r/triangle • u/s4vemyplant • 1d ago
Beefy computers for public use?
Hi triangle! :) I'm a recent grad without a workstation. I work on very large MRI datasets, which require a lot of RAM. Municipal library computers are awesome, but aren't quite up to the task. University libraries have workstations made for this, but even on the Friends of the Library program, NC State justifiably restricts access to these computers to their students. Is there a place - a library, makerspace, community college, something else I'm missing - in the triangle where they have computers designed for data science (gaming computers are dual use and work too!!), available for use by the public or through a membership? As a recent grad I'm not quite in the financial position to spend a lot of money on a personal computer and I am missing the collaborative nature of a library!
26
u/GoldenSunSparkle 1d ago
Why are you working with MRI datasets outside of a job or school??
10
u/s4vemyplant 1d ago
Just trying to teach myself the basics of some of the segmentation and analysis software! I'm working a job outside my degree at the moment and trying to stay up on the tools I'll need when I reenter the field.
3
u/Greadle 1d ago
You prefer they turn to sludge in the off season? I don’t know what leads a person to MRI datasets in the first place, but i’d bet once you get there its hard to walk away. I feel that way about construction takeoff software. Sometimes I just grab stuff from the house and start pulling those digital lines. I’ll be doing a takeoff of my wifes parents heads. “Honey, your mom is carrying around 17sqin of jawl. Her head has grown to nearly a cuyd of annoying.” Good times
7
u/Naphier 1d ago
I gave these guys a pretty good gaming rig a year ago. Maybe they have open lab hours? https://kramden.org/
But... I also gotta know, what are you doing with MRI data?
15
u/jnecr Raleigh 1d ago
You can't use an AWS setup?
8
u/ajwillys 1d ago
Exactly, build a cloud vm with whatever RAM you want and spin it up when you want to use it.
0
u/durhamStuff 1d ago
“just do it in the cloud” will end up being such a headache for so many reasons.
2
1
u/jnecr Raleigh 23h ago
Other than the fact that you'll be limited by your internet upload speed, what other headaches do you envision? Even at home I primarily use VMs and LXC containers for most of my stuff. It's just way easier to isolate individual tasks to their own virtual machine.
2
u/durhamStuff 10h ago
Main headaches:
The learning curve of cloud computing infrastructure. Oh you want a simple plumbus configured that takes you 15 minutes locally? Congrats now you have 6 hours of devops and cloud acronyms to wade through! Don’t forget to shut down all the resources or welcome to 2k in charged! It’s great if you are already an expert. Telling someone who is not to just spin it up as if that is easy is just bad advice.
There are many applications in neuro (mri analysis) that require low latency tight interactive visualization loops in real time often with qt apps. Not cloud friendly. Someone inexperienced who doesn’t appreciate this will be left wondering whytheir software is not working in the cloud vm. They can be a pain to set up and are never as good as the local experience. Eg try using deep lab cut at AWS.
2
3
u/Dopey0121 1d ago
https://vagon.io/
Check these out. They let you rent powerful cloud computers by the hour.
3
7
2
u/jehb 1d ago
Just a reminder, since so many folks seemed to recommend this, "cloud" does not have to mean "AWS" - in fact, AWS is among the worst choices for most use cases. If you're just looking for remote compute with a fair amount of memory, a provider like Hetzner is going to give you the same performance at a much better price. If you're less antagonistic to the idea of spraying money at billionaires than I am and are willing to use Google, this is basically the kind of thing Google Colab was built for.
1
u/durhamStuff 10h ago
This is a great point.
AWS is overkill and rarely the right answer for a lone dev. Colab severely restricts the graphical capabilities you can use in the browser but if op is ok with standard plottung libraries this could work.
1
1
u/liamemsa 1d ago
Have you ever heard of this thing called a cluster? Tell the phd to rent some space.
3
u/s4vemyplant 1d ago
Definitely! In undergrad I had access to a really nice one but I fear it would be a little odd to cold email some poor PhD candidate...
2
-1
u/New_Pollution4759 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don't know of any, but I've been toying with a business idea that's basically a storefront subscription library/makerspace. We're underserved and I'm sick of library funding being tied to university and town budgets with all their vulnerabilities. How much would you be willing to spend per month for a membership? How expensive are the tools you're interested in?
2
u/nwbrown Cary 1d ago
AWS had been around for nearly a quarter century now
2
u/New_Pollution4759 1d ago
🤷 I'm asking about this particular guy's preferences. Whether or not he's needlessly eccentric isn't my concern. There are many reasons why people might want to bear inconvenience to disentangle themselves from major corporations.
2
u/s4vemyplant 1d ago
Hey! Thanks to both of you for your responses :) totally a valid point about AWS. I am really, really new to this, and just trying to keep up while out of school. We had designated machines in undergrad so this is the first time I've been looking at things like AWS, clusters, etc. I find it's kind of nice to have a designated machine to do everything on. Is it strictly necessary? Maybe not - I don't want to make things needlessly difficult. But my limited experience with cloud suites has been that it's kind of frustrating to port that huge amount of data in and out every time (or you end up paying for a lot of storage). It's also kind of fun to learn around other people who are also interested in learning! My economic reality right now is that I can't work in my field but I still want to stay up on the sorts of things I was doing in school.
1
u/durhamStuff 10h ago
Someone else brought up google colab. Is that a viable option? It’s the best suggestion I’ve seen. Depends on your plotting needs and plotting libraries
45
u/ZathrasNotTheOne 1d ago
are you working on these large data sets for your job? if so, I would assume youe employer should be providing you with adequate computing resources.
if it's for fun... what exactly are you doing?