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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>OK, as you can see from the replies it's quite a
messy jungle with PCs nowadays. I've also been a few times in the position of
trying to justify the needs/benefits of a new work-station for simulations (not
only TRNSYS) and it's not always easy. Your interest in reducing sim time is
understandable as with your current setting you end up easily in >24hr
simulation times (thousands of 100sec sims). </FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Trying to summarize some guide-lines from
previous mails:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>* If you have an older generation CPU, then
upgrading to a good PC of the current CPU generation will probably already
halve your simulation time, give or take. This you can see e.g. from Rafs test,
or comparing bench-mark results on net reviews.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>* If you already have a PC with a current
generation CPU, then you have to start thinking about price vs. performance.
Getting a 20-30% CPU performance boost (sim time reduction) compared to
good standard PCs might almost double the price of your new work-station,
this might be difficult to justify.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>* Also, looking at the previous point: If you can
divide your problem into two, buying e.g. two good standard PCs instead one of
the fastest possible, might almost halve your total sim time instead of the
20-30% reduction for one simulation for the same price. And after the project
you have two perfectly good PCs to give to new employees, instead of
one.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>* The benefit of a dual-core CPU is harder to
comment on. You might be able to do with one PC the same as with two computers
as described above, but it would be better to test it before buying. This is
possible at least with TRNSYS-only, but it might be more complicated in
combination with other programs. You should be able to test this with a single
core CPU, on your current PC (the simulation will be a crawl, but at least
you should be able to see if it works).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>* Running two simultaneous simulations on dual-core
generates a lot of heat, take care that the cooling of the PC is well done. If
you are running simulations of several hours like this, you might end up
crashing your hard disk in no-time because of the elevated operating
temperature. This problem is not over-exaggerated!!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>* With a dual core CPU you can work normally while
a TRNSYS simulation is running in the background at full speed. This wasn't
possible with single core CPUs.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>* RAM isn't an issue with TRNSYS, anything above
1GB is overkill, unless you are using other software which need more (actually,
already 1GB is overkill, if only for TRNSYS+OS). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>* Hard disk isn't an issue either, modern HD:s can
handle about any amount of data that TRNSYS itself has to read and can spit out.
(Unless you are doing something else that's HD intensive at the same
time)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A suggestion to TRNSYS development
group:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It might be a good idea to have some general
guide-lines about this on the TRNSYS home pages in addition to the general
hardware requirements/recommendations. Generally, when a new project involving
simulations is started, almost always the need for a new computer
is discussed in the first meeting. The "Hardware requirements" section
in the manual does not give much help considering e.g. Rémis problem. This might
easily lead to "buying overkill" or spending money on the wrong part of the
hardware. And trying to google the www you end up spendings various hours
reading and still not knowing which way you should go.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regards</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Janne</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>Janne
Paavilainen <BR>MSc, PhD student<BR>Researcher in Energy and Environmental
engineering<BR>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>Solar
Energy Research Center SERC<BR>Dalarna University College<BR>SE-781 88
Borlänge<BR>Sweden<BR>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>tel
+46 (0)23 778728<BR>fax +46 (0)23 778701<BR>e-mail: <A
href="mailto:jip@du.se">jip@du.se</A><BR>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR><A
href="http://www.du.se">www.du.se</A><BR><A
href="http://www.serc.se">www.serc.se</A><BR><A
href="http://www.eses.org">www.eses.org</A><BR><A
href="http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb15/ite/solar/solnet/">www.uni-kassel.de/fb15/ite/solar/solnet/</A><BR>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=remi.charron@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca
href="mailto:remi.charron@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca">Charron, Rémi</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=trnsys-users@engr.wisc.edu
href="mailto:trnsys-users@engr.wisc.edu">trnsys-users@engr.wisc.edu</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, November 10, 2006 6:43
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [TRNSYS-users] Quicker
processing speeds?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><!-- Converted from text/rtf format --><BR>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hello,</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>I am
currently running TRNSYS with using a computer with a 3.2 GHz prcoessor with
512 MB of RAM. It takes approximately 100 seconds to run a
simulation. This is a reasonable amount of time, except that I am
running TRNSYS with an optimisation program and am requiring to perform
thousands of TRNSYS simulations per run. I am thinking of getting a
quicker computer or workstation to help speed TRNSYS up. Has anyone had
experience running TRNSYS using duel core processors or other high performance
computers or workstations? If so, what have been your experiences?
Can the computation time be significantly reduced with the use of a more
powerful computer?</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks,</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Rémi Charron</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial
size=2>Research Officer</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Photovoltaic and
Hybrid System Program</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>CANMET Energy
Technology Centre</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>1615 Lionel-Boulet Blvd,
P.O. Box 4800, J3X 1S6</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Varennes,
Quebec</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tel: (450) 652-7948, Fax: (450)
652-5177</FONT> <BR><A href="http://cetc-varennes.nrcan.gc.ca"><U><FONT
face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>http://cetc-varennes.nrcan.gc.ca</FONT></U></A> </P>
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