
Considerations when setting up deep learning hardware - ingve
http://www.pyimagesearch.com/2016/06/13/considerations-when-setting-up-deep-learning-hardware/
======
sgt101
I was a bit disappointed as my questions are more "what is important about a
deeplearning box?" How much DRAM should I get ? What should I do about disks?

We built one recently, I got a big lump of dram (256GB), a 12 core processor 6
cards and a 2TB ssd on pci + some ssd's as a backend. We then mapped it onto
HDFS, and our pipeline is from HDFS to the ssds for project work and then when
the data's ready you can map it onto the pci disc for the actual run -
hopefully the cpu has enough cores to run the discs and the GPUs at once.

~~~
KaiserPro
If you're building one yourself then this might be useful:

Make sure you have enough PCI lanes. Motherboards might say they have x16
lanes for all four slots, but in practice it can drop down to as little as 4
each.

Unless something has changed recently, dual processor machines suffer a hit in
speed when transferring data to and from GPU memory. However They might have
fixed card affinity.

Each graphics card should be able to pull in at least 2 gigabytes a second.
You therefore need to max out system ram (assuming your dataset changes that
much....)

Power.

You need a PSU that is really up to it. Your wiring needs to be over specced.

Cooling.

4x 400 watts, plus 2x 150 watts for each proc, is a lot of power to dissipate.
PSU efficiency really saves money

~~~
sgt101
Yes - the power and cooling is fundamental.

------
onde2rock
Wow, this NVIDIA DIGITS DevBox is seriously overpriced ! I thought it was more
of a proof-of-concept to showcase their GPU, buy if he got money ...

~~~
mcphage
Plus, the guy bought 4 $1,000 Titan X GPUs, when the next generation GTX 1070s
are out very soon, and will have the same power for $400 each.

~~~
sgt101
That's soon, which is not now. If you have work to do, now is required.

~~~
dharma1
GTX1070 is out now

~~~
sgt101
Odd - the sites I've been looking at say "pre-order June 30th"

Where can I get one for next week?

~~~
dharma1
in the UK from here - [https://www.overclockers.co.uk/evga-geforce-
gtx-1070-founder...](https://www.overclockers.co.uk/evga-geforce-
gtx-1070-founders-edition-8192mb-gddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-
gx-305-ea.html)

------
vonnik
Anybody curious about this, especially as it pertains to production systems
and the JVM, should join the Deeplearning4j gitter channel. We deal with those
issues from time to time.
[https://gitter.im/deeplearning4j/deeplearning4j](https://gitter.im/deeplearning4j/deeplearning4j)

------
brandmeyer
Tiny detail when shopping for UPS: It is the kW rating that is important. Some
UPS, especially at the small end, will have an artificially (marketing
inflated) large kVA rating compared to the kW rating. Modern computer PFC
power supplies (just about anything with an 80 Plus rating) will draw kW ==
kVA.

