Random thoughts thread

[Re~Mix]

Originally Posted by Dimman

With CFD, finer meshes are better (high polygon equiv?)

Finer meshes are always better, but computing power and the time it takes to run a model usually dictate a tradeoff. I generally try to get 7-12 points between prominent features at the very minimal.

[Want.FR-S]

^ The 64 GB of RAM starts from $306.xx to $693 alone in newegg. That could be pricy to build a i7 box.

Another note: with a Virtual VM you can set the limits of processor power and memory usage on your session. Therefore more RAM the better. In my case I was exhausting my 3 GB of RAM almost all of it so that renders the Windows to be useless when VM was running. However, when running Linux natively, I can run the simulation while doing other tasks (writing docs, browsing web, and others) with no significant degradation on performance. I cannot do that with Windows and a VM.

[WingsofWar]

Originally Posted by Dimman

I am using for reference on requirements that one automotive case on an i7 with 32GB of RAM takes 24-36 hours. 1-2 hours on a Xeon-based workstation (but specs unknown at the moment).

My past experience is old 3d animation and rendering software, and high polygon count models, coupled with ray-tracing would just kill things.

With CFD, finer meshes are better (high polygon equiv?) plus instead of light rays that just go straight, the air modelling is kind of like raytracing where the rays interact with each other and don't have to go straight. So lots of RAM would be in order, especially since it can't send it to a fancy graphics card.

I'm probably going to shoot for 64GB on Windows 7 Pro, and a virtual Ubuntu setup.

i7 Ivy (4-6core) or E7 xeon (8-10core) pushes numbers better for programs that are CPU computing dependent. Theres a big difference in types of programing, CFD and solidworks 3d modeling equivalent software requires much more computing power than traditional high poly count models in Maya/3dmax. A good 3D animation workhorse setup i just used recently was a i7-3770k LGA2011 64gbDDR3, on NVIDA Quadro4000GPU, had insanely fast render times.

But if i wanted CFD or any computational modeling/scaling or 3D printing or high speed machining. id go with at-least dual xeons, 2 Tesla GPU, and double the amount of ram..i think the new LGA2011 workstation boards max at 4026gb of ram.

my current setup for solidworks and 3dmax on my desktop is i7-2600k, 16gb ram, and AMD HD6970. I used the HD GPU because its not openGL limped like Nvida card, and works pretty well with CPU/GPU dependent workstation programs.

[OrbitalEllipses]

I really suggest running Linux natively rather than through VM. That may not be the solution for you, but performance within a VM will always be worse. An overbuilt Linux box with dual boot is the best way IMO. You can overbuild the machine and essentially have two computers, sorta.

I really suggest a SSD for your boot device and application installations with a separate high speed (7500RPM or higher) HDD for storage. That's just how I would do it though.

[Giccin]

Been having lots of ideas in how to turn my desk into an indesk computer.

[WingsofWar]

Originally Posted by Giccin

Been having lots of ideas in how to turn my desk into an indesk computer.

holy shit! me too! i went to Home depot yesterday to see if they had good materials to build a desk. I wanted the desk to have imbeeded USB ports, power and reset button, and a small LCD monitor that shows CPU/GPU temps.

Then went to superbrightleds.com this morning to find some ricerific lighting solutions to make it uber bling.

[Allch Chcar]

Originally Posted by Giccin

No way in hell is it worse than Cali.

Location of Norcal in some areas are pretty nice. The only thing that I'll really miss is how relatively close things are in Cali.

Cali its hard to find jobs and its hard to get raises (of course it depends on the company you work for). I don't want to sound prejudice or racist at all but SoCal is damn close to the boarder and competition is pretty high. Also lots of people want to live in Orange County its one of the most diverse places to live in the U.S, but for some reason even though we're close to the border San Diego still has some pretty good job opportunities.


Also if you must know... to get a job as a doctor at Kaiser Permanente in OC is a 20 year WAIT to work.

Wait, North as in North California or North as in Canada, Washington, or Oregon? Seattle is depressing due to their constant cloud cover but I've heard Oregon is nice. Dunno much about the Canadian side.

Originally Posted by Dimman

Living with it forever it doesn't seem too bad.

A bit confusing to some people, though:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html

Even Canadians think the rate goes up across the board as you earn more, but it doesn't. Everyone pays the same rates on the base, and the higher rates only apply to the amount in excess of the base.

So in my province someone making ~$37k is about 20%. (But in my province, a single person making that also has to pay $66.50/mo for medical. It maxes out at $133.00/mo for families of 3 or more, though.)

Now post up some American figures. Hopefully it won't shatter my illusion if what is acceptable and make me cry...

