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Wow, learn something new everyday. I thought everyone who did image processing and cared about performance used NVidia cards for the CUDA libraries. I never kne

Wow, learn something new everyday. I thought everyone who did image processing and cared about performance used NVidia cards for the CUDA libraries. I never knew apple [GPU image libraries](https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/GraphicsImaging/Conceptual/CoreImaging/ci_intro/ci_intro.html https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Graphi...) made AMD a competitive choice. It is much more expensive, though a lot less engineering work, than buying some used Tesla's on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xnvidia+tesla.TRS0&_nkw=nvidia+tesla&_sacat=0 http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m5... or even brand new

skuhn 11y ago
Going with a Tesla solution would actually be way way more expensive (when bought new). A Tesla K20 is 3520 gflop/s for $2900 (and then you need a server to put it in). The Mac Pro is 3500gflop/s for $4000. The Tesla card does have a significant advantage in terms of double precision math, but that isn't the kind of workload we're doing. If we were to go with GPUs on Linux systems, the NVidia GRID card or AMD FirePro server cards are probably a better fit. Or maybe even NVidia Quadro or GTX, although they don't have the proper fan layout and there would be some tears shed over getting the power sockets cabled.
listic 11y ago
How come these used Tesla's are so cheap? (e.g. $150 for an M2090) http://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-Tesla-M2090-6GB-GDDR5-PCIe-x16-GPU-Computing-Processor-Video-Car-/231500299455 http://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-Tesla-M2090-6GB-GDDR5-PCIe-x1...
- skuhn 11y ago
  I theorize that it's because they're server grade equipment, and the used market for server gear is not that large. Most established businesses don't want to risk buying something that straight up doesn't work or will fail later, even at a 50-75% cost benefit. It just isn't worth the time spent dealing with it. If you're a one person startup, then you do what you have to do to survive. Eventually you get to the point where free stuff actually costs you more than just paying for it in the first place.

skuhn 11y ago

Going with a Tesla solution would actually be way way more expensive (when bought new). A Tesla K20 is 3520 gflop/s for $2900 (and then you need a server to put it in). The Mac Pro is 3500gflop/s for $4000. The Tesla card does have a significant advantage in terms of double precision math, but that isn't the kind of workload we're doing. If we were to go with GPUs on Linux systems, the NVidia GRID card or AMD FirePro server cards are probably a better fit. Or maybe even NVidia Quadro or GTX, although they don't have the proper fan layout and there would be some tears shed over getting the power sockets cabled.

listic 11y ago

How come these used Tesla's are so cheap? (e.g. $150 for an M2090) http://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-Tesla-M2090-6GB-GDDR5-PCIe-x16-GPU-Computing-Processor-Video-Car-/231500299455 http://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-Tesla-M2090-6GB-GDDR5-PCIe-x1...

skuhn 11y ago
I theorize that it's because they're server grade equipment, and the used market for server gear is not that large. Most established businesses don't want to risk buying something that straight up doesn't work or will fail later, even at a 50-75% cost benefit. It just isn't worth the time spent dealing with it. If you're a one person startup, then you do what you have to do to survive. Eventually you get to the point where free stuff actually costs you more than just paying for it in the first place.