Recommended Hardware and Benchmarking

Linux Workstations

The majority of structural biology computing happens on linux; there are several vendors providing linux workstation or server configurations we've had good experience with: ThinkMate, Exxact, Microway. Please feel free to contact us at help@sbgrid.org regarding upcoming hardware, or if you have another hardware vendor to mention.

System configurations can be targeted to particular compute-intensive workflows (for example, Cryo-EM or small molecule docking). We're in the process of assembling benchmark workflows, datasets, and results. These will help guide hardware decisions.

Apple Workstations

Apple computers can be a capable workstation for structural biology. The basic Apple educational discount is available through their online web store. Your institution may have negotiated an arrangement with their Apple representative. SBGrid has several labs that run exclusively on Macs and macOS. These computers are not advised for CryoEM data processing since they lack Nvidia GPUs and cannot run CUDA-based software.