The US uses a progressive but stepped scale where you are taxed a certain amount from x -> y at a certain rate then excess is taxed at different levels depending on how much you make. Say you make $37k but the first $15k is taxed at 10%, then everything from $15k~$30k(not exactly sure here) is at 15%. then the remaining $7k is taxed at 20%. Which if my numbers are correct, makes for a total of $5.15k in taxes at an effective tax rate of 13.9%. The brackets go even higher than that though.

Then we have tax credits for just being alive which stacks with marriage credits and child tax credits. For example, I received a federal tax credit and a state tax credit even as a single adult with no dependents. Which doesn't affect what I pay since I'm self employed.

[M-17]

Originally Posted by Giccin

I have. I just didn't want to fuck up someone's set setting. Lol

:P

Didn't realize I struck a nerve there, I understand.....

Originally Posted by Grishbok

im going to drift on mt. akina in may

Video it or you're pulling everyone's leg here.

Originally Posted by Spd229

random thought: so this whole skyrim thing coming up...riding dragons. Is this going to work with the randy savage macho dragon mod?

The eve dust 514 concept seems pretty neat too....need to d/l it.

Only thing that comes to mind:

Macho macho man, macho man yeaah... I got be... a macho man.

[Giccin]

Originally Posted by Allch Chcar

Wait, North as in North California or North as in Canada, Washington, or Oregon? Seattle is depressing due to their constant cloud cover but I've heard Oregon is nice. Dunno much about the Canadian side.

Norcal silly! Lol

I love the rain but damn I would like to wear shorts too! rofl

[Giccin]

Originally Posted by M-17

Didn't realize I struck a nerve there, I understand.....

Well I wouldn't want to mess up your seat setting if I sat in it. Its like errmygerrd... now have to readjust mirrors and the seat is not in ideal condition etc. Lol

I'd just like to be courteous with the person's car I'm in.

[M-17]

Originally Posted by Giccin

Well I wouldn't want to mess up your seat setting if I sat in it. Its like errmygerrd... now have to readjust mirrors and the seat is not in ideal condition etc. Lol

I'd just like to be courteous with the person's car I'm in.

Haha, I know. It bothers me too when people used to barrow my old car and change a few things in it. But eventually you get over and just reset it again. So I wouldn't get that mad if you needed to make necessary adjustments to drive my car.

[Dimman]

Originally Posted by WingsofWar

i7 Ivy (4-6core) or E7 xeon (8-10core) pushes numbers better for programs that are CPU computing dependent. Theres a big difference in types of programing, CFD and solidworks 3d modeling equivalent software requires much more computing power than traditional high poly count models in Maya/3dmax. A good 3D animation workhorse setup i just used recently was a i7-3770k LGA2011 64gbDDR3, on NVIDA Quadro4000GPU, had insanely fast render times.

But if i wanted CFD or any computational modeling/scaling or 3D printing or high speed machining. id go with at-least dual xeons, 2 Tesla GPU, and double the amount of ram..i think the new LGA2011 workstation boards max at 4026gb of ram.

my current setup for solidworks and 3dmax on my desktop is i7-2600k, 16gb ram, and AMD HD6970. I used the HD GPU because its not openGL limped like Nvida card, and works pretty well with CPU/GPU dependent workstation programs.

I'm looking at a Xeon E5 2630 with 15MB cache, motherboard supports 2 CPUs and 512GB RAM, with an ATI FirePro 5800 (fully SolidWorks compatible). Have to see what ParaView requires before I confirm graphics, though

Starting with 1 CPU and 32-64GB RAM.

OS setup will be Windows 7 Pro/Ubuntu virtually until I get back up to speed with the technical side/Linux, then going to dual boot.

[OrbitalEllipses]

I've been out of the game for a while but the places where you want to spend the most money are your motherboard and CPU. Make sure the motherboard supports future CPUs (make sure they're not releasing a new socket) and has enough room for expansion. Overbuild within your budget.

[Jayde]

I spent roughly $3500 on my last build in December of '11. ASUS Rampage 4 Extreme, i7 3930k, 2 EVGA GTX 580s in SLI, Corsair 1200watt (or 1000, don't recall) PSU, 32GB GSkill Ram, Corsair M4 SSD boot drive, various mechanical HDDs for storage, Corsair H100, all in a Coolermaster HAF X case. Keep in mind I bought 3 23" monitors at the same time. Also picked up a Ducky Shine Mechanical Keyboard and ASUS new Headset. Been using my G9X mouse for years. Love it.

Off topic, but, for you Tri-Staters, we're planning a big FT86 meet in Atlantic City on April 6th! We're in the early stages of planning, but that's where and when! Keep an eye out for a thread in the tri-state forums coming soon!