[Nucleophobe]

Hi all,

I am working on configuring a new dedicated FEA rig. The budget is 10-15k USD, but given organizational constraints, we are limited to the Dell Precision 7920 or 7960 lines. We are also license constrained for ABAQUS and can only run on a maximum of 12 threads at a time.

Given these restrictions I have been looking at the Xeon W series processors (e.g., w5-3425 with 30MB Cache, 12 cores, 24 threads, 3.2GHz to 4.6GHz). This thread seems to concur with that conclusion (thanks, flotus1), but it has been a few months. Certainly open to reconsidering Xeon Gold (e.g., 6226R in a 7920) if there are advantages.

Here is an example configuration on the Dell website: link
The above has 256GB DDR5 memory (4x64GB, 4800MHz, RDIMM ECC). We are also considering going all-out on 8x64GB DDR5, although I'm not sure that merits the extra 5k USD.

Any input greatly appreciated!

---

1. Which software do you intend to use? Mostly ABAQUS/Standard
2. Are you limited by license constraints? I.e. does your software license only allow you to run on N threads? Yes; N=12 threads max
3. What type of simulations do you want to run? And what's the maximum cell count? non-linear analyses of 10k to 10M elements
4. If there is a budget, how high is it? 15k max
5. What kind of setting are you in? Hobbyist? Student? Academic research? Engineer? Academic research
6. Where can you source your new computer? Buying a complete package from a large OEM? Assemble it yourself from parts? Are used parts an option? We are limited to the Dell Precision line, 7920 or 7960
7. Which part of the world are you from? It's cool if you don't want to tell, but since prices and availability vary depending on the region, this can sometimes be relevant. Particularly if it's not North America or Europe. USA
8. Anything else that people should know to help you better? Use case is variable; some problems will be relatively small (50k elements), but we may run 1,000s for uncertainty quantification; other cases may be very large (10M elements), e.g. for mesh refinement studies

[flotus1]

The new Xeon-W CPUs have some seriously fast cores. I don't think it's worth looking for earlier generations. For an OEM workstation, the 3425 is a good choice.

If you are set on 256GB of RAM, better get the 8x32GB configuration. It costs the same as 4x64GB, but you get to use all 8 memory channels of the CPU.
I have to say that I'm impressed by Dell. Charging 10000$ for 512GB of RAM could make Apple jealous.

It looks like you have a bunch of "fast" mechanical hard drives in your configuration. I would probably try to get rid of those in favor of SSDs. Compared to even basic NVMe SSDs, they are loud and slow. And definitely not worth the 470$ Dell charges.
If this is about write endurance for some reason: in theory, SSDs can fill this gap as well. Though you would need to contact sales directly for that. Dell's nondescript SSD "classes" are no help here whatsoever.
I have used Samsung PM1735 for scratch space for Permas in HP workstations. They are fast, relatively cheap for what they offer (currently 1400€ for the 12.8TB model), and have plenty of write endurance.

[CFDfan]

Originally Posted by Nucleophobe

Hi all,

I am working on configuring a new dedicated FEA rig. The budget is 10-15k USD, but given organizational constraints, we are limited to the Dell Precision 7920 or 7960 lines. We are also license constrained for ABAQUS and can only run on a maximum of 12 threads at a time.

Given these restrictions I have been looking at the Xeon W series processors (e.g., w5-3425 with 30MB Cache, 12 cores, 24 threads, 3.2GHz to 4.6GHz). This thread seems to concur with that conclusion (thanks, flotus1), but it has been a few months. Certainly open to reconsidering Xeon Gold (e.g., 6226R in a 7920) if there are advantages.

Here is an example configuration on the Dell website: link
The above has 256GB DDR5 memory (4x64GB, 4800MHz, RDIMM ECC). We are also considering going all-out on 8x64GB DDR5, although I'm not sure that merits the extra 5k USD.

Any input greatly appreciated!

---

1. Which software do you intend to use? Mostly ABAQUS/Standard
2. Are you limited by license constraints? I.e. does your software license only allow you to run on N threads? Yes; N=12 threads max
3. What type of simulations do you want to run? And what's the maximum cell count? non-linear analyses of 10k to 10M elements
4. If there is a budget, how high is it? 15k max
5. What kind of setting are you in? Hobbyist? Student? Academic research? Engineer? Academic research
6. Where can you source your new computer? Buying a complete package from a large OEM? Assemble it yourself from parts? Are used parts an option? We are limited to the Dell Precision line, 7920 or 7960
7. Which part of the world are you from? It's cool if you don't want to tell, but since prices and availability vary depending on the region, this can sometimes be relevant. Particularly if it's not North America or Europe. USA
8. Anything else that people should know to help you better? Use case is variable; some problems will be relatively small (50k elements), but we may run 1,000s for uncertainty quantification; other cases may be very large (10M elements), e.g. for mesh refinement studies

I built a PC with AMD 5975wx, Asus WRX-80E-sage, 256GB of DDR4-3200, RTX4060ti and 3 sabrent 2Tb nvmes for less than 10k. When running 10mil cells CFD model it overperformed (in speed) almost twice the previous work station I had with Dual X99 motherboard and two e5-2699v4 CPUs, 256GB DDR4-2400, octal memory bandwidth.

[Nucleophobe]

Thanks, flotus1! I will revise the ram configuration and swap in NVMe SSDs as recommended.

I have to say that I'm impressed by Dell. Charging 10000$ for 512GB of RAM could make Apple jealous.

Agree. : (

I built a PC with AMD 5975wx, Asus WRX-80E-sage, 256GB of DDR4-3200, RTX4060ti and 3 sabrent 2Tb nvmes for less than 10k. When running 10mil cells CFD model it overperformed (in speed) almost twice the previous work station I had with Dual X99 motherboard and two e5-2699v4 CPUs, 256GB DDR4-2400, octal memory bandwidth.

Yeah. I was just looking at Titan computers as recommended by a colleague. We could buy a configuration similar to the once I spec'd for <$10k as you said. But, your comment gives me hope our new rig will increase in productivity!