Computer Performance Comparison - FEA 4

[elfman]

I have just received a reassignment in my company and my new focus will be FEA analysis using several different FEA packages, including ANSYS and Vector Fields. In addition, I will be doing most of my modeling in Solidworks. I need to get a new computer – preferably a laptop, and am trying to put together validation for what I would like to acquire for my new system. Does anyone know of good benchmark studies that have been done on new systems/configurations? I am trying to justify large amounts of RAM and a 64 bit processor, but need some good comparisons, studies, etc.

I will take tips and suggestions for desktops as well.

Thanks much in advance.

 

[jte]

I can't help you with the justification other than to comment that hopefully your management recognizes that at the $200 or so per hour you are costing them it is worthwhile to spend a few bucks more to get you the fastest laptop you can reasonably get and replace it every two or three years.

A few months ago (so by definition its obsolete now) I got a Dell M90

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=m90min&s=bsd

with a T2700 Duo processor, 2 gig RAM, and nVidia Quadro FX graphics card with 512 Mb. Runs Solidworks and Cosmos just fine for me… Haven't tried Abaqus on it but I probably will soon. Its heavy but I've traveled with it and for the most part I set it up on a desk to work and the big screen is a huge advantage for modeling vs a lighter but smaller laptop.

jt

 

[xerf]

The companies providing commercial FE software usually tests their software on various hardware congifuration.

You could check their web-sites for this kind of information.

For example, for ABAQUS v6.5 you can find here some benchmarks:

http://www.abaqus.com/products/Benchmarks/performance65.xls

http://www.abaqus.com/products/performance65.html

I am almost sure other FEA software developing companies must have similar benchmarks.

 

[johnsmith2]

I agree with that working on finite elemenet, big screen, at least 19" is necessary!!!

 

[jte]

John-

Show me a laptop with a 19" display!

jt

 

[SWComposites]

Dell M2010 though it pushes the definition of "laptop" a bit. The Alienware Aurora mALX has a 19" screen, as does the Voodoo Envy U-909. Sagar/Prostar also sell notebooks with 19" screens.

 

[GregLocock]

It's worth running a job and studying the perfmon (or equivalent) during the job. Then you can see whether your current machine is spending most of its time with the CPU at 100%, and whether disk thrashing or RAM read/writes dominate.

In my case I found that the CPU spent much less than half the time at 100%, but the disk was running flat out for minutes at a time so I put the money into RAM, 'luckily' my model just fit inside the 2 GB limit.



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[killerbee]

Well a laptop certainly isn't ideal for FEA and in general are a compromise.

FEA performance is directly related to I/O speed. That points to SCSI drives and generally you do not get those in a laptop. Gobs of RAM helps but its the read/write speed of these drives that really permit you run large models. So I'd say go find a desktop with a couple of scsi drives and 4 gig of ram with a fast single threaded processor and an excellent graphics card (and yes the best graphics cards are not found in a laptop).

 

[elfman]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. Alas, the god of IS has set forth its will and essientially squashed the idea of a laptop. As it turns out, the corporate standard for an engineering desktop is a Dell 490, with Intel 5150 Dual Core, 2GB RAM and an 250Mb nVidia Quadro FX 3450. I am pushing for two monitors, 4 Gb RAM, and two processors, but I am breaching corporate standard so I don't know if I will get it. I will keep you all posted. Thanks again for all the suggestions.

 

[xerf]

The newest workstation from DELL is Precision 690, which can be customized with up to 64Gb RAM (with XP Pro x64 Edition).

 

[xerf]

Btw: if you want to buy from Dell , you may get a more performant machine (refurbished) on their outlet web-page.

If I had to buy a machine for FEA purposes, my criteria would be ranked:

1. RAM > = 4Gb (Now I am working on a machine with 2Gb which restricts the mesh refinement for my models :-(. )

2. 2 x CPU > 3.0 GHz (Some FE software may require additional licenses , (i.e. more money) to use multiple processors, e.g. ABAQUS.)

3. HDD > 320Gb, 10,000rpm

4. Graphic card > 256Mb (It may be important for post-/pre-processing, CAD modeling)
......

n. Monitor

 

[rb1957]

the posts above are giving you good direction .. get the biggest computing power you can. i'd get a desktop to work with and a cheap laptop for the road ... if you're allowed to VPN to your computer (from outside) and use "remote desktop" to run your computer through a different keyboard/screen (ie the laptop). some companoes don't allow this as being a security "opportunity".

 

[elfman]

I would love to write my own computer specification, however, one of the downfalls (at least in my mind) our corporate IS department, is that they have an agreement with Dell that Dell will supply two or three 'standard' systems and the 'high-end engineering' system, is a Dell as described above. I would prefer to go with the Dell 690, but not with our IS. I would prefer to go with 64bit, but not with our IS at this time, though they are talking about migration that direction in the not-so-far distant future. I would much prefer 10,000 RPM hard drives, but their standard is 7200 RPM. Hopefully you understand my problem, and now it is just what I can hopefully fenagle.

 

[rb1957]

the new big lie ...

"hi, I'm from IT; I'm here to help you"

 

[jte]

Yup, sometimes the IT folks forget that they exist to support other company operations. You are their client, but sometimes they take the attitude of "We're not satisfied 'till you're not satisfied!"

With local management support, though... I have a generic IT system for generic email etc type work, a NON-standard laptop and a NON-standard desktop for FEA. Not an ideal situation, but it keeps the IT folks happy - they don't/won't/can't support the non-standard machines and those are not connected to their network so they can pretend they don't exist. The biggest problem with that setup for me is that when its time to print I need to memory stick files over to my generic 'puter to reach a printer.

jt

 

[elfman]

I very much agree with your assessment jte. Though I have not found it in print, but I am pretty sure our IS department’s motto is something like, “if we have to actually work to support you, you won’t have it.” Unfortunately, it isn’t just me that has to deal with this mish-mash, but all of engineering, especially our designers suffer because they are actually required by their jobs to actually do their jobs. That involves working on computer hardware that is designed for the bean counters, not for the designers and especially not for the engineers. It is a rather sad commentary on where we have come, versus where we should/could be.

elf

 

[Jordonlaw]

Elfman,

Whatever you go for ensure you run some test jobs on it to see if it meets your needs. I've been caught out by having to buy some IT without doing this and never felt I got the best spec for the money that was out there.

xerf has the spec pretty good the only things you need to be careful of are :-

1) Yes, licence costs are much greater when using two or more processors.
2) Memory management across two or more processors can be very poor on some architectures leading to analyses that run little quicker than on a single CPU.
3) The OS can have an effect. I'm benchmarking a multi-processor system (2 x dual-core) at the moment and XP64 is slower than Linux when accessing more than one processor on a physical chip.

I have good support from our IT guy despite the comapny having similar policies to those described above. He is actively interested in this cute new stuff that is about and really does want to help.

 

[rtmpxr]

A laptop is a joke for a serious stress analyst. It's maded for bussines people to impress the stupid ones (which represents the majority). Talk with a good IT engineer and you'll get the right answer.

 

[dik]

Look for a good desktop that is customized for running games... FEA requirements are similar... Gaming machines generally have the processing snort and graphics requirements. Then try it out with a demo program run...

Dik

 

[cbrn]

Hi,
rtmpxr, I remember a Dell M50 some YEARS ago... I don't think you'd call it a joke... OK, you can joke even with 4GB RAM and 3 GHz processor (remember, it was about 3 years ago...). Of course, on the other side, the power of a desktop workstation is far higher...