Computer crashing

[cheoksoon]

Hi everybody,

A while ago, I was conducting a study on the national health system and had to crunch huge amount of data sets (up to 700k rows and 12 columns of data).

My computer crashed on numerous occasions when processing the data (blue screen) but otherwise it would take hours for the data processing to take place.

I am once again about to embark on a similiar study, except maybe this time it is bigger...

I was thinking of getting a new computer to work on these data but what kind of specs do you guys recommend a computer to have in order to do the work that I do?

My current computer has 16GB of Ram, 150GB of SSD, and 2.3Ghz processor (8CPUs) - and it is still crashing.

Any suggestions? Do you think that Excel is the right program for this job?

[MarvinP]

What version of Excel are you using?

[FDibbins]

And what sort of calcs are you doing?

While excel is an awesome program, it does have it's limitations - one of which is working with vast amounts of data, you have almost 8.5m cells to work through

[tim201110]

good choise of comp.
you should use VBA for computing such amounts of data

[cheoksoon]

good choise of comp.
you should use VBA for computing such amounts of data

Oh, what is VBA?

And what sort of calcs are you doing?

While excel is an awesome program, it does have it's limitations - one of which is working with vast amounts of data, you have almost 8.5m cells to work through

I was sorting the data into order, filtering them, calculating means, etc.

What version of Excel are you using?

I was using excel 2013

[JohnTopley]

VBA = Visual Basic for Applications

It is a computer language you can use with Excel and with large volumes of data and complex calculations it can be considerably faster than using complex formulae.

There are other techniques (e.g.use of "helper" columns) which can often speed up formula-based solutions.

Are you able to post a small sample file with examples the calculations you are doing or planning to do?

Attach a sample workbook (not image).

Make sure there is just enough data to demonstrate your need. Include a BEFORE sheet and an AFTER sheet in the workbook if needed to show the process you're trying to complete or automate.

Make sure your desired results are shown, mock them up manually if necessary.

Remember to desensitize the data.

Click on GO ADVANCED and then scroll down to Manage Attachments to open the upload window.

[FDibbins]

Is there some way you could break this up into smaller chunks, and then process that?

Also, you didnt really say (exactly) what formulas you were using?

[Premmadaan]

Try this
1. Copy all data (only data not Ctrl A)
2. Paste special "Values" in new sheet (in A1 cell)
3. Paste special "formula" in same A1 cell (avoid if your existing sheet doesn't have formulas)
4. Paste special "formatting" in same A1 cell (avoid this as well if formatting is minimal and you can manage manually) - now save this new sheet in local drive and close the sheet from where you have copied the data
5. Change calculation mode to "Manual"
6. Perform your task
7. Once done change Manual mode to Automatic (except dashboards)
IMPORTANT: Make sure you have not opened any other excel while working on this

[MarvinP]

Just an idea...

Is your version of 2013 Excel a valid and legal one with correct registration codes? I've heard rumors of hacked versions that may not work correctly.

Also try these solutions at:
http://office2013issues.blogspot.com...d-working.html

The other software installed or accelerators are my concerns.