Hey all, recently the lab I work for has shown interest in setting up a couple of computers for doing some in-house bioinformatics and all-around lab usage. Our institution does have a high performance computing cluster, but it's a bit of a black box when getting to the specifics of the computational stuff. Some of this would just be for smaller computing projects as well, so we don't have to deal with the queues of our main computing cluster every time we decide to test something smaller.
Computationally, we'd mostly be doing things involving R and analyzing Illumina sequencing data sets (mapping 50 million reads or more, etc).
We're currently debating on whether or not to build one from parts or buy a pre-built system from something like thinkmate.com. Maybe even a Mac Pro since it would take less time to set up? Does anyone have experience buying systems like this? Any suggestions on reliable/supportive vendors?
We've sort of concluded that if we were to get 2 computers the roles would be divided as such:
Option A: 1 weaker traditional desktop and 1 relatively powerful server in the traditional sense. The lab members would somehow send jobs to a queue on the server and it would use its own resources to compute. The problem here, is that although I do know my way around OSes like Ubuntu or Mint, I have zero experience handling actual servers and the maintenance or setup of such systems. In this case, does anyone have guides for a beginner with respect to server setup and maintenance?
-OR-
Option B: 2 powerful "workstations", where one is primarily reserved for remote usage, though both could used this way. Perhaps one workstation would have some kind of RAID array setup to act more like a main repository for lab data too. We might connect to the machines through some kind of remote screen-sharing or just SSH stuff if we need to. Both would basically be set up like traditional desktop computers, for ease of use.
I've heard that certain distros are better suited for actual server machines like CentOS in comparison to distros like Mint. I'm sure this is a huge topic just by itself, but can someone elaborate a little or recommend some reading?
In addition, besides getting a pre-built, I guess I'd just like a critique on a prospective parts list that I put together which would act as the main server machine as detailed in option A.
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V3 2.4GHz 8-Core OEM/Tray Processor
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V3 2.4GHz 8-Core OEM/Tray Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus Z10PA-D8 ATX Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial 64GB (4 x 16GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory
Memory: Crucial 64GB (4 x 16GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory
Storage: Intel 730 Series 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Western Digital Red Pro 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Western Digital Red Pro 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Western Digital Red Pro 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Western Digital Red Pro 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 1GB Video Card
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor
Other than for an actual server, is using a 2 socket system for a workstation wise? Does it make much of a difference in terms of complications in POST-ing the thing? What about for simply setting things up like alignments to run?
With regards to "Option B", would it be a good idea to build two workstations similar to the posted build, but just with less storage, only 64GB of RAM, and 2 Xeon E5-2620 V3s instead? Or would each of these workstations be better with just something like an i7-5690X or some other single socket setup on an X99 board?
Thanks to anyone who can help.
Computationally, we'd mostly be doing things involving R and analyzing Illumina sequencing data sets (mapping 50 million reads or more, etc).
We're currently debating on whether or not to build one from parts or buy a pre-built system from something like thinkmate.com. Maybe even a Mac Pro since it would take less time to set up? Does anyone have experience buying systems like this? Any suggestions on reliable/supportive vendors?
We've sort of concluded that if we were to get 2 computers the roles would be divided as such:
Option A: 1 weaker traditional desktop and 1 relatively powerful server in the traditional sense. The lab members would somehow send jobs to a queue on the server and it would use its own resources to compute. The problem here, is that although I do know my way around OSes like Ubuntu or Mint, I have zero experience handling actual servers and the maintenance or setup of such systems. In this case, does anyone have guides for a beginner with respect to server setup and maintenance?
-OR-
Option B: 2 powerful "workstations", where one is primarily reserved for remote usage, though both could used this way. Perhaps one workstation would have some kind of RAID array setup to act more like a main repository for lab data too. We might connect to the machines through some kind of remote screen-sharing or just SSH stuff if we need to. Both would basically be set up like traditional desktop computers, for ease of use.
I've heard that certain distros are better suited for actual server machines like CentOS in comparison to distros like Mint. I'm sure this is a huge topic just by itself, but can someone elaborate a little or recommend some reading?
In addition, besides getting a pre-built, I guess I'd just like a critique on a prospective parts list that I put together which would act as the main server machine as detailed in option A.
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V3 2.4GHz 8-Core OEM/Tray Processor
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V3 2.4GHz 8-Core OEM/Tray Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus Z10PA-D8 ATX Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial 64GB (4 x 16GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory
Memory: Crucial 64GB (4 x 16GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory
Storage: Intel 730 Series 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Western Digital Red Pro 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Western Digital Red Pro 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Western Digital Red Pro 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Western Digital Red Pro 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 1GB Video Card
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor
Other than for an actual server, is using a 2 socket system for a workstation wise? Does it make much of a difference in terms of complications in POST-ing the thing? What about for simply setting things up like alignments to run?
With regards to "Option B", would it be a good idea to build two workstations similar to the posted build, but just with less storage, only 64GB of RAM, and 2 Xeon E5-2620 V3s instead? Or would each of these workstations be better with just something like an i7-5690X or some other single socket setup on an X99 board?
Thanks to anyone who can help.
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