[pibil1]

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

[flotus1]

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.

[pibil1]

Thank you

[pibil1]

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?

Originally Posted by flotus1

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.

[flotus1]

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.