5 ms·

This is great. But it seems like many almost every great tutorial has a step zero that is left out. In this case, for me at least, what is missing is: What's a

by natch 10y ago

This is great. But it seems like many almost every great tutorial has a step zero that is left out. In this case, for me at least, what is missing is: What's a good guide to choosing or building a CUDA system? Preferably a Linux non-laptop. Mostly for playing around with something that offers a bit more power than my day to day (very non-CUDA capable) laptop. Anyone have suggestions? I think there might be an EC2 solution, but I'm more interested in buying or building my own hardware, as crazy as that might be, just to have a relatively fixed cost (other than electricity) and to skip the overhead of any EC2 learning curve there might be.

llukas 10y ago
To learn CUDA programming? Just buy any NVIDIA gpu. Period.
gcp 10y ago
As the other poster said, any NVIDIA GPU would do. You probably want the latest architecture (Pascal), and check what PSU you have and what PCIe power options it has. Depending on that (no PCIe power, single 6 pin, dual 8 pin, ...) you can see how far up the range you can go and still have the card fit.
ktta 10y ago
If you are really interested, and willing to spend the time, you can get utterly fabulous perf/$ You can google the specifics, but you can build a powerful and stable system for about 300-400 dollars (a WHOLE system, including a CUDA compatible GPU, not just the GPU) ALL of the following parts can be purchased from ebay(The minimums are taken from actual lists I've taken down while writing this post. There might be some errors - you have been warned, so don't blindly hit purchase if you're not sure. So if anyone has the patience please correct me) {{Stuff}} are alternatives CPU: Xeon - $12 - $50 Motherboard: $35-$60 RAM (24 gigs): $35-$50 Power supply: $40-$60 (don't skimp on this. Buy namebrand. Trust me on this one.) Case: $34-$80 (Funny how this might cost more than any of the other parts I've listed until now. Protip - I made builds without a case, so this is optional, if you want to save $50 and buy a little bit better parts.) GPU: GTX 1050 :$110-$120 (brand new!) {{GTX 970 : $160-$180}} HDD 320GB: $20 {{HDD 1TB: $40 SSD 128GB: $41}} So adding up all the minimum prices minus case and including GPU: It's around $250. I don't think you can buy a good phone for around that price (Nexus 5x goes for around $270) The above build price minimums are pretty absolute (with links below as proof) but I'd suggest spending around $250 for everything minus the GPU, since some parts might bottleneck performance of the GPU if you're handling lots of data. A single processor Xeon which doesn't have problems (google processor model number to see if there are any) with Ubuntu server 16.04.1 would be rock solid. Don't ever listen to ANYONE saying install arch linux,centos, etc. The community + commercial recognition of Ubuntu for LTS version is unparalleled. (Redhat/Centos beats Ubuntu in commercial support but regular community support on stackoverflow and debugging using google? Ubuntu's for you) Once you get comfortable with your device, get comfortable with Ubuntu (Install Xubuntu-desktop if you want to attach a physical keyboard+mouse), then get the GPU when you think you are almost ready to handle coding for CUDA and linux tools. Links for verification