Efficient work station.

niiya · May 5, 2019, 18:19

Hello, everybody.
I'm looking for help to set up a work station to run simulations of engines and radiators. I really have no idea what to do.
I was thinking of using a Xeon Platinum 8276M.
Is it right or would there be something more efficient?

flotus1 · May 6, 2019, 05:09

There are most certainly more cost-efficient solutions. You pay a hefty premium for the M suffix which you probably don't need.
We would need a ballpark figure for your budget, the software you use, the licences you have available and the model sizes (number of cells) you want to run.

niiya · May 6, 2019, 14:00

At the moment I don't really have a budget limit.
As far as the software thought is Ansys, although if there was some better for such a simulation the same would decantaria for it (heat exchange in radiators).
I wouldn't know with how many cells.

flotus1 · May 6, 2019, 16:47

So assuming licenses are not an issue...
You are probably searching for a dual-socket workstation with e.g two Xeon Gold 6240. This will get you twice the memory bandwidth compared to a single CPU and more cores. So basically twice the performance for a lower price compared to a Xeon Platinum 8276M.
Add 12x16GB of DDR4-2933 memory. And a midrange graphics card like a Quadro P2000. And as much storage as you need.

niiya · May 7, 2019, 13:13

Is Quadro P2000 good enough ?
What is the function of the graph in ANSYS?

flotus1 · May 7, 2019, 16:42

You mean the purpose of the graphics card?
It displays what is on the screen, and a Quadro P2000 is more than capable enough for a typical CFD workstation.
Programs like Fluent have the potential to use GPUs as accelerators for computations, but there are a lot of caveats. One of the bigger obstacles is the price of around 10000$ for one Quadro GV100.
You can find more info here: GPU acceleration in Ansys Fluent
In my opinion the only way to justify GPGPUs for these programs comes from the weird licensing schemes. Otherwise they don't belong in a general purpose CFD workstation.

niiya · May 8, 2019, 09:15

Thank you very much for the guidance, I really do not have much idea of what to do, so the information is valuable.
I can understand that due to the greater bandwidth the amount of information that will move between the cpu and the ram would be greater so the performance compared with the platinum, no?
Likewise this would accelerate the speed.

flotus1 · May 8, 2019, 10:39

That's the point. With modern CPUs that have 20 and more cores, you will run into a bandwidth limit for CFD. In other words: running a job on 20 cores of a single CPU will not be 20 times faster than running the same case on one core. With 2 CPUs and moderate core counts scaling will be much better.

May 5, 2019, 18:19	Efficient work station.	#1
niiya New Member A Join Date: May 2019 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 6	Hello, everybody. I'm looking for help to set up a work station to run simulations of engines and radiators. I really have no idea what to do. I was thinking of using a Xeon Platinum 8276M. Is it right or would there be something more efficient?

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May 6, 2019, 05:09		#2
flotus1 Super Moderator Alex Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 3,399 Rep Power: 46	There are most certainly more cost-efficient solutions. You pay a hefty premium for the M suffix which you probably don't need. We would need a ballpark figure for your budget, the software you use, the licences you have available and the model sizes (number of cells) you want to run.

May 6, 2019, 14:00		#3
niiya New Member A Join Date: May 2019 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 6	At the moment I don't really have a budget limit. As far as the software thought is Ansys, although if there was some better for such a simulation the same would decantaria for it (heat exchange in radiators). I wouldn't know with how many cells.

May 6, 2019, 16:47		#4
flotus1 Super Moderator Alex Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 3,399 Rep Power: 46	So assuming licenses are not an issue... You are probably searching for a dual-socket workstation with e.g two Xeon Gold 6240. This will get you twice the memory bandwidth compared to a single CPU and more cores. So basically twice the performance for a lower price compared to a Xeon Platinum 8276M. Add 12x16GB of DDR4-2933 memory. And a midrange graphics card like a Quadro P2000. And as much storage as you need.

May 7, 2019, 13:13		#5
niiya New Member A Join Date: May 2019 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 6	Is Quadro P2000 good enough ? What is the function of the graph in ANSYS?

May 7, 2019, 16:42		#6
flotus1 Super Moderator Alex Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 3,399 Rep Power: 46	You mean the purpose of the graphics card? It displays what is on the screen, and a Quadro P2000 is more than capable enough for a typical CFD workstation. Programs like Fluent have the potential to use GPUs as accelerators for computations, but there are a lot of caveats. One of the bigger obstacles is the price of around 10000$ for one Quadro GV100. You can find more info here: GPU acceleration in Ansys Fluent In my opinion the only way to justify GPGPUs for these programs comes from the weird licensing schemes. Otherwise they don't belong in a general purpose CFD workstation.

May 8, 2019, 09:15		#7
niiya New Member A Join Date: May 2019 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 6	Thank you very much for the guidance, I really do not have much idea of what to do, so the information is valuable. I can understand that due to the greater bandwidth the amount of information that will move between the cpu and the ram would be greater so the performance compared with the platinum, no? Likewise this would accelerate the speed.

May 8, 2019, 10:39		#8
flotus1 Super Moderator Alex Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 3,399 Rep Power: 46	That's the point. With modern CPUs that have 20 and more cores, you will run into a bandwidth limit for CFD. In other words: running a job on 20 cores of a single CPU will not be 20 times faster than running the same case on one core. With 2 CPUs and moderate core counts scaling will be much better.