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Dunno, I have a 32 core, 128gb ram that I bought for $1000. I have a Xeon phi 60core card that I bought for $200 sitting by it ready go go in when I get the ch

Dunno, I have a 32 core, 128gb ram that I bought for $1000. I have a Xeon phi 60core card that I bought for $200 sitting by it ready go go in when I get the chance. When GPU prices drop, I'm probably going to add 2 1080Ts. I'm just a regular computer user.

banachtarski 9y ago
*eyeroll You're also one of "those" people
taeric 9y ago
Define "regular computer user." What are you doing with these machines that comes close to using all of the cores?
- nl 9y ago
  I don't know what the OP is doing, but something like XGBoost scales really well across multiple cores. I've used my 2014 MBP with a 4 core i7 (plus hyperthreading) plus 3 desktop i5 boxes for over 24 hours straight on the same XGB task before. The 8 CPU threads on the MBP lets it outperform more recent machines on this kind of task.
  - taeric 9y ago
    Oh, I get that there are things you can do with a setup like this. I challenge that this is a "regular computer user" level of thing to do, though. Mining bitcoin is not a regular user task. Nor is being a render farm for an animated movie. :)
    - nl 9y ago
      It's on a post called "Accelerating Deep Neuroevolution". I'm pretty sure it's a regular computer for anyone doing that.... I think the point of "regular" was that it's not exactly some extreme budget needed to do this.
      - taeric 9y ago
        That makes some sense. However, even in an article about Olympic athletes, I would expect a "regular person" to not be one of them.
        nl 9y ago
        I think there’s an awful lot of emphasis on the word regular and not much on the “32 cores for $1000” which - given the context of this story - is much more relevant and interesting.
        taeric 9y ago
        I specifically quoted "regular computer user." This thread was specifically about that being a personal computer. I mean, yes, I can see how an individual can get one. And it is definitely neat to see them pushed to their limits. But calling yourself a regular computer user with a machine that strong is a stretch.
derefr 9y ago
You’re a computer hobbyist, you mean. You have to have done a whole lot of bargain-hunting to set that build up at that price. The “regular computer user” doesn’t bother with that—they just buy what they can afford at their local shop, which usually means a rather crap laptop. (Mind you, it doesn’t take any more technical knowledgeability than most users to bargain-hunt like you have; but knowing that the product can be of varying quality at a given price, and caring enough to put in the time to get something of good quality, makes you an exception, in the same way that people who e.g. comparison-shop for quality suits or shoes are an exception. It’s a general mentality that most people don’t subscribe to—neither the “buying the best” of the rich, nor the “economizing” of the poor, but rather the optimizing ROI of the economics-minded. And even an economist will only apply this kind of thinking to cases where they actually believe this thing will affect their life enough that the research time-cost is worth it—i.e. when it’s a hobby of theirs. Economics-minded computer hobbyists are a rather more niche set than “regular computer users!”)
mysterydip 9y ago
Where'd you get them? I could use an upgrade for that price.
- segmondy 9y ago
  32 core from Amazon Used, the Xeon phi when it was on sale 2 yrs ago.

banachtarski 9y ago

*eyeroll You're also one of "those" people

taeric 9y ago

Define "regular computer user." What are you doing with these machines that comes close to using all of the cores?

nl 9y ago
I don't know what the OP is doing, but something like XGBoost scales really well across multiple cores. I've used my 2014 MBP with a 4 core i7 (plus hyperthreading) plus 3 desktop i5 boxes for over 24 hours straight on the same XGB task before. The 8 CPU threads on the MBP lets it outperform more recent machines on this kind of task.
- taeric 9y ago
  Oh, I get that there are things you can do with a setup like this. I challenge that this is a "regular computer user" level of thing to do, though. Mining bitcoin is not a regular user task. Nor is being a render farm for an animated movie. :)
  - nl 9y ago
    It's on a post called "Accelerating Deep Neuroevolution". I'm pretty sure it's a regular computer for anyone doing that.... I think the point of "regular" was that it's not exactly some extreme budget needed to do this.
    - taeric 9y ago
      That makes some sense. However, even in an article about Olympic athletes, I would expect a "regular person" to not be one of them.
      - nl 9y ago
        I think there’s an awful lot of emphasis on the word regular and not much on the “32 cores for $1000” which - given the context of this story - is much more relevant and interesting.
        taeric 9y ago
        I specifically quoted "regular computer user." This thread was specifically about that being a personal computer. I mean, yes, I can see how an individual can get one. And it is definitely neat to see them pushed to their limits. But calling yourself a regular computer user with a machine that strong is a stretch.

derefr 9y ago

You’re a computer hobbyist, you mean. You have to have done a whole lot of bargain-hunting to set that build up at that price. The “regular computer user” doesn’t bother with that—they just buy what they can afford at their local shop, which usually means a rather crap laptop. (Mind you, it doesn’t take any more technical knowledgeability than most users to bargain-hunt like you have; but knowing that the product can be of varying quality at a given price, and caring enough to put in the time to get something of good quality, makes you an exception, in the same way that people who e.g. comparison-shop for quality suits or shoes are an exception. It’s a general mentality that most people don’t subscribe to—neither the “buying the best” of the rich, nor the “economizing” of the poor, but rather the optimizing ROI of the economics-minded. And even an economist will only apply this kind of thinking to cases where they actually believe this thing will affect their life enough that the research time-cost is worth it—i.e. when it’s a hobby of theirs. Economics-minded computer hobbyists are a rather more niche set than “regular computer users!”)

mysterydip 9y ago

Where'd you get them? I could use an upgrade for that price.

segmondy 9y ago
32 core from Amazon Used, the Xeon phi when it was on sale 2 yrs ago.