9 Replies Latest reply on Dec 10, 2007 9:24 AM by Morris Field

    Cosmos Performance in Dual Core Dell

    Michael Atlas
    Michael Atlas Sep 25, 2007 7:42 PM
      Hi. I've been running some nonlinear models using CosmosWorks 2007 SP4 on one of two machines. One machine is a Dell M60 Laptop with a 2 Ghz Pentium M and 2GB of RAM. The other is a Dell PWS380 Desktop with a 3 Ghz Pentium D Dual Core CPU and 3GB of RAM. Both are running XP SP2 and both have antivirus turned off for runs. I have also tried the following both with and without the /3GB switch. The model I am running is small enough that it is not hitting swap.

      I did some benchmarking between the two machines, expecting that the desktop would be faster.

      Running the "Passmark Performance Test 6.1" program on both gave the kind of results I expected showing that the PWS380 was faster almost across the board. Most importantly I would think for Cosmos was that its Floating Point Math was over twice as fast and both memory access and disk access were faster. For some reason the two machines were almost tied in 2 areas, finding prime numbers, and allocating small block memory.

      So, I was surprised that when I ran the same Cosmos analysis on each one, my laptop took 3 hours and the PWS 380 took 4!

      According to the Cosmos Knowledge Base Cosmos does support multiple processors. See "How do I choose a solver" ID: 80 and "Usage of multiple CPUs and influence on solution time" ID: x385 includes Dual Core CPU's.

      I am using the Direct Sparse Solver as recommended and have checked that both CPU's are checked off under "Task Manager, Processes, Set Affinity" yet I can't get CPU utilization above 50% when running analayses on the Dual Core machine, versus the 100% I get on the single core laptop.

      Am I missing something?

      Thanks.

      -Mike Atlas
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        • Cosmos Performance in Dual Core Dell
          Anna Wood
          Anna Wood Sep 25, 2007 9:43 PM (in response to Michael Atlas)
          Not really, the Pentium 4 Dual cores were not the best product Intel released. This was the last of the line of the P4 Netburst architecture before the Core 2 Duo Conroe core CPU's.

          The Pentium M processor was the basis for the new Intel Core architecture series of processors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_2


          A new Core 2 Duo or even better a Core 2 Quad would give you much better performance. They basically smoke the old Pentium 4's if you get an E6600 or better C2D.

          Cheers,

          • Cosmos Performance in Dual Core Dell
            genexxer genexxer
            genexxer genexxer Sep 27, 2007 4:38 AM (in response to Michael Atlas)
            Yes Cosmos does not use the other proc. The software doesn't leverage the sophistication of the hardware you are running. It still is a 1992 solver. Geostar, the original pre processor for the solver, still supports vestigial 64, 128,256, 512 and 1024 k node program options that were life and death decisions a decade ago. Cosmos works is just another pre/post processor hooked to an old millenium solver lacking the fundamentals to leverage your goods.
              • Cosmos Performance in Dual Core Dell
                Michael Atlas
                Michael Atlas Sep 27, 2007 12:24 PM (in response to genexxer genexxer)
                Either what you say is not correct, or the Knowledge Base articles I mention above are just flat out wrong.

                Anyone care to comment on which is the correct answer?

                Enquiring minds (and those waiting for solutions to complete) want to know.

                Have a nice day.

                -Mike
                  • Cosmos Performance in Dual Core Dell
                    Chris Michalski
                    Chris Michalski Sep 27, 2007 12:51 PM (in response to Michael Atlas)
                    I'm betting it's a similar issue to Cosmos FloWorks - I've seenarticles saying 2008 utilizes dual core architecture, but in askingone of the programmers I've made contact with over the years itdoes not - the dual core might speed up meshing, but solving onlyuses a single core - it's a struggle to convince IT that you need a"gamer" system with a 3+GHz CPU, 1333MHz Front Side Busand a liquid cooling system to overclock it but that 2GB of RAM isplenty - even air cooling overclocking can get 15% which makes abig difference on 30hour solutions (i.e. my P4 3.6GHz is running asa 3.89GHz)
                    • Cosmos Performance in Dual Core Dell
                      genexxer genexxer
                      genexxer genexxer Sep 27, 2007 8:34 PM (in response to Michael Atlas)
                      Symantics play a role. Support and leverage are two different modes of operation. It runs on dual proc systems of that ilk. So it fulfills the term support.
                  • Cosmos Performance in Dual Core Dell
                    genexxer genexxer
                    genexxer genexxer Sep 29, 2007 11:08 PM (in response to Michael Atlas)
                    Upon further consideration of the initial thread, the task manager displaying 50% on the desktop and 100% on the laptop mean the same thing. In both cases the processor/processors are running at its/their full capacity. I have to take back the statement above that cosmos lacks leverage and lean towards older netburst stuff getting housed by a newer albeit mobile processor.
                    • Cosmos Performance in Dual Core Dell
                      Morris Field
                      Morris Field Dec 10, 2007 9:24 AM (in response to Michael Atlas)
                      I'm not sure I understand all of this but I think that it answers some of the questions relating to PC performance with COSMOS. A small file (2.4Mb) runs in about 40secs and displacement displayed in 1 - 2 secs on a Dell M90 laptop at our VAR support site. The same file, saved locally and not on our network, takes about 7min 25 sec to run and a further 5min 20sec to display any results. Clearly this is not very helpful.

                      I have searched the SolidWorks site and so far haven't been able to find any PC recommendations - only minimum specifications. I am currently running a

                      Dell Precision 390XP rev1
                      XP Pro SP2.0
                      Intel Core 2 CPU 6600 @ 2.4 Ghz
                      2.39 Ghz, 2.00GB RAM

                      The question is, "what do I have to do to get studies to run in reasonable lengths of time?"