Xeons and ECC

I am just taking a little time to consider Xeons processors and ECC memory, but I know little about them. I know what they are, but I am not sure how benefical they will be to me on my home system. For starters I wouldn't know which Xeon to go for.

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?sort=pricelow&store=2&cat=&subcat=697&limit=10&page=1

My current plan is to go for an i5 3570k (or maybe i7 3770k), but it maybe that hyperthreading will actually reduce my analysis run times. I was having an email discussion with a friend about this and he found some data from ANSYS. Showing that hyper threading significantly slowed the analysis times down!

See attached powerpoint file (Slide 14).
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/47274064/HPC_fracture_seminar-1.pdf

Does this performance result surprise you all?

All with the ECC memory, I didn't know if this would be worth going for, I hear the AMD's can support ECC but I pretty much will ignore the FX-8120 due to its high power consumption and lack of performance.

Here is my requirement details

Approximate Purchase Date: Assembly should be completed by Mid August
Budget Range: £600-£700
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Numerical and computational analysis, engineering software (CAD, FEA, etc), Work, Gaming, expected to be running most of the time, sometimes 24-7.
Are you buying a monitor: No, using my current monitors and hd tv via hdmi connection.
Do you need to buy OS: Yes, Windows 7 64 bit
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: ebuyer/dabs (UK based)
Location: UK
Parts Preferences: None
Overclocking: Not initially, but maybe in the future
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe
Additional Comments: It is really important that the system can manage numerical computations, efficiently. Currently for example I have an 8 GB RAM PC and there is not enough memory to run some analysis. For my analysis, I can select the number of CPU cores and amount of RAM to allocate, the more CPU cores/speed and the more RAM, the faster the analysis gets done.

I really look forward to your input and feedback.

Thanks.

First question.. What do others say is best for your specific software computational needs? What works better? Ask them.

If your gaming worry about the GPU more, an SSD etc.

Once you get the specfic software issue worked out, then it's easy to build you a system. Where you buy can be up to you.

You are not running ECC memory now, correct? Has that been ok for you? If so, I wouldnt worry about the premium of ECC ram. I also wouldnt worry about a Xeon over a 'regular' CPU. If HT slows down your specific application, then I would either disable it on a CPU that has it, or get one without. Since your application loves cores, Perhaps you should look in to the 3930K and X79 based setups.

Is this PC strictly for these computational tasks? If so why SLI/Crossfire? Can your applications utilize GPUs in the first place?

Thanks for your input.

I have been running without ECC for a few years now, often running analysis 24/7 on a Core 2 Duo and 8GB RAM, so far it has not been a problem, but I don't always know if there are any hidden errors that I do not spot due to have non ECC RAM?

This PC will not be just a computational PC, it will also be for occasional gaming, but I would like to leave the SLI/crossfire option open for more intense gaming in the future. Also, the computational work can benefit from GPU. But I am not sure if it can benefit from SLI/crossfire?

Not sure about SLI/Crossfire on your application. That is best answered by someone that uses it or the software vendor themselves.

I wouldnt worry about ECC ram if you are not catching any errors. Its also hella expensive and will limit your board choices as well. 99.9% of those board do not overclock.