Work Stations for CFD simulation
 

Iam asking about your opinion about the performance of the following workstation , with the following specifications:

DELL PRECISION
WORKSTATION T5400

XEON QUAD CORE

2.5 / 12 MB * 2

RAM: 4 GB
HARD: 160 GB
VGA: QUADRO UP TO 2 GB

I would STRONGLY recommend you get way more than 4 GB of ram. I'd recommend at least 16 GB of RAM, anything higher would be dependent on your needs. Also, I highly recommend using Linux instead of Windows for your OS.

(I am running a T7600)

I am not a fan of the T5400. I am currently using a T5500 and it is an average machine for CFD. I am currently running a single CPU with 6 cores. 36 GB RAM and the NVIDIA Quadro 4000. There is room for upgrade to another CPU which I would recommend (I haven't done because most of my jobs are run on an external cluster).

You want to balance Memory amount with memory speed. More speed and more memory is always better but you have to consider cost. Don't buy more memory just because it is cheaper look at the speed and the bandwidth too.

The T5400 is an old machine, not even available for purchase from Dell anymore. So it has the older generation XEON E5400 series CPUs. I believe only dual channel RAM as well, so it will be pretty slow. Probably only 1/3 to 1/2 the performance of a more modern machine.

Why running Linux instead? I am also going to set up a workstation. CatiaV5 with FloEFD. My plan is to have a HP Z230 with a xeon CPU and with either 32 or 64 GB ram.

Linux platforms are usually more stable for CFD applications. I would not recommend running your CFD solver on a Windows platform. If you are limited to using Windows for your CAD package, than you might not have a choice.

You can do both. I recommend a dual boot with your favorite Linux distribution. I recommend Ubuntu (or Mint) for beginners and Fedora for the advanced.

You will want to plan how you allocate you space for each OS. Install windows first and partition the amount there. Linux uses a different format for its hard drive. You will have the ability to choose which OS you run each time you start your computer.

If you want, you can always run a virtual machine, although I do not recommend it.