Recommended computer for OpenFOAM simulations

janepen · October 27, 2012, 17:39

Hi, anyone can give me some advice about the recommended computer? I need a computer do OpenFOAM simulations, with generations of millions cells, multiphase and turbulence modelling. I still want to visualize the 3D OpenFOAM simulations fluently.

So, what kinds of computer configurations do you recommend? I will install a linux system, but I guess that the memory is important for mesh generation, and the video card is very important for visualization, is it?

Thanks in advance.

John

akidess · October 28, 2012, 13:25

Indeed memory is important for mesh generation and again the memory plus the video card for visualizing. However, today's gaming video cards pack a lot of punch, so even a mid-range card will satisfy your needs I think. I'd rather spend the cash on a decent CPU and additional memory. AMD has CPUs with 12 and 16 cores (6000 series), I believe those to be a pretty good deal in terms of power and cost.

Doug68 · October 29, 2012, 01:44

Is this for home or work and how much budget do you have?

I'm running an i7 2600K at 4.5ghz, 16gb of ram and a Nvidia 5600ti graphics card.
It'll mesh a 7.3m cell mesh in 2349 seconds apparently when going 4 way parallel, I used to do 8 way parallel, which was faster but the machine was unusable for anything else whilst it was running a job.
Whether that's good performance or not I don't know, mostly I run jobs overnight 1000 iterations on the mesh above takes about 7.5 hours.
Clearly though there are many variables which'll effect the time to run a simulation.

October 27, 2012, 17:39	Recommended computer for OpenFOAM simulations	#1
janepen New Member John Peng Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: NL Posts: 7 Rep Power: 13	Hi, anyone can give me some advice about the recommended computer? I need a computer do OpenFOAM simulations, with generations of millions cells, multiphase and turbulence modelling. I still want to visualize the 3D OpenFOAM simulations fluently. So, what kinds of computer configurations do you recommend? I will install a linux system, but I guess that the memory is important for mesh generation, and the video card is very important for visualization, is it? Thanks in advance. John

October 28, 2012, 13:25		#2
akidess Senior Member Anton Kidess Join Date: May 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 1,377 Rep Power: 29	Indeed memory is important for mesh generation and again the memory plus the video card for visualizing. However, today's gaming video cards pack a lot of punch, so even a mid-range card will satisfy your needs I think. I'd rather spend the cash on a decent CPU and additional memory. AMD has CPUs with 12 and 16 cores (6000 series), I believe those to be a pretty good deal in terms of power and cost. __________________ On twitter @akidTwit Spend as much time formulating your questions as you expect people to spend on their answer.

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October 29, 2012, 01:44		#3
Doug68 Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 62 Rep Power: 15	Is this for home or work and how much budget do you have? I'm running an i7 2600K at 4.5ghz, 16gb of ram and a Nvidia 5600ti graphics card. It'll mesh a 7.3m cell mesh in 2349 seconds apparently when going 4 way parallel, I used to do 8 way parallel, which was faster but the machine was unusable for anything else whilst it was running a job. Whether that's good performance or not I don't know, mostly I run jobs overnight 1000 iterations on the mesh above takes about 7.5 hours. Clearly though there are many variables which'll effect the time to run a simulation.