low budget hardware recommendations?

rparks · April 22, 2009, 11:48

Hello,
after beginning to learn CFD with OpenFOAM I need to replace my old 900MHz Pentium III. What is a good CPU/mainboard combination below 150$?

Having no idea which CPU to choose, I compared several benchmarks (which may not be meaningful for CFD) and prices, and found that the Athlon 64 4x00+ seem to offer best performance per $. On top of that several CFD programs are memory bandwidth limited, so that more CPU GHz helps little at a much higher cost, does it?

I am now considering this CPU and motherboard:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Brisbane 2.3GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache (~45$)
GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard (~50$)

Could you please have a quick look whether they would deliver reasonable performance? Or is something significantly better available with 150$ as an total upper limit?

(I know that several factors may play a role for the decision. But please don't theorize about all possible what-ifs. All I am interested in a a system to jump into CFD without the impression that I could have had twice the performance if I had spent 10$ more.)

Thank you
Richard

ericnutsch · October 18, 2009, 21:58

Looks good.

Its certainly going to be a killer jump up from your PentiumIII.

One thing to keep in mind is that 1GB of memory = 1 million cells
I would recommend putting at least 4GB or ram on it to start with.

What kind of video card are you going to put on it?

Definitly get a SATA 3Gb/s hard drive. I just bought one of these and it was worth every penny; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148231

I would be careful when buying the "openbox stuff", its easy to get burned...

Cheers

April 22, 2009, 11:48	low budget hardware recommendations?	#1
rparks New Member Richard Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 17	Hello, after beginning to learn CFD with OpenFOAM I need to replace my old 900MHz Pentium III. What is a good CPU/mainboard combination below 150$? Having no idea which CPU to choose, I compared several benchmarks (which may not be meaningful for CFD) and prices, and found that the Athlon 64 4x00+ seem to offer best performance per $. On top of that several CFD programs are memory bandwidth limited, so that more CPU GHz helps little at a much higher cost, does it? I am now considering this CPU and motherboard: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Brisbane 2.3GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache (~45$) GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard (~50$) Could you please have a quick look whether they would deliver reasonable performance? Or is something significantly better available with 150$ as an total upper limit? (I know that several factors may play a role for the decision. But please don't theorize about all possible what-ifs. All I am interested in a a system to jump into CFD without the impression that I could have had twice the performance if I had spent 10$ more.) Thank you Richard

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October 18, 2009, 21:58		#2
ericnutsch Senior Member Eric Nutsch Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Eugene, Oregon USA Posts: 113 Rep Power: 16	Looks good. Its certainly going to be a killer jump up from your PentiumIII. One thing to keep in mind is that 1GB of memory = 1 million cells I would recommend putting at least 4GB or ram on it to start with. What kind of video card are you going to put on it? Definitly get a SATA 3Gb/s hard drive. I just bought one of these and it was worth every penny; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148231 I would be careful when buying the "openbox stuff", its easy to get burned... Cheers