Computer build for scientific or big data computing

2019-07-11

An answer to this question on the Scientific Computing Stack Exchange.

Question

I'm wanting to build a computer for scientific or big data computing (Python, Fortran, Matlab) and I was hoping to get some advice on the type of processor, memory, graphics, etc I would need.

I understand clusters would be ideal for most of this but that is not an option.

What are some of the pros and cons for different processors? Are some processors built for gaming? What type of graphics card would I need? Other than Solidworks I won't be messing with gaming and what not.

Any help would be appreciated. I understand some older post are on this subject but yearly components get a lot better so I would like some updated information.

Thanks!

Answer

Curtis Northcutt has a guide here which was much loved on Reddit. This question is very general, though, so it is difficult to really answer it well. As such, it may not be the best fit for this site.