PC or UNIX, which is better for HFSS

[needle]

hfss unix

Hi, I would like to ask those of you who have experience with both PC and UNIX version HFSS 8.5 . ( I want more inputs than just ANSOFT tech support.)

XEON PC is certainly cheaper than Sun Blade 2000. Which one is better as to the cost/performance ratio? (please consider mesh size as large as 2-3Gb )

Will PC version ever be able to use > 2GB memory?

Thanks in advance.

 

[eladg]

graphic card for hfss

well u should have a very good copmuter, i mean very

 

[visualart]

I consider it is workstation. WS is steady and strong, especially datum are large.

 

[goxy]

Sun Blade 2000 is 3D graphics workstation and is not good for EM simulators.
I suggested you PC based platform, like Xeon or better Opteron.
You can be limited on this PC platforms with OS, as I know for 32 bit systems, like win2000, and win XP is 3Gb.
New 64 bit processors support memory up to 12GB, but you can have this only on 64 bit OS.
As I know only Linux is today 64 bit.

 

[Sinuous]

The heavies users of HFSS I know still use UNIX as the solver. I am curious to see what Tech Support told you. With the current processors and OS I think it is clear that UNIX still wins. If you consinder cost of the system and time to understand all the specifics about UNIX you may decide the PC route is the best.

I would be very interested to see a post describing what the Tech Support told you.

 

[needle]

here is the "found out":

hfss9 is still early, only on 32-bit windows/petium4 so far. PCs with anything beyond the 32-b win/p4 is considered future investment. (no itanium, opteron)

32-bit HFSS8.5 has 2-gb memory limitation. To use large memory, risc-based unix is the only choice, not sure about version 9 (it is still being cooked.)

----
sun blade 2000 is visual workstation, visual is because of the floating point speed+graphic card. HFSS needs the same thing (FP). It is cheaper than the sun 280R (server).

 

[costox]

For those who just found this topic (like me), consider the following factors:

1) very fast PC is now a day much cheaper than solaris box
2) with hfss, you can now setup simulation server (just type in the IP address once servers are set) across several pc or unix, so can simulate much faster if you have say 5 pentium 4.

 

[plasma]

Hi

Sun Blade 2000 is X64 machine so you need to compare it with a XEON EM64T PC (2Mb L2 Cache)
In this days you can find a dual XEON EM64T. with more then 12Gb of RAM.
You need WinXP X64 and upgrade to HFSS10 that run on XP X64 and multi
processor.

If you looking for higher performance. HFSS10 Run on LINUX so build a cluster
of few Linux servers and run your proj, with HFSS10 Linux based.

PL

 

[BigBoss]

64 bits machines are NOT faster than 32 bits, inversely they're slower. But in needing more of 4GB of memory depending on problem size, 64 bit is neccesary.

I have proven that phenomena with a design that has been simulated on different architectured machines and it's sure that 32 bit machnies are 1.5x faster.

 

[costox]

True. You can install 32-bit OS on a 64-bit computer, but not vice-versa.

>64 bits machines are NOT faster than 32 bits, inversely they're slower. But in needing more of 4GB of memory depending on problem size, 64 bit is neccesary.

 

[snkhan]

In addittion: If we just use two harddisk in raidi mode, its usually improves simulation performace upto 5%.