number crunching that burns more power than web browsing).

    Spec wise, if you are looking at laptops, it doesn't matter. Just get something with a quad core i7 mobile processor (I assume that your software is capable of utilising multithreaded processors), a crapload of RAM and an SSD. Once you hit those three points, the brand won't affect performance.

    Edit: And i7 over i5, as the i5s are dual processor only.

    So unless you've got some compelling reason to move away from your Thinkpads, I reckon you're onto a good thing already.

    Last edited by jgl; 17-03-2015 at 03:32 PM.
    HK_Katherine, imparanoic and 100LL like this.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    8,280

    If performance is important then go for a workstation. We use the HP Z mobile workstations and desktop workstations for machines that run software such as 3Dmax, Adobe Creative Suite, Autocad, etc. But they are considerably more expensive than a normal laptop/desktop.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,971

    Dell's workstation laptops are pretty good. Had one in a previous life.

    These are their latest spec'ed units.

    http://www.dell.com/hk/en/business/p...workstation/pd


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,971

    I am not sure if the cores would matter... if the GAMS thing is not multi-threaded it is irrlevant .. fasted CPU with max ram. If the software is multi-threaded / "enterprise ready" then may be worth looking at quad cores and hugh amounts of RAM.

    HK_Katherine likes this.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884

    Yeah, I just checked. It looks like the base install at least doesn't provid multithreading.

    So just a fast i5. Does sound like lots of fast storage is important though, so SSD instead of spinny disks.

    installation:what_is_the_recommended_machine_proce ssing_speed_for_running_gams [GAMS Support Wiki]

    imparanoic and HK_Katherine like this.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    12,323

    Our models typically take from minutes to hours to solve. Not being technically minded, I don't know how to speed it up....


  8. #8

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    猴山
    Posts
    23,652

    Solid State hardware prices have dropped. You could look to extend the life of your current laptops by a few years by upgrading them to 16Gb of Ram and fitting 256Gb SSD's.

    You probably need to try out a trial change to see if the user is happy with a $2000 upgrade rather than a $10,000 replacement. Then do the math. If the savings from reduced morning start-up lag and processing time is justifiable or not.

    Last edited by East_coast; 17-03-2015 at 05:31 PM.

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    猴山
    Posts
    23,652
    Quote Originally Posted by HK_Katherine:
    Our models typically take from minutes to hours to solve. Not being technically minded, I don't know how to speed it up....
    What is the current specification of your machines?

    Would you benefit from one or two super desktops to crunch numbers?

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884
    Quote Originally Posted by HK_Katherine:
    Our models typically take from minutes to hours to solve. Not being technically minded, I don't know how to speed it up....
    Take a Thinkpad running a big model and see how much RAM is being chewed up (Control-Shift-Esc, Performance tab). If it's a high percentage, add more RAM.

    If you're running Windows 32 bit with more than 4GB of RAM installed, the OS is crippling the system by not being able to address more than around 3.6GB anyway, in which case you need to install a 64 bit version of Windows. This sounds like a stupid scenario, but I have seen it happen a lot... manufacturers often bundle machines with 4GB of ram with the crippled version of the OS. To figure 32 vs 64 bit: File explorer, right click Computer, Properties, and under System Type it should say 64 or 32 bit.

    For GAMS, also a fast harddisk can be useful, since GAMS by default communicates with solvers via files. Especially if you have to solve a sequence of many small models, a solid state drive should be considered. Alternatively, you can try setting the GAMS solvelink option to 5. This enables in-memory communication with many of the solvers, but also consumes more memory.

    Some solvers can make use of a multiple cores, even though a high frequency, large caches, and fast memory access should be a first priority. Since multithreading in a solver comes with additional overhead, one can usually not expect a linear speedup with the number of cores.
    According to the GAMS page I read, it looks like hard drive access speed is important (I have no idea what a 'solver' is though). In which case replace the hard disk with an SSD (around a grand, cheap) which will make your computer seem way faster for any other operation anyway. There's very little good reason to keep buying laptops with hard drives (the only reason I can think of is that you really, really, need lots of internal storage space).

    The good thing about Thinkpads is that it is almost brain dead simple to replace a hard disk with an SSD. It usually requires undoing one screw and then the drive cover opens up, and you can slide the existing drive out with your hand. This is a pain in the ass if you have one of those aluminium bodied laptops where you have to get to the guts of the computer through removing the keyboard. Thinkpads are so easy to work on that you can get any semi-competent geek to upgrade them.

    And if you do happen to be running a version that uses multiple cores, that's when the i7 over i5 consideration kicks in.

    (And it's worth mentioning that I don't even know if that GAMS page that I found is describing what you're using. GAMS could be some industry-generic term for all I know.)
    Last edited by jgl; 17-03-2015 at 05:53 PM.
    East_coast, shri and wayland like this.

Closed Thread
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 LastLast