Looking for system specifications for a modern GIS workstation

Question

My current employer has given me the opportunity to design my own GIS workstation. The problem is I have no idea when it comes to hardware! I have been given a datasheet from Fujitzu which includes the latest CELSIUS M720 series workstations but the configuration includes about 30 different processors, and graphics cards, and hard drives.

I will be working a lot with ESRI desktop suite (spatial analyst and 3D analyst) and doing a fair amount of raster processing (DEMs / Visibility analysis etc), but I also use the gdal library, SAGA-GIS, Quantum GIS and others. Does ArcGIS 10 actually use multiple cores? I know it sounds good to have, but does GIS software really use it?

I have the choice from 4 cores with 8 up to 8 cores with 8 threads - 16 threads?

Is SSD SATA III better than HDD SATA III?

The Celcius R920 supports up to 512 gb RAM! yes RAM! but what do I need?

It will probably be the last time a get a new workstation for the next 5 years, so I am curious what others have ordered or feel will be necessary for the coming years. Obviously the cloud isn´t taking over as quick as they say!

thanks for any input,

Rob

Answer 1

I have a Xeon at work, with 8GB RAM, which tends to stop responding when I work with raster images. My previous i7 with 6GB RAM handled it fine, although the Xeon appears faster in all other areas. I do think though, since you have been given free range, that you should get as much RAM as possible. I'm also looking to get a new workstation for GIS at home, so it would be great to hear what your final setup is.

Answer 2

Does ArcGIS 10 actually use multiple cores?

ArcGIS 10 can leverage multiple cores by e.g. launching geoprocessing tools as background processes. Unless you're running a massive amount of parallel geoprocessing tools, I wouldn't go for maximum number of cores. It's better to get fewer, but with more horsepower.

The Celcius R920 supports up to 512 gb RAM !!! yes RAM!! but what do I need?

As for ArcGIS 10, the desktop version is still a 32-bit software which means that it cannot utilise more than ~2-3 GB of RAM per process (depending on your OS specs). 10.1 is supposed to introduce 64 bit version of the ArcGIS desktop in which case more RAM would make sense too. Other tools you mentioned (QGIS, GDAL) don't have this restriction if you're using the 64 bit versions of the software and the OS.

Answer 3

I would absolutely get an SSD over a mechanical hard drive as your system boot drive and application installation drive. If you deal with processing large data sets, you may want to use the SSD for that too (or get a second SSD to use as a scratch disk). You will probably still need a larger mechanical HDD for storage.

ArcGIS 10 cannot use multiple cores except by running geoprocessing in the background as jlehtoma states, but that still only uses two cores (one for the ArcMap window, one for geoprocessing). So you're better off with a quad-core CPU that has a higher maximum CPU speed than with an 8- or 12-core server CPU with lower speeds for each core. I have an Intel Core i5-2500K overclocked to a 4.2 Ghz turbo speed (some Intel Core CPUs will run one core faster and shut down others when needed, Intel calls that 'turbo boost'). I would NOT go with a Xeon processor if ArcGIS is your main software.

Answer 4

Disk I/O has usually been the bottleneck when it comes to GIS for most uses. A reliable (keyword) Solid State Drive will be your best bet assuming you have at least a Sandy bridge processor (i'd wait a few weeks for Ivy Bridge if you don't have a processor yet) and a decent amount of ram (8gb minimum for today's Ram prices).

Unfortunately, Esri's ArcMap is a quite inefficient program clock-for-clock compared to other major software (adobe suite, microsoft office, SQL db's oracle db's, etc). There's nothing we can do about their inefficient programming but vote with our money and use alternative software.

Answer 5

Some of those applications are threaded, some aren't, its a difficult question without knowing your exact usage patterns. As of v10, ArcGIS can use up to 2 cores simultaneously, one for the main application and one for a geoprocessing. Of course, license-depending, you can also run multiple copies of ArcGIS at once. ESRI's long winded answer to this question is here: http://support.esri.com/en/knowledgebase/techarticles/detail/31903

The only times you're ever going to max out cores is when you're doing heavy-duty (geo)processing, and that will only happen if the software itself can use multiple cores (most struggles, i.e. ArcGIS). I have access to a 16 core machine I can use for GIS processing and its incredibly rare for me to max out more than two or three of the cores at a time. I'd mostly concur with Cindy - more CPU power is probably more important than more Cores, but it really depends what you're going to be doing with the machines.

Semi-relatedly given the number and nature of applications you're going to be running, I'd strongly advise getting as much RAM as possible (8-12GB) and a 64bit OS to utilise it.

Answer 6

You might as well consider going with the new Core i7 as opposed to the Core i5 CPU, just to future proof the system and give you better performance in other areas. Keep in mind that some of the new i7 motherboards can handle up to 128 gig of RAM. Of course, you need a 64 bit operating system for that.

Answer 7

Additional cores would be wasted on ArcGIS, so rather go for fewer cores at a higher speed. Although if your budget allows it, you might as well try to future proof your machine as much as possible (at least for a few months anyway).