QuantumATK Forum

QuantumATK => Installation and License Questions => Topic started by: huckelbuckel on April 11, 2012, 09:12

Title: PC configuration
Post by: huckelbuckel on April 11, 2012, 09:12

Considering a single node license of ATK-VNL. which pc configuration is good enough  for simulation of materials and devices.
If i put a recent  quad ,six or 8-core CPU with 8GB ram with decent GPU in windows will it be ok??
 (say for eg, something like  4-core Intel 3.5 GHz LGA 1155 Core i7-2700K Processor
OR 8-core AMD 3.6 GHz AM3+ FX 8150 Processor
 OR  intel xeon server processor on single machine??)

Does the extra number of cores offer practical advantages on a single machine or more Ghz cycles are useful?

I know paralleling has lots of advantages but i am talking about a single machine only.

Thanks

Title: Re: PC configuration
Post by: Anders Blom on April 11, 2012, 14:55

You can never have too much compute power, but the computers you indicate is a good work horse for ATK. If you can afford 12 or 16 GB it's even better; 8 GB is ok; I would not go lower. Considering the price, I would choose a "standard" setup over a specialized one. Xeon processors are great, but i7 is really fast too. Xeon machines tend to make more noise, that can be a factor to consider as well.

At the current moment ATK is not designed to take so much advantage of multi-core CPUs, but this is a feature we are planning to introduce in the hopefully not too far future. Higher CPU frequency certainly improves the performance of the code.

The performance of ATK is a bit better on Linux than on Windows, mostly because of less OS overhead (and no interference from virus scanners etc :) ). Usually the Linux itself uses less memory than Windows 7, leaving a bit more resources for the applications. The advantage of running on Windows is that it's easier to find good drivers for the 3D graphics.

Title: Re: PC configuration
Post by: huckelbuckel on April 12, 2012, 13:20

Thanks..Will come here again....if more info is needed :)