Is this Intel i7 machine good for LTSpice?

Serious machine don't.

If you don't believe me look at the specs on a few systems.

Look at the Dell XPS series. It has the video completely separated. As it should be.

Simple computers have that but the bigger machines do not. Or sometimes have it but it's not being used because there is a big fat Nvidia or other graphics card in there.

A "few"? When have you last looked at business-clas computers?

Yes, and that would suffice for my purposes. But in this thread we were talking about a different class of computers, the Dell XPS series.

Do you have any suggestion from a mainstream manufacturer? I need something with a screaming processor, lots of memory but do not need much disk space and certainly no fancy 3D graphics (but the big machines seem to always have that these days and it'll just waste electricity).

On Tue, 04 Nov 2014 07:16:07 -0800, Joerg Gave us:

Memory depends on a few things. This guy did a test, but fails to note that his motherboard may also be a factor in his findings, and the same tests may yield entirely different results with the same cpu and RAM on a different mobo.

But it looks like 1888 is max gain advantage on his system. Mine will do 2400, but I put 32GB of 2133 in it, which is still faster than it was made for.

My benchmarks beat ALL of his though.

I don't, but this might help you pick a processor.

Stick with a 4th gen (Haswell) processor.

I think you want to run a several Xeon-processor system with a version of SPICE that uses multi-processors. You might even be able to find a used unit on eBay really cheap.

Jon

On Tue, 04 Nov 2014 11:00:36 -0600, Jon Elson Gave us:

Buy an old HP DL360. It is only 1U but it is jam packed with all manner of things computing...

The G5s are cheap as the industry is like at G7 or 8 now.

They have two Xeon sockets in them, and gobs of RAM slots.

Companies change them out for the new stuff all the time.

Some even have to "scrap" the old.

Way too much waste in this nation and the world, for that matter.

On Tue, 04 Nov 2014 09:08:33 -0800, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno Gave us:

This one looks real nice.

Not bad for a $5k computer.

I wish I had the extra cash right now.

Yowza. I paid $3800 for my 16-core box in 2011, which looks like it'll run rings round the HP thing.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

On Tue, 04 Nov 2014 12:33:08 -0500, Phil Hobbs Gave us:

Operating speed? Actual CPUs used?

"Run rings" is pretty ambiguous, and the machine is older. They are like G8 now. So the CPU speed and RAM are better now than then.

And all those great accessories, like multiple 1GbE ports, and an SAS SCSI RAID interface and controller.

And SFP and XFP optical fabric can be added.

It is a pretty good deal for $600.

It must be some pretty special software that there is only one source in the world. But then I guess there is only one person who seems to need it.

Really? There isn't anything else produced in the last 20 years that will do the job without requiring you to burden computer purchases for the rest of your career?

Great. But when something breaks he is down for days or weeks until it can be fixed *if* he can find a part. Not so different from you having to select your computer based on your need for older operating systems.

Like XP?

Yes, and you are seeking high and low for Win 7 computers that were shunned earlier. There really isn't much point in avoiding the current OS as long as it has been out long enough to have wide peripheral support and software support. I got Win 8 after it had been out a year and I have seen no problems. Win 8.1 still doesn't show up in enough systems requirements lists for me to upgrade, but I will likely do that at some later point... assuming I can find a reason to do so. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

That goes both ways. I can't see where Win 8 is broke, so I ain't gonna try to fix it with Win 7.

You are aware that this is not a function of the OS innately, right? There is nothing different about XP, Vista, Win 7 and Win 8 in this regard. It is just an issue of permissions set by default. Even NT could have the same restrictions if the permissions were set accordingly.

So just change the permissions on Program Files and you are done!

The do that with permissions. Just adjust the permissions to suit your needs and damage control be damned.

Yes, that is what you are being told.

Who bans 16 bit apps? I did a search and every windows through 8 runs

But really... I expect the number of customers that MS loses from 20 year old programs that won't run is in the single digits.

