Computing resources for your analytics, data mining, data science work or research, based on 282 voters.
The Venn diagram below shows the relative popularity of PC/Laptop (85%), Server (30%), and Cloud platforms (24%), and also the overlaps.
Interestingly, PC remains the most popular platform for data mining and analytics work, although a significant part is also done in the cloud and on a server.
Fig 1: Platform Popularity for Analytics / Data Mining: PC vs Server vs Cloud.
The average data miner in this poll used 1.4 platforms.
54% used only PC/laptop, 9% used only dept server, and 5% only the cloud.
Among those that used cloud computing, 59% of them used private cloud, 46% used public cloud, and 6% used both.
Next poll question was on processing power.
| How many processors/cores your typical data mining job actually uses? | |
| 1 core (69) |  24% |
| 2 cores (45) | 16% |
| 3-4 cores (86) | 30% |
| 5-16 cores (51) | 18% |
| 17-64 cores (17) | 6.0% |
| > 64 cores (14) | 5.0% |
Median number of cores is 3-4
Although my note on the poll said "if you have 8-core processor but your job only uses 1, choose 1", I suspect most voters ignored this, since the most common answer is 3-4 cores which probably corresponds to the number of cores in the CPU (many popular laptops/PCs now have 4 cores), but I doubt that data mining jobs are so well parallelized that they actually use all 4 cores.
Comparing with a similar poll 2010 KDnuggets poll: Computer configuration for your main Analytics / Data Mining machine, we see that the median number of cores only doubled, to 3-4 in 2015 from 2 in 2010.
Next poll question was on memory.
| How much memory your typical data mining job actually uses: | |
| < 1 GB (28) |  10% |
| 1-2 GB (44) | 16% |
| 2-4 GB (58) | 21% |
| 5-16 GB (94) | 33% |
| 17 - 64 GB (33) | 12% |
| > 64 GB (25) | 9% |
Median memory size is in 5-16 GB range (say 8GB), also double the amount in 2010 Computer configuration poll, which was 3GB.
Fig 2. Data Mining Computing Resource Distribution: Processors (cores) vs Memory (GB). Circle size corresponds to the number of responces.
The most common memory size is 5 to 16 GB, and most common CPU size is 3-4 cores. We see that the bulk (~ 78%) of data mining analysis is done within a PC-style range, with up to 16GB of memory and up to 16 cores.
Next poll question was on operating system.
| Operating System for your typical data mining job is: | |
| Windows (164) |  58% |
| Unix/Linux (123) | 44% |
| Apple/Mac OS (47) | 17% |
| Other (4) | 1.4% |
The Average number of operating systems used was only 1.2, and 67% of users only used one OS.
The Venn diagram above approximately shows the overlaps - the strongest affinity is between Unix/Linux users and Windows, and the weakest is between Windows and Mac.
23% of Windows users also use Unix/Linux, and 31% of Unix users also use Windows
32% of Mac users also use other Unix/Linux, and 12% of Unix/Linux users also use Mac
Only 2% of Win users also use Mac, and only 6% of Mac users also use Windows.
Regional Participation
- US/Canada, 44%
- Europe, 38%
- Asia, 9.2%
- Latin America, 4.6%
- Australia/NZ, 2.1%
- Africa/MidEast, 1.8%