CAD Catia workstation upgrade: CPU single thread related

[Ericsherbrooke]

HI all!!

We are looking to replace a few designers workstation, running multiple version of Catia v5 on windows 10 OS

Current build to replace

-HP Z420 Xeon E5-1620 3.6, 16 gig ram, AMD Firepro W7000, win 7

These machines have been really good , looking to buy something to replace them and struggling to find a fast single threaded processor to upgrade, Dassault certified/tested builds with HP Z4G4 is fairly thin for choice of processor.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!!

. 

[DGroves]

anytime you go with/use a non certified system or part you are mostly on your own in terms of support from the ODM/vender

but i suspect you already know that.......................

i recommend you simply compare the available cpu/board options options in a "supported" configuration and then read reviews/comparisons between cpu models/revisions and then start looking at boards that run the cpu's of your choice that have the options/feature set you require

[Ericsherbrooke]

Hi Dgroves, than ks for your help

Yup, always made our workstation replacement based on Dassaut certified list, but this time around not many interesting builds available for replacement of ours with performance/cost in mind.

I am hoping to get some feedback about someone running similar processor in certified family  that could be an alternative.

Our target is really single threaded clock speed without overclocking within the xeon family ( at a price that make sense)

[DGroves]

then the xeon v2 and v3 cpu's are what you should be looking at like the 16xx line of cpu's

once you get to the v4 xenons, the cpu prices start to ramp up and may not be worth any possible speed increases/decreases in rendering times

[BambiBoomZ]

Ericherbrooke,

Firstly, consider consulting Dessault directly for recommended. certified hardware.  As is the case for Autodesk there may not be full software support without certain hardware; and probably using a Quadro GPU will be on that list.

Catia-oriented systems  may be divided into the priority function; whether modeling ,simulation, or rendering. If the system is primarily modeling, the best single-thread performance is the goal, with the highest possible clock speed as the criterium. For simulation, multiple cores and high clock speed in combination with RAM quantity and disk speeds desirable, and for rendering, more cores, a GPU wit a lot of CUDA cores, and a lot of memory. In all systems, the primary GPU must be a Quadro as both Catia and Solidworks are optimized for them. For all systems, consider using a single CPU with more cores instead of a dual one as some associated software may not be able to utilize dual processors.

For an all round system that would correspond to what might be characterized as a super version of the current system and that might handle a good range of functions and projects scale. consider an HP Z4 G4 / Xeon W-2145 or W-2155 / min. 64GB RAM ECC, configuring to allow increase to 128GB / Quadro RTX4000 / 512GB M.2 OS/ Programs drive / 1TB M.2 Projects and libraries drive / 6TB storage drive configuration in RAID 5 / external USB 2TB backup drive run only for backup and with  a quick restore system image in a dedicated partition. If the projects are very complex and if there is dynamic structural, gas, particle,  thermal analysis and etc, the GPU might be an RTX 5000 and also for simulations, the OS might run on a dual M.2 card in RAID 0.

For a middle ground system, suitable for medium scale projects, consider an HP Z440 G3 / Xeon E5-1650 v4 / 1660v4 / 1680 v4 / 64GB / Quadro P4000 and etc.  There are also the E5- 16XX v2's that may be overclocked; the 1650 v2 , 1660 v2 , and 1680 v2.  I and forum friend Brian1965- who is running Solidworks- use E5-1680 v2's on liquid cooling, his at 4.7GHz using a custom external cooler and mine at 4.3GHz using a z420 AIO liquid cooler. 

A reasonably good performing system on a budget or for student use might be similar to the primary system in this office:

HP z620_2 (2017) (R7) > Xeon E5-1680 v2 (8-core@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid Cooling / 64GB DDR3-1866 ECC Reg / Quadro P2000 5GB **_ GTX 1070 Ti 8GB / HP Z Turbo Drive M.2 256GB AHCI + Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe 500GB + HGST 7K6000 4TB / Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 sound interface + 2X Mackie MR824 / 825W PSU /> HP OEM Windows 7 Prof.’l 64-bit > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)

[ Passmark Rating = 6280 / CPU rating = 17178 / 2D = 819 / 3D= 12629 / Mem = 3002 / Disk = 13751 / Single Thread Mark = 2368 [10.23.18]

Or, possibly: a reasonably good performing system on a budget or for student use might be similar to the second system in this office:

HP z420_3: (2015) (R11) Xeon E5-1650 v2 (6C@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid cooling / 64GB (8X 8GB DDR3-1866 ECC registered / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB **(EVGA SSC)/ Samsung 860 EVO 500GB + HGST 4TB / ASUS Essence STX / Logitech z2300 2.1 / 600W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (HP OEM ) > Samsung 40" 4K

[Passmark System Rating: = 5644 / CPU = 15293 / 2D = 847 / 3D = 10952 / Mem = 2993 Disk = 4858 /Single Thread Mark = 2384 [6.27.19]

**But substitute Quadro P4000 8GB.

These two are using Iuntel Extreme Tuning Utility for overclocking, but it is not perfectly 100% reliable in my use and if the stock speeds are to be used with E5-v2, use the E5-1660 v2 6C@ 3.7 /4.0Ghz.

But, using software of that cost and scale capabilities professionally, my choice would be the Xeon W-2155

To compare the current system CPU to the proposed:

Xeon E5-1620 4C > Passmark average CPU Mark = 9027 / Single Thread Mark = 1925

Xeon W-2145 8C >  Passmark average CPU Mark = 19718 / Single Thread Mark = 2521

Xeon W-2155  10C>  Passmark average CPU Mark = 21832/ Single Thread Mark = 2475

Xeon  E5-1650 V2 6C@ 4.3GHz > Passmark  CPU Mark = 15293 / Single Thread Mark = 2384

Xeon  E5-1660 V2 6C@ 3.7/4.0GHz > Passmark  CPU Mark = 13808 / Single Thread Mark = 2116

Xeon  E5-1680 V2 8C@ 4.3GHz > Passmark  CPU Mark = 17218 / Single Thread Mark = 2364

Xeon  E5-1680 V2 8C@ 4.7GHz > Passmark  CPU Mark = 17164 / Single Thread Mark = ~2530 (?)

BambiBoomZ

[Ericsherbrooke]

Thanks alot BambiBoomZ, 

I am aware of most of the information you gave about Catia software, still thanks for all the details and it should be beneficial for the community!!

-our requirement for designers workstations are targeted at modeling, as I/you said, single tread clock speed CPU is the target.

-We are aiming at Quadro GPU option this time, since we are not dealing with big assemblies, we are aiming toward the new P2200 (dassault certified drive available), based on our current hardware performance, the p4000 would be overkill

I really appreciate your configuration options and processor compare at the end, that will help me discuss with our local HP reseller.