For scentific research in any field of science, a undergradaute student must work out following things.
Decide the area in which you want to work. You can ask your professor, seniors, friends for are of research. Or you can consult internet and try to find the area in which you can work according to your skills. For any area research there are certain gloabl things can be apply, and information abou that need to collect in advance.
Computer Hardware
Do not trust people who want to sell you an office computer. For data handling you need the fastest computer hardware your money can buy.
Operating System
The platform selection is very easy; its Windows XP 64-bit or Windows Server 2003 64-bit . Do not use Windows Vista or Windows 2000 at this time. For LINUX applications use a virtual operating system like VMWARE or Microsoft Virtual PC. Use any LINUX platform like UBUNTU.
For Windows 32-bit the maximum available RAM is 2,88 GByte (not 4GByte - even if you stick 8 GByte in).
For Windows 64-bit version the maximum is currently 128 GByte. The number of CPUs is usually two, that means if you use dual-core CPU or a quad-core CPUs you can have up to 8 CPU cores running.
CPU
The GHz numbers on CPUs are only a general hint (avoid old Intel Netburst technology). The minimum number of cores or CPUs is two for MS applications. A number of 4 core is an optimum because most MS software is currently only single-threaded (the computational routines).
AMD: The CPU should be minimum a Dual Opteron 2.6 Ghz or Athlon 64 X2 5000 (both are one year old).
INTEL: Minimum Intel Core 2 with minimum 2.0 GHz or Intel Quad core.
Memory
On a 32-bit system you need 4 GByte for maximum memory performance, however one process can only use 2 GByte (2.88 Gbyte with PAE). On a 64-bit memory system stick in whatever your money allows. 8 to 32 Gbyte are the preferred configuration. Surplus memory is needed for using a RAMDISK. Most MS software is only programmed for 32-bit (except JAVA applications) so it will take a while to step to 64-bit. However most MS companies recognize now the importance of good performing software so there will be changes in the near future.
DISK
The selection of hard disks is a three-tiered approach. The disk selection is a general underestimated issue. Do not trust people who want to install one single hard drive into your computer. RAID 5 and RAID 6 are the magic keywords.
The first part is to provide enough backup space and a way to backup the backup-data. A small external NAS (minimum 1000 GByte or 1 TByte) or a connection to a computer center is preferred. For Backup the ACRONIS software suite or similar software performs very well. A incremental backup of 200 GByte takes usually 10-20 minutes. Usually 5-10 TByte is recommended storage place with either a 1Gbit network or better 10 Gbps network connection.
The second part is the internal hard disk array. A professional system usually uses minimum 10,000 rpm hard disks like the WD Raptor SATA series. Such a hard disk has a internal speed of around 50-70 MByte/second. Normal hardrives usually can read/write with 30-60 MByte performance. For efficient working a SATA RAID 5 or RAID 6 array is recommended. The new RAID 5 and RAID 6 arrays can read/write with a performance of 200 to 400 MByte/second or up to 800 MByte/second. With RAID 5 one disk can fail and will be repaired automatically and with RAID 6 two drives can fail and the data is still secure (the RAID 0 and RAID 1 setups are only a slightly faster and not safe). The new ARECA RAID cards cost around 500 Dollar and 4-8 modern SATA hard drives are recommended for use.
A RAM disk is recommended for extreme performance when RAID performance is not sufficient. RAM disks perform only memory based and a 64-bit system can provide several GByte space. The advantage is that the access time are extremely low so thousands of files can be read without delay and the transfer rates can reach 1000 MByte/second. As a pure software solution the RAMDISK Enterprise can be used.
Decide the area in which you want to work. You can ask your professor, seniors, friends for are of research. Or you can consult internet and try to find the area in which you can work according to your skills. For any area research there are certain gloabl things can be apply, and information abou that need to collect in advance.
- Basic Defenition of the terms, fundamental of the Area, Also consult the prerequisite courses.
- Pioneer publication in that field.
- Recent Publication
- Model systems which can be studied.
- Type of experiment to be investigate
- List of all the tools and techniques. (Glassware, chemicals, bench tools etc)
- List of all the protocols
- List of all the top group and researchers working in that field.
- List of all the journals.
- List of software which would be use
- List of Data formats and Databases.
- Statistics Require for the research - Any software
- Main Hypothesiss of the field
- Operational Manual and SOPs of all the major Equipment.
- Any mathematics, chemistry, computer or physics requirements.
Computer Hardware
Do not trust people who want to sell you an office computer. For data handling you need the fastest computer hardware your money can buy.
Operating System
The platform selection is very easy; its Windows XP 64-bit or Windows Server 2003 64-bit . Do not use Windows Vista or Windows 2000 at this time. For LINUX applications use a virtual operating system like VMWARE or Microsoft Virtual PC. Use any LINUX platform like UBUNTU.
For Windows 32-bit the maximum available RAM is 2,88 GByte (not 4GByte - even if you stick 8 GByte in).
For Windows 64-bit version the maximum is currently 128 GByte. The number of CPUs is usually two, that means if you use dual-core CPU or a quad-core CPUs you can have up to 8 CPU cores running.
CPU
The GHz numbers on CPUs are only a general hint (avoid old Intel Netburst technology). The minimum number of cores or CPUs is two for MS applications. A number of 4 core is an optimum because most MS software is currently only single-threaded (the computational routines).
AMD: The CPU should be minimum a Dual Opteron 2.6 Ghz or Athlon 64 X2 5000 (both are one year old).
INTEL: Minimum Intel Core 2 with minimum 2.0 GHz or Intel Quad core.
Memory
On a 32-bit system you need 4 GByte for maximum memory performance, however one process can only use 2 GByte (2.88 Gbyte with PAE). On a 64-bit memory system stick in whatever your money allows. 8 to 32 Gbyte are the preferred configuration. Surplus memory is needed for using a RAMDISK. Most MS software is only programmed for 32-bit (except JAVA applications) so it will take a while to step to 64-bit. However most MS companies recognize now the importance of good performing software so there will be changes in the near future.
DISK
The selection of hard disks is a three-tiered approach. The disk selection is a general underestimated issue. Do not trust people who want to install one single hard drive into your computer. RAID 5 and RAID 6 are the magic keywords.
The first part is to provide enough backup space and a way to backup the backup-data. A small external NAS (minimum 1000 GByte or 1 TByte) or a connection to a computer center is preferred. For Backup the ACRONIS software suite or similar software performs very well. A incremental backup of 200 GByte takes usually 10-20 minutes. Usually 5-10 TByte is recommended storage place with either a 1Gbit network or better 10 Gbps network connection.
The second part is the internal hard disk array. A professional system usually uses minimum 10,000 rpm hard disks like the WD Raptor SATA series. Such a hard disk has a internal speed of around 50-70 MByte/second. Normal hardrives usually can read/write with 30-60 MByte performance. For efficient working a SATA RAID 5 or RAID 6 array is recommended. The new RAID 5 and RAID 6 arrays can read/write with a performance of 200 to 400 MByte/second or up to 800 MByte/second. With RAID 5 one disk can fail and will be repaired automatically and with RAID 6 two drives can fail and the data is still secure (the RAID 0 and RAID 1 setups are only a slightly faster and not safe). The new ARECA RAID cards cost around 500 Dollar and 4-8 modern SATA hard drives are recommended for use.
A RAM disk is recommended for extreme performance when RAID performance is not sufficient. RAM disks perform only memory based and a 64-bit system can provide several GByte space. The advantage is that the access time are extremely low so thousands of files can be read without delay and the transfer rates can reach 1000 MByte/second. As a pure software solution the RAMDISK Enterprise can be used.