Maybe you should switch to Linux? I understand you can runs nearly any old version of Linux on any old hardware. Oh, but you won't have the applications, will you?

Are you going to explain what you are talking about?

I have a hard time believing that. I think this is a Joerg's world issue. I guess no one does the sort of work you do because they can't find the software.

I don't know where you get your info. Nearly all of my problems have to do with the computer rather than the OS. This Lenovo laptop has function keys that aren't function keys. They are laptop control keys and I have to press the function button to make them into function keys. Then some of the combos don't work, like cntl-F3. There are many other Lenovo issues, but Win 8 is doing well. In fact there are a number of new features that let me get on with my work better than before. In fact they are so transparent that I can't even recall what they are.

I had to get used to some of the visual differences in Win 8, but that is not a big deal. Every new version updates the look, same as a car.

There is a highly inaccurate assumption. Multicore CPUs are very much memory bandwidth limited. Read about the memory wall. Once you reach 3 or 4, adding CPUs gives diminishing returns for performance. Boost the memory speed and performance picks up again. Take away memory bandwidth and the CPU speed falls off as well. The point is why pay hundreds of dollars for extra CPU speed only to piss it away with an on chip graphics controller sharing the memory bus?

I don't know what a "serious" machine is. I think that would be hard to spec. It is easy to spec a separate video controller and memory.

That's what I'm saying. Make sure you have a video card, then you can turn off the internal video.

"Business class" is a marketing term and means nothing for the specs.

So if I understand correctly, all simulations will either be small enough to fit in cache or be so large as to require paging to disk? How do you know this?

Sometimes I think you just make stuff up.

Did you read the subject line of this thread?

New 64-bit Windows OS'es do.

It's huge. MS is painfully aware that the industry is extremely sluggish in upgrading and it doesn't take much to figure out why. Because on production lines there are tons of stations that run 20+ year old software. Do you honestly think a company will throw a well-working half-million Dollar active laser trim system into the dumpster just because some OS "requires" this?

They don't lose customers, they lose business volume. So do their OEM partners.

I can't use Linux here. Have tried it though.

This:

No, the reason I am a rare species is probably that most folks in my field of work are retired or no longer on earth.

If you've never dealt with custom beam field simulators or similar specialty software you can't really understand this. They don't come out with a new release every year or so. They come out with one, and that's it.

I am driving a 1997 SUV, stick-shift, with window cranks and manual door lock. No new look here and probably not for many years to come. The automotive industry's nightmare is an elderly woman out here driving an Austin. She bought it used in 1961 and it runs just fine. She said it'll probably survive her.

When I searched I found specific info on running 16 bit apps under Win

You always bring up the tiny corner cases. How many "half-million Dollar" systems rely on 20 year old software. Anyone managing such a machine would have replaced the piece long ago. It is no different than any other part of the machine which wears out. I replace wiper blades on my car every 6 months or year, I get new tires every three or four years. I'm not going to expect to repair 20 year old computer hardware so I will plan to replace it with new stuff and that includes the software if necessary. But fortunately it will still run under Windows

1. :)

That is absurd. Like I said, I expect they have lost single digit customers due to problems running DOS apps.

Do you realize this info is not from MS, but from someone posting in a forum? In other words, you are planning your business around hearsay you found on a web forum. Since you like social media...

Well, I guess the industry will have to shut down then. Maybe there will be another one out in the next 20 years. In the mean time, try running it under Windows 8, it should work.

Sorry you don't like power windows and the other nice features of life. If you want to figure out some other computer problems, let me know. I'm a bit of a Luddite myself, but I am practical about it and learn when I have to.

I'm actually looking forward to getting a new truck. The only thing I don't like about this one is it has no doors for the back seat. My next one will have suicide doors so I can get things in and out of the back seat. I'm not ready to give up the bed... but maybe I'll compromise and get some sort of an SUV and keep the truck too.