[boffin5]

Hi,

In order to analyze ground vehicle external aerodynamics of full size cars, I have been working hard at learning openFoam, and am ready to graduate from my old desktop to building a more capable computer. After reviewing various forum posts of the subject, my head is swimming from all the minutia and esoterics of the bits involved. Suffice to say, my budget is around $6000 US. Can someone just give me a list of components that I can review and order?
Thanks,

boffin5

[wkernkamp]

You could get this server https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gigabyte-R1...IAAOSwoW5gLssW Gigabyte R180-F34 for $104

Get a set of https://www.ebay.com/itm/SR20Z-INTEL...UAAOSw6kdgdc4f E5-2678 v3 Xeon for $168


Add https://www.ebay.com/itm/32GB-4x8GB-...gAAOSwQZRfLGLp 16x 8Gb DDR4 RDIMM for $640


Finally, an nvme M.2 plus a PCIE adapter for +/- $100.



This will get you a powerful machine that runs the OpenFOAM benchmarks on various hardware OpenFOAM benchmark in 76.5 seconds for $1012. It is unlikely that you need more than one, because the benchmark is a flow around a motorcycle, thus similar to flow around a car. The benchmark uses about 6 Gb of core memory, so with 128 Gb installed you have room to grow.



Invest remaining money in graphics card for your pc to look at results in paraview and take girlfriend on vacation when that is possible again. I bought a unit myself and it boots off the nvme drive without issues.


If you need more speed, buy more of them. Four of these should solve the benchmark in approximately 20 seconds, because OpenFOAM scales almost linearly with number of machines.


Going more expensive involves putting together a dual epyc machine. This machine is faster, but will take at least $2500 to put together depending on motherboard and cpu selection.


Good luck,


Will

[boffin5]

Thanks, I want to go faster and plan for the future. Here is a build list that I have put together. I'm sure it has issues regarding compatibility and/or ignorance, and I invite comments regarding changes. Questions I have: 1. is the Samsung drive I already have physically compatible, and if not, are there adapters? 2. Is wi-fi accounted for with this equipment? 3. what am I missing?


To all hardware experts; please throw darts and set me straight!

Motherboard - Supermicro Super Micro Computer H11DSI-NT - 640.00

Processor - 2 X AMD EPYC 7252 - 2 X 640.59

Cooling Fan - Noctua NH-U9 TR4-SP3, Premium CPU Cooler for AMD sTRX4/TR4/SP3 - 2 X 79.95

Drive - Samsung EVO 860 1TB Solid State Drive - already have, will transfer from laptop

RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz C16
- 92.99

GPU - NVIDIA Quadro P4000 (Renewed) - 849.00

Power Supply - Corsair RM (2019) 750 W - 124.99

Case - NZXT H710i - 168.99

[Malinator]

Well, your configuration is indeed far from optional. You can get the general idea for the build near your budget, for example, there , and possibly enhance it with second CPU and another 8 sticks of DRAM for it. You can even choose more beefy CPU according to your budget, like 7352 or even 7452.
And just to warn you - dual socket MB is large, like really large, 12" x 13.05" (30.5cm x 33.1cm). Those fancy chassis like NZXT H710i fit 11 inches at max, so check it carefully. And for cooling - it would be wise to use at least NH-U12S (or double of them for dual CPU setup), and once again - check the clearance of your chassis of choice

[boffin5]

Going with a single epyc processor. I really need to know if there are any
incompatibilities, stupidities or missing items with this list, as I need to get going!

CPU AMD epyc 7443P 1337.00

CPU Cooler Noctua NH-U14S TR4 SP3 79.95

Motherboard Tyan S8030 414.00

Storage Samsung EVO 860 1TB Solid State Drive (already have)
Storage Kingston A2000 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive 114.41

Drive Adapter StarTech.com M.2 SSD to 2.5in SATA Adapter 23.73

Memory G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 115.99

Video Card Quadro P4000 - renewed 849.00

Case Fractal Design Meshify 2 154.55

Case Fan TBD

Power Supply Corsair AXi 1600 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply 249.00

[Malinator]

OK, Alan, for single-socket workstation this setup seems mostly reasonable, one serious issue is DRAM choice - you absolutely have to use ECC registered DRAM, and to effectively use memory bandwidth of EPYC CPUs, you have to use 8 DIMMs of 3200 MHz memory.
Apart of that, no critical issues - M.2 to SATA adapter seems redundant for me, as there are both types if ports on the MB; I believe you may opt for less powerful PSU, as 1600W is way higher than actual power consumption of that system.

Is you absolutely sure that you want rather expensive, and refurbished, and not that modern Quadro videocard - it's up to you, for simple visualization of computation results it would be as useful as consumer GPUs.

[boffin5]

Thanks Malinator; here are my updates: Are the RAM units the right type? I now have a 750W power supply. Can you suggest a GPU as an alternate to the Quadro I had before?

CPU AMD epyc 7443P 1337.00

CPU Cooler Noctua NH-U14S TR4 SP3 79.95

Motherboard Tyan S8030 414.00

Storage Samsung EVO 860 1TB Solid State Drive (already have)
Storage Kingston A2000 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive 114.41

Memory 2 X 16GB DDR4-3200 PC4-25600 2Rx8 RDIMM ECC Registered Memory by Nemix Ram

Video Card TBD

Case Fractal Design Meshify 2 154.55

Case Fan TBD

Power Supply XPG CORE Reactor 750Watt 80 Plus Gold Certified Fully Modular Power

[wkernkamp]

The Epyc has 8 channel memory. CFD job performance is essentially proportional to number of channels in use. So with just 2 RDIMMs you will realize only 25% of the performance (as malinator already pointed out.)

[wkernkamp]

The benefit of cores above 16 is not great. So you may downselect to a 7313P.