RE: Getting a new computer

[Andrew Bernard]

Hello Vaughan,

 

Well, that code does not compile and generates and error on 2.19.50, but it gets very close to the final PDF. On my new system with an i7-6700 it takes about 35 seconds, so I’d say of the order of 40 seconds.

 

I specified my new system that I built principally for lilypond, but also photographic work. Now, lilypond is single threaded and does not make use of multiple cores effectively, so there is no point going for a processor that has a huge number of cores – it simply has no benefit for lilypond. But do get the fastest CPU you can afford. The i7 6700 and the slightly higher spec’d i7 6800 or 6900 are excellent for this sort of work. They come with their own thermal solution so you don’t need to add expensive coolers.

Lilypond is not particularly disk IO bound, so a good fast 2TB disk nowadays is more than adequate.

Lilypond is also not very memory hungry, so you will be fine with 8GB of RAM, but maybe 16 GB is better nowadays.

Andrew