Currently still happy with the set up I have, but I must admit that it's getting a bit worn out and dated. (Approx 2007 vintage) That said, I'm thinking of getting or building a new PC, any recommendations on specs?

Current System

• XP Pro
• ASUS Striker II Formula LGA 775 nForce 780i SLI ATX MB
• Intel® Wolfdale Core™ 2 Duo E8400 3.00ghz, 1333mhz
• 4 Gig Crucial 4GB kit (2GBx2), Ballistix DDR2 PC2-8500
• EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570
• ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
• Antec 900 Case
• ABS Tagan BZ Series BZ800 800W Power Supply

Well I think you would definitely notice a big improvement in map generate speeds, and an increase in the size of maps you can generate, if you get yourself a new system. Also perhaps worth mentioning that RM2 will no longer support XP. Windows 7 will be the minimum targeted OS.

The most important thing to consider for RM is memory, and I probably wouldn't get a new system now without at least 32GB - which is not as expensive as it sounds any more. Also a discrete graphics card (RM2 will require hardware DirectX support), as well as a 64 bit OS (W10 probably your only option now) and a solid state hard drive (for your OS at least, this really speeds up boot times).

Here is my setup for work (Map, database and Software developpement), and it's really fast ! A lot faster than my old i7-930...

OS: Windows 10 64 bits
Board: Asus X99-E WS/USB 3.1
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Lpx 64GB DDR4 3333 (Clocked at 3244, board should only take 3200) (I'll add another 64GB soon, this will be used as Ram disk for extreme speed when needed)
CPU: I7-5930K 3.5Ghz clocked at 4700Mhz (Not overheating, but really close to)...
Video Card: Asus Strix R9 390X
SSD 1 (OS and Map design): Intel 750 Series 1.2TB (2500/1200 Mb/s Read/Write)
SSD 2: Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB (1400/1000 Mb/s Read/Write)
SSD 3: OCZ Z-DRIVE R4 CM84 300GB (2000/2000 Mb/s Read/Write)

Here is a benchmark result with that beast:
www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/1399213:

PS, I've done better, I was at 125% on the CPU, but I dropped speed for stability and to keep it cooler...

Now, there is one thing I've hard time improving. It's when you process raster with IMC. It's faster, but not a lot. And I tried to run it with file to be processed on Ram disk, and it was not a lot faster than when the Data are on my SSD... I don't understand... On the bench, the Ram disk is a lot faster than the SSD, 8000 mb/s vs 2500mb/s, but when processing big raster, for exemple, a job of about 30 minutes to process with a lot of read/write, it's only 10-15 seconds faster on the Ram disk. I don't understand why yet... But I'll find... If you have an idea, I'll take it.

To give you an idea of the performances,

my biggest project is a 38 miles long river... I have 160GB of data log. I need to split in two projects du to RM limitation (Memory, but I have 64GB ???). First part is 400 sq km, and it take 2 minuts 15 seconds to generate. Second part is 227 sq km and it take 1 minut to generate.

I wish RM let us make the map in only one single project. I'm sure my computer can do it...

Matt, you already told us "there is no hard limit imposed by RM on the map size so in theory you are limited only by memory and time"...

I just did some test too see...

So, maximum map RM let me build is about 550 sq km, it take 3 minutes 15 seconds to generate and used only 13GB of Ram. But when I try to design bigger map, I got the error message: "There is insufficient memory to generate map project Tst-Big at the specified size and resolution.Try generating a smaller map or using a higher grid-cell size."

At 550, I'm ok, with only 13GB of RAM used, but when trying about 560 sq km, I got the error message. It should use the most of my 64GB for my 550 sq km map if what you say is right. But it only use 13GB... And you try with only 10 sq km more and get error message... I really think that it's kind of "hard limit imposed by RM"...

????????????

There are still some limitations on the maximum size of single objects in memory, even for 64 bit (within the Microsoft .NET framework). We have changes planned for v2.0 that will effectively remove this restriction for map generating so you shouldn't then hit that limit as quickly as you do.

I am SOOO excited for Reefmaster 2.0!!!

Thanks Matt for the reply !

I'm also excited about that version 2.0.

Do you have a release date ?

Thanks

Fred

I'll re-UP this post... Interresting...

Recomanded for ReefMaster: XEON CPU... My old CPU I7-5930K is now death. I replaced it with a used Xeon from Amazon (E5-2697 V3)... And now I'm able to make huge maps, in really no time. I'm now able to make a map for a 38 miles river ! I have 160GB of logs for that... With the old CPU, I was needing to make it in two parts. Now I make it in one part, and it take less time...

Reefmaster 2 is now using almost all of the 64GB Memory when processing a map ! And all of my CPU (28 Threads) are working full load. This is GREAT !

:)