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I am thinking of buying a new workstation that will be used for huge simulations and numerical calculations in programs like MATLAB. These applications generate a vast array of temporary files, a few KB each.

After performing all the calculations, bigger files will be stored in the hard disk, but, until then, the information will remain in RAM memory.

So, there will be a lot of access to the hard disk in order to store ridiculously small files and very few attempts to put enormous files into the drive.

For this purpose: do you recommend SSD disks?

Price is not a problem.

baister
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Sure. Buy SSDs.

High-end workstations typically have SSD options available and the barrier to entry is low if you want to purchase an aftermarket drive.

ewwhite
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The benefit is huge if there is a lot of reading and writing while the number crunching is going on. On the other hand, if you pull everything into memory once at the beginning of the run, and then write it all out at the end, you won't see as big a boost.

At the same time, if the OS or Matlab itself needs to page anything to disk, you will get a boost from using SSD. Overall a system will run somewhat faster if installed on SSD. The real question here is how important the speed is for you. Personally, I appreciate speed, especially when compiling, linking, and/or crunching numbers, so going forward my preference is to always invest in SSD. As another answer mentioned, however, check prices. Sometimes aftermarket SSD is actually less expensive (but then you have to take your time to install the OS on it, if you want that boost too).

Daniel Goldfarb
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  • Is not there a performance drop when many small files (think of temporary ones) are written? While a simulation is being performed, hundreds of small files (some KB) are read and written. – baister Jul 21 '15 at 17:28
  • Yes, that's exactly why, when reading and writing lots of small files, you will see much more benefit with an SSD (compared with one big read/write). The more disk reading and writing you do, the more you will benefit from having an SSD. Consider that, with an HDD, every time you read or write the head has to move across the disk to find the correct spot to read/write. Even highly efficient HDD's (with multiple heads) still have to take the time to move the head. Even small movements in an HDD take more time than the direct memory addressing in an SSD. hth. – Daniel Goldfarb Jul 23 '15 at 15:21