[19176] in s-news-athena
[S] What computer upgrade options work best with S+?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Simon, Steve, PhD)
Thu Sep 9 18:51:48 1999
Message-Id: <A0AFB0345B62D311ABD8000092966BB429FA92@EXCHANGE2>
From: "Simon, Steve, PhD" <ssimon@cmh.edu>
To: "'s-news@wubios.wustl.edu'" <s-news@wubios.wustl.edu>
Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1999 17:45:19 -0500
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
I hope this question is not too far off topic.
I'm in the happy position of being able to upgrade my current computer, but
I find that all the choices are a bit confusing. Could some of you explain
to me which options you think are worthwhile.
Just a bit of background first. My current computer is a Pentium 200 with
3.5 gigabytes of storage in two IDE hard drives and 256 MB of RAM. I
currently use 1280 by 1024 resolution on a 20 inch monitor, but I have gone
as high as 1600 by 1200 resolution. I really like the higher resolution, but
even with a 20 inch monitor, some those dialog boxes were just too tiny.
I'm getting an upgrade mostly because the hard drive storage is way too
small. But my boss encouraged me to look at an entirely new system rather
than just a mundane drive swap.
I run mostly small data sets using S-plus 2000. My largest data set is under
100K observations and most data sets have less than 1K observations. I use
gam and lme a lot and sometimes the models take a bit of time to converge,
but nothing outrageous like an overnight run. I may be doing some Monte
Carlo simulations in the near future. I also have other statistical
software, but if my system performs well under S+, I will be happy.
I can't/shouldn't order all of the bells and whistles listed below, so I
would appreciate any advice on prioritizing things.
1. NT.
My work environment pretty much dictates a Windows NT system. But are there
any major downsides other than making Bill Gates even richer? Will Linux be
worth offending all the computer folks who are trying to standardize the
computing environment in my workplace?
2. Dual processor.
NT takes advantage of a dual processor motherboard I understand, but will
that translate into a significant improvement in the speed of S+ runs?
3. Large monitor/dual monitors
I do a lot of demonstrations in my office and even a 20 inch monitor is too
small. Does anyone have experience with either a dual monitor system or a
33/37 inch monitor? Does NT support a dual monitor system?
4. Hard drive systems.
Will a RAID system of hard drives give me better performance, or is that
something that only makes sense for a file server? Is SCSI-3 worth the extra
expense? I'll probably get two drives. Is it true that putting your programs
on one drive and your data on the other will improve performance?
5. Graphics adapters.
Most of the new graphics adapters appear to be optimized for game playing.
Are there any advantages of these boards for someone who, at best, just
wants to rotate a few 3D point clouds? Will 8 MB of video RAM be enough or
should I get 16 MB?
6. RAM.
I'm pretty happy with the 256 MB of RAM in my current computer, but will
512MB be worth the extra money?
7. Best upgrade choice.
Finally, what's the one upgrade you made that you think has had the best
effect on your productivity. Feel free to mention any options that I haven't
considered here.
Thanks in advance for any advice. I will be glad to summarize all responses
that are sent to me privately.
Steve Simon, ssimon@cmh.edu, Standard Disclaimer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This message was distributed by s-news@wubios.wustl.edu. To unsubscribe
send e-mail to s-news-request@wubios.wustl.edu with the BODY of the
message: unsubscribe s-news
