[Julian121]

What is more important for doing simulations in CFX, ANSYS? Numer of cores or CPU clock speed?
I am planning to do some intense unsteady simulations of flow in axial compressors. I am going to buy a workstation, but I do not know which one suits my need perfectly.
My budget is limited to 2000$ and I have these options:
1. Dual Xeon 2670 V1, 2.60 GHz, 16C
2. Intel i7-5820k, 3.30, 6C
3. Dual Xeon 2630 V3, 2.40 GHz, 16C
4. Single Intel Xeon 2687W V1, 3.10 GHz, 8C
I know this questions may have been answered several times, but I do appreciate if anyone could share any experience with these workstations.
Thanks!

[flotus1]

How many cores can you use with your Ansys license?

[Julian121]

Originally Posted by flotus1

How many cores can you use with your Ansys license?

32 cores at maximum.

[flotus1]

If you really can get your hands on one of the dual-Xeon setups (along with at least 8 DIMMs) for only 2000$ go for it. The E5-2630 v3 would be my preferred choice.

[Julian121]

Originally Posted by flotus1

If you really can get your hands on one of the dual-Xeon setups (along with at least 8 DIMMs) for only 2000$ go for it. The E5-2630 v3 would be my preferred choice.

Thanks for your reply. Is there a significant difference between the dual Xeon 2630 V3 and 2670 V1?
I made an error when writing my question. With my limited budget, I can buy a workstation with a single Xeon 2630 V3.

[flotus1]

Then my ranking in terms of cfd performance is:

1. Dual Xeon 2670 V1, 2.60 GHz, 16C
2. Intel i7-5820k, 3.30, 6C (with overclocking)
3. Single Xeon 2687W V1, 3.10 GHz, 8C
4. Single Xeon 2630 V3, 2.40 GHz, 8C

The difference between 1 and 2 should be quite significant.

[Julian121]

Originally Posted by flotus1

Then my ranking in terms of cfd performance is:

1. Dual Xeon 2670 V1, 2.60 GHz, 16C
2. Intel i7-5820k, 3.30, 6C (with overclocking)
3. Single Xeon 2687W V1, 3.10 GHz, 8C
4. Single Xeon 2630 V3, 2.40 GHz, 8C

The difference between 1 and 2 should be quite significant.

Thank you for your reply.

I have been trying to find a benchmark of Xeon V1, V2 and V3 for Ansys, but have not been able to find anything.

According to Cpubenchmark.net, 2670 V1 and 2630 V3 have very close scores. (12,479 compared to 12,877). Does it mean that they will have close performance in ANSYS?

If there is no significant difference between a dual 2670 V1 and dual 2630 V3, would it worth buying two 2687W V1?

Has anyone got any experience with ES/QS processors? Do they operate well in ANSYS?

[flotus1]

Unless you can get it for significantly less money, there is no need to buy older hardware.
The E5-2630v3 should be slightly faster for CFD applications because it can use faster RAM.
The issues with engineering samples are not specific to any application. If you happen to get one with a full feature set it can be just as good as any other CPU. But since you never know what you get, there is a small chance of wasting your money.

[Julian121]

Originally Posted by flotus1

Unless you can get it for significantly less money, there is no need to buy older hardware.
The E5-2630v3 should be slightly faster for CFD applications because it can use faster RAM.
The issues with engineering samples are not specific to any application. If you happen to get one with a full feature set it can be just as good as any other CPU. But since you never know what you get, there is a small chance of wasting your money.

As the last question, I can buy the following processors from eBay at the moment:

2670 V1 2.60 GHz/3.3 GHz 8C 63.99$ each
2680 V1 2.7 GHz/3.5 GHz 8C 200$ each
2673 V3 2.4 GHz/3.2 GHz 12C 600$ each
2676 V3 2.4 GHz/? 12C 600$ each
2683 V3 2 GHz/3 GHz 14C 650$ each
2696 V3 2.3 GHz/? 18C 1100$ each

Which of these processors would be enough?
Is there a significant difference between the second cpu "2680 V1" and "2673 V3" ?

As I said earlier, I am planning to do some unsteady simulations of axial compressors. I work on a special type of casing treatment and am going to modify the casing of the compressor.

[flotus1]

Those are all good processors for your range of applications for a very good price. It all comes down to your budget.
However, the processors with more than 12 cores and rather slow clock speed would not be my first choice for CFD applications.

[Julian121]

Originally Posted by flotus1

Those are all good processors for your range of applications for a very good price. It all comes down to your budget.
However, the processors with more than 12 cores and rather slow clock speed would not be my first choice for CFD applications.

Thank you for your all answers.
According to your recommendation, I think I'll have choose between a 2670 V1 2.60 GHz or 2680 V1 2.70 GHz and a 2673 V3 2.40 GHz.
Would you consider the 2673 V3 with clock speed of 2.40 GHz slow compared to a 2680 V1 2.70 GHz?
Does the turbo speed matter in simulation in ANSYS?
I would be very grateful if you could advise me.

[flotus1]

Turbo frequency applies to some extent. At least our Xeon E5 processors with fewer cores operate at frequencies well above the base frequency even under full load for all cores. There should exist some tables that list the exact turbo frequency for an arbitrary number of cores under full load, but I can not find them at the moment. Edit: found it https://www.microway.com/knowledge-c...ep-processors/
Thanks to the newer CPU arcitecture, large cache, higher core count and support for faster RAM the E5-2673v3 should outperform the E5-2680v1 even though the clock speed is slightly lower.