[Rkeck]

Hi all,

I was hoping for some pointers in purchasing a workstation to use for CFD calculations with CFX and/or OpenFoam. I am just about to start a PhD in wake modelling for wind turbines and will run calculations with actuator disc/line models with around 30-50 million cells or so. The budget for the workstation is the region of 2500-3500$ I have discussed a little with some colleagues but would very much appreciate some advice from more experienced CFD users.

The current model I am considering is:
1 x Intel S5000 Psl Motherboard
2 x Intel Xeon E5420 2.5Gz /12MB / 1333Mhz (total 8 cores)
2 x Kingston DDR2/667Mhz 2x4GB (total 16GB RAM)
1 x Leadtek Quadro FX570 256MB

Please come with comments and suggestions. Anyone know if it would be worth the difference going up the Intel nehalem processor? Is the memory sufficient for 8 cores?

Many thanks
Rkeck