here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-Match-Pair-E5620-Quad-Core-CPU-2-40Ghz-12M-5-86-GT-s-SLBV4-LGA1366-/222355437700?hash=item33c56ab884:g:eJMAAOSw-0xYO7Qe http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-Match-Pair-E5620-Quad-Cor... http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-01012MT00-000-G-N83VF-Server-Motherboard-Intel-2x-LGA-1366-DDR3-B2159-/232165101037?hash=item360e1e4ded http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-01012MT00-000-G-N83VF-Server-Mo... http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-80-PLUS-600W-ATX-12V-EPS-12V-Power-Supply-Black-CERTIFIED-REFURBISHED-/381585246566?hash=item58d840c966:g:OWkAAOSwyjBW7VVL http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-80-PLUS-600W-ATX-12V-EPS-12V-Po... http://www.ebay.com/itm/VIVO-ATX-Mid-Tower-Computer-Gaming-PC-Case-Black-4-Fan-Mounts-USB-3-0-Port-/381324925710?hash=item58c8bc9b0e:g:6ooAAOSwT5tWHw0A http://www.ebay.com/itm/VIVO-ATX-Mid-Tower-Computer-Gaming-P... http://www.ebay.com/itm/MSI-GeForce-GTX-1050-DirectX-12-GTX-1050-2G-OC-2GB-128-Bit-GDDR5-PCI-Express-3-0-/302169753448?hash=item465ab88768:g:fmgAAOSwux5YVpkl http://www.ebay.com/itm/MSI-GeForce-GTX-1050-DirectX-12-GTX-... http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-970-04G-P4-2978-KR-4GB-FTW-GAMING-w-ACX-2-0-/332112724147?hash=item4d537600b3:g:F0EAAOSwo4pYk~hd http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-970-04G-P4-2978-KR-... PS: Here's a recent post that's a great read. I suggest checking out the comments too: https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/5r1zg2/plex_server_build_recommendation_350_12core_24/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/5r1zg2/plex_server_bu...
- natch 10y ago
  Wow great intro, thanks! I've done builds before but it's been a while so this is really helpful.
- chalana 10y ago
  Wow Thanks so much!
Arelius 10y ago
> Preferably a Linux non-laptop. You've made this really easy on yourself. Cuda really isn't very picky once you get an NVidia GPU in it. And even a generation old mid-range NVidia GPU will give you plenty of compute performance to keep you busy for a long long time. And when it no longer meets your requirements, you'll have a very good idea why, and what your bottlenecks are. Shop just like you would for any other Linux non-laptop, just with the requirement of an NVidia GPU. My only other recommendation is to steer away from items marketed too strongly at the performance gaming market, as they are sometime clocked beyond their reliability range.
gtani 10y ago
You have to pay attention to a few components. So - fullsize case where a big 3-fan, 13" card won't run into the hard drive or DVD drive cables, if you choose to go that route (it seems to be easier to have multiple Founders edition cards than multiple OEM's, cooling-wise). - for 2 or 3 fan OEM cards, you have to be moving a lot of air thru the case - X99 /Z170 / Z97 motherboard (X99 has the highest allocation of PCI-e3 lanes to 2 or more GPU cards, and newegg does a good job of standardizing how they report lane allocations) - and a beefy powersupply, 750+ watts and a bunch of PCI-e 6 or 8 pin connectors, and you shouldn't hit any constraints. Also i recommend "Cuda for Engineers" by Storti /Yurtoglu as a good first cuda book, and the Wrox Pro C Cuda programming as 2nd book. There's another that just came out, Programming Massively Parallel Processors, Third Edition by Kirk /Hwu, that looks good but i haven't read it

