recommended

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-intenstive workflows (for example, Cryo-EM or small molecule docking). We're in the process of assembling benchmark workflows, datasets and results to help guide hardware decisions.

Apple Workstations

Any Apple machine can be a capable computer for structural biology. The basic Apple educational discount is available through their online web store, and your institution may have negotiated an arrangement with their Apple representative. SBGrid has several labs that run exclusively on Macs and OS X, though these are not advised for CryoEM data processing.