[Atoms909]

Good day,


Im looking for suggestions, opinions and ideas for a new CFD workstation.







Context:The company I work for is a small hydraulic engineering firm that does CFD. We currently have access to the "supercomputer" of a university nearby but our needs aren't met anymore and we are now looking to build our own machine.





Usage:We run exclusively openfoam with paraview for visualization. No license constraint. We do flow modeling (large eddy simulation) with large mesh, no more than 50millions cells.



Budget: Around 10K (CAD) but somewhat flexible.

Setting: Engineering and research

Sourcing: Online, assembly can be done here. We dont have any IT pros on staff but most of us computer hobbyist at home. Used part are fine but not preferred.

Location: We are in Canada.


Here is the list of part so far:


CPU:
2x AMD EPYC (2nd Gen) 7302 Hexadeca-core (16 Core) 3 GHz Processor - Retail Pack - 128 MB Cache - 3.30 GHz Overclocking Speed - 7 nm - Socket SP3-155 W - 32 Threads

MOBO:
SUPERMICRO MBD-H12DSi-N6-O Extended ATX Server Motherboard Socket SP3

RAMS:
16 x Kingston Premier Series 16GB ECC Registered DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Server Memory Model KSM32RS4/16HDR

Chassis and powersupply: Im unsure what to look for here, suggestion required.

Storage: Do I need server SSDs or good old desktop SSDs would work well ?



Anything else am I missing? Any ideas and suggestions welcome!



Thank you for your time!


-Jean

[jarjarbinks]

Hey, I am having the exact same budget as you with similar requirements and based in Canada! Where are you planning to buy the cpu from? And any particular reason why you are not going with newer cpus like 9374f or 9354?

[Atoms909]

Originally Posted by jarjarbinks

Hey, I am having the exact same budget as you with similar requirements and based in Canada! Where are you planning to buy the cpu from? And any particular reason why you are not going with newer cpus like 9374f or 9354?

Hey jarjar,



Im not sure where im going to source the cpu yet, keeping all my options open, do you have recommendations? Im going for older models for three reasons, first I seems to be able to find them on the very cheap side (used models) and there are plenty of em on the resale side. Second, the newer one goes at 4-5K CAD a pop. Last is we dont need to have a best of the best, good enough will do.


Do you have an idea of the parts you are going to put together?

[jarjarbinks]

I'm looking at sellers on ebay like: https://www.ebay.ca/str/cafeelectronics. They have very good reviews and well priced cpus. I would definitely prefer to buy from some canadian store, but there simply isn't anyone selling epyc. You mentioned that new ones are available for 5k, can you pls share the website/store.

Keep in mind that a single new 9004 series cpu can give you better performance than the dual cpu config you are going for. For your 10k budget, 5k on cpu shouldn't be a problem if ecc ram can be replaced with non ecc.
For eg my build:
96gb non ecc ddr5 ram
Rtx 3060 or similar
Lian li o11 dynamic xl (this is for aesthetics, much cheaper ones are available)
Dual socket motherboard from supermicro

[Atoms909]

Originally Posted by jarjarbinks

I'm looking at sellers on ebay like: https://www.ebay.ca/str/cafeelectronics. They have very good reviews and well priced cpus. I would definitely prefer to buy from some canadian store, but there simply isn't anyone selling epyc. You mentioned that new ones are available for 5k, can you pls share the website/store.

Keep in mind that a single new 9004 series cpu can give you better performance than the dual cpu config you are going for. For your 10k budget, 5k on cpu shouldn't be a problem if ecc ram can be replaced with non ecc.
For eg my build:
96gb non ecc ddr5 ram
Rtx 3060 or similar
Lian li o11 dynamic xl (this is for aesthetics, much cheaper ones are available)
Dual socket motherboard from supermicro

Im able to find some 7302 at 150$ cad on ebay, its hard to beat. In the end ill check the price/benchmark and see what is what with the 9000 series. Maybe i can find something better. If I dont have to spend the entire budget thats fine.

[jarjarbinks]

Ahh okay. Is there seller from canada or some other country? If from another country, do you know if there are any customs for importing?

[trans(sonic)_pride]

Considering your budget, I would recommend stepping up to dual 32-core EPYC 7452s, or 7502s. (If you source them from Ebay). For the power supply just use a power supply calculator from the internet and add a little bit of headroom for efficiency. Buy a good name brand and 80+ platinum or 80+ titatium if you go for an ATX psu. For the case you could go with a server case such as a Chenbro sr107+ or you could go with a Fractal Design Torrent but check compatibility with PSU and MOBO.