Would it be wise to aim for higher RAM or a better processor?

I've recently purchased a new laptop. Many of the lightweight models are fitted with i7-4510U processors, intended for less power consumption. However, these are 2 core processors.

The laptop I purchased has an i7-4510 on it, clocked at 2.0 GHz and 3.1 GHz with turbo boost. It also has 16GB of RAM, which I was more than happy with.

My question is should I be going for a quad core processor? Will I really notice a difference when running Matlab/Simulink? I'm having a hard time determining how much of an advantage it will be. I am expecting heavier usage in the future as I am just starting a grad degree in mechanical engineering, but can't really tell what functions/features in Matlab i'll be utilizing the most.

[per isakson]

Don't forget the graphic card. See www.mathworks.se/help/matlab/creating_plots/system-requirements-for-matlab-graphics.html

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

I have 8 cores and I rarely see more than 4 getting much use. Maybe if you had the Parallel Computing Toolbox MATLAB would use more - I don't know. Call memory() a few times in your code to see if you're almost running out of memory. If so, getting more might help. If not getting more RAM might not speed it up much. I just got an SSD and that speeded up image processing and compiling way more than anything else I tried. You might want to put the money into that rather than more RAM or another computer. Of course do all 3 if you can afford it - that's what I have: 32 GB RAM, 2TB SSD, i7 8-core.

[John D'Errico]

I agree that an SSD is a good idea.

[Image Analyst]

Nicholas's "Answer" moved here:

If I stick with this one, I plan to put in an SSD as soon as I have the money. It's a Dell inspiron 15 7000. For some reason, Dell doesn't have user configurable options anymore which is a real disappointment. I would have gladly downgraded my HDD for a quad core processor.

[Image Analyst]

I have a Dell M6800 and I configured it to have two 1 TB SSDs instead of a 512 GB HD and DVD player (which are pretty much unneeded anymore). But that's Dell's top of the line. I don't know about the Inspiron line - maybe they don't allow changes, though that seems strange, unless it's a Dell outlet purchase.

[Walter Roberson]

The concerns can be different on Apple products. Some of the newer ones like the Air are glued shut and are not upgradable. Some of the Apple models have memory limits that get to be restrictive with time. The middle aged Apple models are often not officially upgradable in RAM beyond what is installed at the time you purchase, but a number of the models have unofficial upgrade kits available that are semi-sanctioned.

Answer 2

[John D'Errico]

I too have 8 cores. With some effort, I can them cranking, but it does take some effort. For example, if I try to do some serial computations with a million digits or so in my HPF or VPI toolboxes, I could get them all cranking. But my point is, I need to do something fairly CPU intensive, as otherwise, I'll see at most a couple of cores running. And it needs to be something that MATLAB can distribute to multiple cores on its own, so big conv calls, or something that the BLAS can distribute.

I don't have the parallel computing toolbox, so I can't make use of it. Even then, not all problems are easily parallelized.

Typically you can tell if you are running tight on RAM, if MATLAB suddenly seems to stop for a while, and your disk starts thrashing.

Essentially, if your problems are memory intensive, then go for the RAM. Smaller CPU intensive problems mean you need a better CPU, and it is all dependent on the problems you tend to solve.

Answer 3

[Star Strider]

That depends on your constraints. If you’re on a somewhat limited budget, first go for the best processor you can, with the most capable MOBO and power supply (at least 1 kW) you can afford and the fastest and largest HD you can get. A 1TB SSD to start would be best. Then add and upgrade RAM and upgrade your videocards as you can afford to. Be sure the graphics card and processor can work and play well together. (For instance, AMD processors and Radeon graphics cards are designed to work together.) Consider graphics card capability for CUDA if you want to use a graphics card for that purpose.

I would surf the gaming sites and see what hardware the gamers prefer (although they will also want graphics capability you may not need for MATLAB).

[Nicholas]

Star Strider I think that was what I was looking for. This is a laptop by the way, so I won't have much room for customization. I'm limited to $1100, but I'm willing to consider higher if the specs are right. I wouldn't need anything close to a TB SSD, I would be happy with 256 GB even.

[Star Strider]

This computer (with MATLAB, Skyrim and a few other games) is a two-year-old HP dv6 laptop with an AMD A10 4600M AMD Radeon 7600G, 16GB RAM and a 1TB HD (not SSD). It runs MATLAB well enough for me, and is reasonably decent for gaming. It won’t win any sprints, but it doesn’t have to.

I got this one primarily to do MATLAB, gaming was an afterthought, but it proved quite capable. I spec’d it out online when I bought it through the HP site. I believe it was more than $1100 (it replaced a five-year-old HP that now needs a power management chip replaced), but you can certainly get a decent machine for your budget. I would go for a high-end processor and large, relatively fast HD as my first priorities. I would err on the side of a larger HD because of software bloat. The videocard (depending on what you need it to do) would be my secondary concern, and memory the last, simply because you can always easily add and upgrade memory without running into driver problems. I got an optical drive with this machine primarily to write and read recovery boot disks if it every has problems.

I like HP because of HP’s reliability, and this is my third HP laptop. HP has HP Premium Utilities and HP Support Assistant that automatically checks for driver, BIOS, and other updates (including peripherals such as the software for my HP network printer) to keep them updated. I don’t miss chasing drivers and worrying about instability and incompatibilities in a computer I really need to have working. HP takes care of that, albeit trading off maximum speed for maximum reliability. I discovered some AMD gaming utilities (AMD Gaming Evolved) that tweak necessary driver settings to make it more efficient without sacrificing stability.

I have no financial interest in HP and never have. I’ve just had good experience with HP machines over the years.