Hardware for Workstation (Home) ICEM/FLUENT
 

Dear Experts,

I am looking for personal PC for my PhD to use at home. I am looking forward to able to run meshing smoothly. Does anyone knows what is the requirement for smooth operation? I trying to figure if I can get ANSYS Fluent software from university.

My mesh is expected to be 2M to 4M and Maximum of perhaps 40M.

I figure out that RAM could probably need 16GB. I always having issue when using ICEM meshing where the meshing gets slower. Hope someone can help me with the spec

I aim for
i7 Quad Core - Hexa Core(6)
16Gb ram - 32 Gb (Ideally)
256 GB SSD
1TB HD
Graphic card(not quite important)

My simulation can be run on HPC at university. This means I need to transfer the file there. However, the issues I hate the most is meshing speed.

Other software I might be using:
MATLAB
High speed camera software
CAD Modelling (for reading files and do some minor design)
Gaming (Not frequent)
Latex
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Presentation
Etc

Thanks

Kind Regards,
J

Hi,

If you've got the budget I'd try to get the i7-5820K with 32 GB of ram (4x8GB modules) to take advantage of the 4 memory channels. There isn't anything out or even scheduled for release that will beat that for bang for buck for CFD. This is assuming your meshing application is operates in parallel.

(Constructing a PC based on exactly this spec this weekend!)

Tom

Hi Tombo,

Thanks for your suggestion! I trying to figure out how to do hexameshing using parallel. I reading online that one might be able to work on tetra using parallel.

I am aiming for Alienware Hexa Core i7 i7-5820K Processor (6 cores) at refurbished outlet section as it is reasonably priced. Some pc has 12 cores but that is too expensive, and I don't think my simulation can run quick on personal pc. Not to mention multiphase + other physical interaction added. However for that price, PCspecialist.com allow to build up pc frow scratch, the only thing that is worrying is the assurance and warranty. Alienware Area 51 has good design (expandable I guess) - can install several HD(s)

Hopefully can find one that has SSD (256GB) and 32 Gb ram (Quad). It might costs around 1300 pounds inclusive tax. Don't mind graphic card as Fluent don't run quick with graphic (Not optimized). I don't think I will opt for octa or 12 cores above (2 CPU system) as my mesh will still run slow on that number of cores.

I just hope that it will be quick for me to read and write meshing, set up BC and for doing post-processing for High speed camera. As a backup pc at home will be ideal as laptop is running slow with 5400 rpm HD.

Thanks

Kind Regards,
Jee Loong

Did you buy it?

As of now, there is the 6700K released, which might be the best thing for your specific needs.

Hey Micael,

Would you say the 6700K will give better performance than the 5820K?

I think the i7-5820K is the safer pick.

6700K is higher clock frequency, but is dual memory channel compared to four channels for i7-5820K. I didn't realized that at the moment of my previous post. Now I don't think 6700K is the best choice for scientific/engineering computing.