by natch 10y ago

llukas 10y ago

To learn CUDA programming? Just buy any NVIDIA gpu. Period.

gcp 10y ago

As the other poster said, any NVIDIA GPU would do. You probably want the latest architecture (Pascal), and check what PSU you have and what PCIe power options it has. Depending on that (no PCIe power, single 6 pin, dual 8 pin, ...) you can see how far up the range you can go and still have the card fit.

ktta 10y ago

If you are really interested, and willing to spend the time, you can get utterly fabulous perf/$ You can google the specifics, but you can build a powerful and stable system for about 300-400 dollars (a WHOLE system, including a CUDA compatible GPU, not just the GPU) ALL of the following parts can be purchased from ebay(The minimums are taken from actual lists I've taken down while writing this post. There might be some errors - you have been warned, so don't blindly hit purchase if you're not sure. So if anyone has the patience please correct me) {{Stuff}} are alternatives CPU: Xeon - $12 - $50 Motherboard: $35-$60 RAM (24 gigs): $35-$50 Power supply: $40-$60 (don't skimp on this. Buy namebrand. Trust me on this one.) Case: $34-$80 (Funny how this might cost more than any of the other parts I've listed until now. Protip - I made builds without a case, so this is optional, if you want to save $50 and buy a little bit better parts.) GPU: GTX 1050 :$110-$120 (brand new!) {{GTX 970 : $160-$180}} HDD 320GB: $20 {{HDD 1TB: $40 SSD 128GB: $41}} So adding up all the minimum prices minus case and including GPU: It's around $250. I don't think you can buy a good phone for around that price (Nexus 5x goes for around $270) The above build price minimums are pretty absolute (with links below as proof) but I'd suggest spending around $250 for everything minus the GPU, since some parts might bottleneck performance of the GPU if you're handling lots of data. A single processor Xeon which doesn't have problems (google processor model number to see if there are any) with Ubuntu server 16.04.1 would be rock solid. Don't ever listen to ANYONE saying install arch linux,centos, etc. The community + commercial recognition of Ubuntu for LTS version is unparalleled. (Redhat/Centos beats Ubuntu in commercial support but regular community support on stackoverflow and debugging using google? Ubuntu's for you) Once you get comfortable with your device, get comfortable with Ubuntu (Install Xubuntu-desktop if you want to attach a physical keyboard+mouse), then get the GPU when you think you are almost ready to handle coding for CUDA and linux tools. Links for verification here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-Match-Pair-E5620-Quad-Core-CPU-2-40Ghz-12M-5-86-GT-s-SLBV4-LGA1366-/222355437700?hash=item33c56ab884:g:eJMAAOSw-0xYO7Qe http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-Match-Pair-E5620-Quad-Cor... http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-01012MT00-000-G-N83VF-Server-Motherboard-Intel-2x-LGA-1366-DDR3-B2159-/232165101037?hash=item360e1e4ded http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-01012MT00-000-G-N83VF-Server-Mo... http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-80-PLUS-600W-ATX-12V-EPS-12V-Power-Supply-Black-CERTIFIED-REFURBISHED-/381585246566?hash=item58d840c966:g:OWkAAOSwyjBW7VVL http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-80-PLUS-600W-ATX-12V-EPS-12V-Po... http://www.ebay.com/itm/VIVO-ATX-Mid-Tower-Computer-Gaming-PC-Case-Black-4-Fan-Mounts-USB-3-0-Port-/381324925710?hash=item58c8bc9b0e:g:6ooAAOSwT5tWHw0A http://www.ebay.com/itm/VIVO-ATX-Mid-Tower-Computer-Gaming-P... http://www.ebay.com/itm/MSI-GeForce-GTX-1050-DirectX-12-GTX-1050-2G-OC-2GB-128-Bit-GDDR5-PCI-Express-3-0-/302169753448?hash=item465ab88768:g:fmgAAOSwux5YVpkl http://www.ebay.com/itm/MSI-GeForce-GTX-1050-DirectX-12-GTX-... http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-970-04G-P4-2978-KR-4GB-FTW-GAMING-w-ACX-2-0-/332112724147?hash=item4d537600b3:g:F0EAAOSwo4pYk~hd http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-970-04G-P4-2978-KR-... PS: Here's a recent post that's a great read. I suggest checking out the comments too: https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/5r1zg2/plex_server_build_recommendation_350_12core_24/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/5r1zg2/plex_server_bu...

natch 10y ago
Wow great intro, thanks! I've done builds before but it's been a while so this is really helpful.
chalana 10y ago
Wow Thanks so much!

Arelius 10y ago

> Preferably a Linux non-laptop. You've made this really easy on yourself. Cuda really isn't very picky once you get an NVidia GPU in it. And even a generation old mid-range NVidia GPU will give you plenty of compute performance to keep you busy for a long long time. And when it no longer meets your requirements, you'll have a very good idea why, and what your bottlenecks are. Shop just like you would for any other Linux non-laptop, just with the requirement of an NVidia GPU. My only other recommendation is to steer away from items marketed too strongly at the performance gaming market, as they are sometime clocked beyond their reliability range.

gtani 10y ago

You have to pay attention to a few components. So - fullsize case where a big 3-fan, 13" card won't run into the hard drive or DVD drive cables, if you choose to go that route (it seems to be easier to have multiple Founders edition cards than multiple OEM's, cooling-wise). - for 2 or 3 fan OEM cards, you have to be moving a lot of air thru the case - X99 /Z170 / Z97 motherboard (X99 has the highest allocation of PCI-e3 lanes to 2 or more GPU cards, and newegg does a good job of standardizing how they report lane allocations) - and a beefy powersupply, 750+ watts and a bunch of PCI-e 6 or 8 pin connectors, and you shouldn't hit any constraints. Also i recommend "Cuda for Engineers" by Storti /Yurtoglu as a good first cuda book, and the Wrox Pro C Cuda programming as 2nd book. There's another that just came out, Programming Massively Parallel Processors, Third Edition by Kirk /Hwu, that looks good but i haven't read it