Advice on Research + Fun Machine?

[mineralwasser]

Hi, I am looking for some advice on building a research/scientific focused machine that can also do some fun stuff on the side.

My main task for the machine will be to process fairly large (eg 100+ GB) data sets using mysql/python and I have a $1200-1400 budget to work with. My priorities are therefore fast storage, lots of RAM, and max CPU. I am looking at the buying guide and it seems the customac mATX using the GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 mobo, Core i7-6700K, and 64GB of recommended Crucial Ballistix Sport LT are best for my needs. I'm also looking at using a samsung 1tb m.2 ssd for storage.

Based on what I've seen in the forums, it appears the HD 530 graphics may introduce some issues, so I am thinking of the recommended EVGA GTX 950 to make my life easier. That said, if I don't need to buy it I'd rather not.

On the "fun" side I'd like the machine to work with my normal iMessage set-up, which I gather needs a real mac wifi/bluetooth card, and I'd like to hook up the rig to my MOTU 828 Firewire audio interface to use with Logic X so I'm looking at a few Firewire cards with the TI chipset.

My question then is if following the buying guide for customac matx is the best route or if I should consider one of the many other mobo on the list?

In terms of tech proficiency, I literally cannot count the number of winXP machines I have built in my past life doing IT and consulting gigs, but this will be my first custom build since going the mac direction over a decade ago and first customac.

thanks in advance!

 

[kiiroaka]

My suggestions would be to go with an ATX mobo instead of a uATX, an Intel NIC instead of the Killer NIC, a Sumsung PRO instead of the EVO, and a Haswell Certified PSU.

The only Crucial 16GB RAM sticks I see are p/n BLS16G4D240FSB.16FAD. Newegg has BLS4K16G4D240FSE. That may may not work without problems. I suggest you get a single kit of 4 sticks that is on their (or any other manufacturer's mobo) Certified Memory List.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5530#memory support list

 

[mineralwasser]

Besides more pci slots, what is the advantage of a full-size ATX? I move around a lot so the smaller form-factor seems easier for that consideration - but if I'm getting some other benefit I'd be willing to go with the larger form-factor. The Samsung m.2 pro are the same money for 512GB as the non-pro for 1 TB unfortunately, so I don't think I can afford to go that route without cutting corners elsewhere.

 

[kiiroaka]

When you select a uATX mobo try to find one that has space between the end of the video card and the RAM slots, otherwise you may need to remove the video card if you ever need access to the RAM slots.

The advantage of the full size ATX is that it has more slots, that you may be able to SLI video cards, that you can add a PCI-E X4 NVMe adapter card, for example. For most people the uATX should be fine. The "problem" is usually the case, with most ATX cases better able to cool the mobo better, while the uATX case may not have a top exhaust fan, be limited to a 120mm rear fan and may not have front panel fan slots, or side panel slots, for that matter (the majority of which aren't used unless one has passive cooling on their video cards - which is a benefit for dusty environments.)

A lot of guys will use an SSD for the OS and applications, and a 1TB HDD for data storage and swap space. I did only HDDs because four 1 TB cost me less than one SSD. Some of my friends have sworn off HDDs and will never go back. I couldn't afford four 256MB SSDs... And, there's no way that I would entrust everything to one 1TB SSD and then install three OSes on it.

Question, why does the Newegg ad say that it only supports 32GB of memory when the mobo has 4 RAM slots? It must be a misprint.

The GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 has 4 fan headers so that should be enough for most people (but not me; ymmv.) I think the GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 is a handsome mobo, but like other uATX the X1 slot is right next to the X16 slot, which could be problematic if it shares bandwidth with the X16 slot or if the PCI-E card interferes with a PCI-E X16 video card. The ASROCK Z170M Pro4S is a little better in that regard as it has two PCI-E X1 slots.

 

[mineralwasser]

Yeah, I've noticed a lot of the uATX cases don't have many slots, so I'm trying to figure out which ones do - I have had to look at the pictures pretty carefully. Putting OS on SSD and data on HDD isn't a desirable option since I want to process a lot of data off disk pretty quickly (eg running analysis of 100+ GB of textual data at a time). If I could get a machine with 128GB of RAM an HDD for storage may work, but I don't see any mobo that support that much RAM that aren't super expensive.

The NewEgg site does seem wrong, the Gigabyte page has the correct info.

One question is if the shorter PCIe cards will fit in the bigger slots? I see there is the division between the shorter front slots and the longer portion behind it - if a board has only the short part can it be fitted in the longer one? Last time I built a rig everything was pretty much standard size (which was about a decade ago!).

Thanks so much for the help, much appreciated!!!