Intel processors for CFD
 

Greetings CDF-Online forums,

I have a very low budget, I currently own an i5-7300HQ processor with 1 single 8GB DDR4 (2133 MHz). I have the chance to buy a pc with 1 single Xeon E5-1620 (quad-channel capable) with 8GB (2x4GB), DDR3-1600 for $576 usd (half my current setup cost). Both CPU are Quad-core, would the upgrade make a significant difference or more or less the same?. I'm running Hec-RAS 2D, Modflow, SeepW, not OpenFOAM at the moment.

Cpu benchmarks list them as the same:
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compar...m8354vsm223877

Thanks for your support :)

The most cost-effective upgrade you could do for ~60$ is adding another 8GB of RAM to your laptop. This would enable dual-channel and of course double the capacity.
For parallel CFD this upgrade could almost double execution speed.

576$ for an old machine with Xeon E5-1620 -and not much else to speak of- doesn't seem like a good value at all.

Thank you :):o;)

Thank you, but what if my CFD license runs only in one single core?, would additional ram stick speed up the simulation or would it be useful?

For single-core the Xeon workstation would have been a downgrade anyway.
It is hard to quantify how much you could gain from an additional stick of RAM. But RAM prices have come down a bit since last time you asked, now we are at around 40$ for 8GB. I would not have to think twice about that upgrade.
Any other upgrade that increases single-core performance is at least an order of magnitude more expensive. It would require you to basically buy a new PC or laptop.