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<p class=MsoNormal>Simon,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I’ll address your two posts here if you’ll allow
me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b>Using Multiple-core processors<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>We have developed multi-threading for both MicroFlo and
Radiance. We are also researching adding the functionality to Apache and
SunCast and further down the line Flucs. It is far from a pipe-dream.
We’re happy to hear that the improvements we’ve made to MicroFlo
have halved the simulation times for users like Nathan and we very much want to
keep this trend going.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b>64-Bit Architecture<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>32-bit Windows systems are limited to 2 GB of RAM per
process, a 64-bit operating system installed on a machine with 4 GB or more of
RAM will be able to provide more than the 2 GB limit which a sufficiently
complex simulation would hit on an x86 Windows system reducing simulation time.
There’s plenty of information available online that discusses how the
architecture of CPUs work so I won’t waste everyone’s time by
regurgitating it here.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b>4-5 Days for simulation<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b>“</b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>In all it totalled 4500 thousand individual
zones”… For a project of the scale you described I would see this
as a rather high number of zones. I would probably suggest a re-zoning
strategy. I assumed you didn’t mean 4,500,000 zones as the wording
suggest and just mean 4,500 zones.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b>Running Simultaneous Simulations to reduce time<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I’m not in sales so I’m not going to push this
but if time is really of the essence I would imagine running concurrent
simulations would be preferable to running them sequentially and perhaps this
would outweigh the cost of a license? <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>As always feel free to contact the support team directly for
any questions of this sort.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>IES Technical Support<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> virtual-sim-bounces@lists.onebuilding.org
[mailto:virtual-sim-bounces@lists.onebuilding.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Simon
Chilvers<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 06 August 2010 12:39<br>
<b>To:</b> Nathan Kegel; virtual-sim@lists.onebuilding.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Virtual-sim] Apache Engine and Multicore Processors<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>I was aware that Microflo can use multicore processors, but not
radiance. I do not use it so would not have known.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>It’s been an aim of IES’s programmers to make more of
the software suite take advantage of multiple cores, but I think it remains a
pipedream of theirs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Looking at purchasing a MESH machine with an Core-i7 and will
possibly dabble with overclocking one of the cores. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>However… I recently ran the same model on two machines.
One had a standard Intel P4 (3Ghz) processor and 2 Gb of RAM an the other had a
Xeon Quad Core E5320 (1.86Ghz) also with 2Gb of RAM and noticed very little
difference in time taken to run the simulation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>While running simulations I also do tend to pay attention to the
amount of RAM that is taken up by the Apache engine and it seems that it never
goes above 500Mb despite more being available to it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Another query of mine would be… while running a highly
complicated model through ApacheSim, how resource intensive is it. The Crux of
the question is will an update to a 64 bit system and the ability to have more
than 2GB of RAM really make that much difference if it still only uses 500Mb.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Simon<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#4F6228'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>
</span></div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Nathan Kegel [mailto:NKegel@hga.com] <br>
<b>Sent:</b> 05 August 2010 16:03<br>
<b>To:</b> Simon Chilvers; virtual-sim@lists.onebuilding.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [Virtual-sim] Apache Engine and Multicore Processors</span><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:blue'>I am running the VE on multi-core and it is enabled in some
applications (Radiance for sure, and I believe MicroFlo as well).</span><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:blue'>I'm running the HP Z400 series with a quad-core and Windows 7
64-bit. CFD calculations run in half the time as they did on my old (2
years old) HP with Windows XP. Radiance calcs are noticeable reduced
as well.</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:blue'>Not sure if ApacheSIM benefits from multi-cores yet, but I know
that calculation time was reduced as well. Plus it seems with the
additional RAM (8GB vs. 2GB) the VE is just more stable.</span><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#4B4B4B'>Nathan Kegel LEED AP</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><br>
</span><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#FC6700'>HGA Architects and Engineers</span></b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <br>
</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#4B4B4B'>Direct 612.758.4335 <br>
</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><br>
<br>
</span><b><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#4B4B4B'>Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.</span></i></b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>
</span></div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><b><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
virtual-sim-bounces@lists.onebuilding.org
[mailto:virtual-sim-bounces@lists.onebuilding.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Simon
Chilvers<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, August 05, 2010 9:58 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> virtual-sim@lists.onebuilding.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Virtual-sim] Apache Engine and Multicore Processors</span><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Looking at purchasing a standalone PC to sit separate from our work
network and run our Simulations on as quickly and efficiently as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Due to ApacheSim currently not taking advantage of multithreading
or multi-core processors, what would be the most effective hardware setup?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'>IES seem to think that 32bit and 64bit machines in regards to the
VE suite operate comparably, with the only advantage being the ability to have
more than 2 GB of RAM on a 64bit system, which I can only think is an advantage
when running Microflo simulations (something that we do not do here as we do
not have a license.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Therefore I assume I need to look at a processor with the biggest
core size.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Any pointers?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Simon<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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