Simulation Workstation

MarcoDel · November 22, 2023

Budget (including currency): R140 000

Country: South Africa

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Ansys CFD, Ansys FEA, SolidWorks, Siemens NX

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): Current build list:

- Intel Core i9-14900KF Up to 6.0 GHZ

- ASUS PROART Z790-CREATOR WIFI

- 4 x Corsair DOMINATOR® PLATINUM RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 DRAM 5200MHz

- ROG STRIX RTX 4090 - O24GB GDDR6X

- ASUS ROG RYUJIN II 360 ARGB EVA EDITION

- Corsair HX Series™ HX1200

- CM Case HAF 700 EVO

- Corsair Force Series MP600 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen 4 M.2 SSD

Are there any incompatibilities I should know about or other selections?

YoungBlade · November 22, 2023

If faster RAM is available, you'll want that, as it can improve simulation speeds. I'd aim for DDR5-7200 if it's available in your region. Try to find at least DDR4-6400. It is technically overclocking, but enabling XMP is easy and is likely to work just fine - the memory controller on a 14900KF is going to be very capable.

I also assume you meant that you would be getting 4 total sticks of RAM, and not 4 kits of 2 sticks, as the motherboard only supports 4 sticks of RAM. In any case, I'd recommend getting the amount of RAM you want in just 2 sticks if possible. So instead of buying 64GB in 4x16GB sticks, get 2x32GB sticks. This gives you the ability to easily upgrade your RAM in the future if it turns out your simulations need more RAM. It is also more likely that 2 sticks of RAM will function correctly at its rated XMP speeds - having 4 sticks is harder on the CPU's memory controller.

MarcoDel · November 22, 2023

I found the following two:
- DOMINATOR® TITANIUM RGB 96GB (2x48GB) DDR5 DRAM 6600MT/s CL32 Intel XMP Memory Kit

- Ripjaws S5 DDR5-6800 CL34-46-46-108 1.35V 96GB (2x48GB) Intel XMP

brob · November 22, 2023

1 hour ago, MarcoDel said:

I found the following two:
- DOMINATOR® TITANIUM RGB 96GB (2x48GB) DDR5 DRAM 6600MT/s CL32 Intel XMP Memory Kit

- Ripjaws S5 DDR5-6800 CL34-46-46-108 1.35V 96GB (2x48GB) Intel XMP

From the motherboard's support memory page, purchasing and installation notes:

"Ensure that all memory modules are from the same validated memory kit. Do not mix DIMMs from different memory kits—even if they are the same brand and model (e.g., two DIMMs each from two different memory kits). Mixing and matching DIMMs can result in a failure to boot and compatibility issues. In particular, the stability of a system with mixed DIMMs cannot be guaranteed when XMP (Intel)/D.O.C.P (AMD)/EXPO (AMD)/AEMP/AEMPII is enabled. For example, enabling XMP (Intel)/D.O.C.P (AMD)/EXPO (AMD)/AEMP/AEMPII to speeds above DDR5 4800MHz or above DDR4 3200MHz could result in an unstable system."

There are five 4x32GB or 4x48GB memory kits on the memory QVL. Unfortunately none are qualified in all four slots.

The ROG Strix Z790-A WiFi II and ROG Strix Z790-E WiFi II, possibly other II motherboards do have 4x32GB and 4x48GB 5200 memory kits qualified for four slots.

MarcoDel · November 24, 2023

Can you recommend a different configuration that would be able to work together?

Happy to change any or all of the components.

brob · November 24, 2023

7 hours ago, MarcoDel said:

Can you recommend a different configuration that would be able to work together?

Happy to change any or all of the components.

Here is a configuration that should work. I've kept most of the components in the original list. The exceptions being motherboard, memory, storage, and PSU. The later two changes are not strictly necessary but I believe are better choices.

Personally the build is flashier than I personally prefer. It certainly is more expensive than strictly necessary for the performance offered. I've used the US pcpartpicker as there is no version for SA. You will have to check local availability and pricing.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i9-14900K 3.2 GHz 24-Core Processor ($577.00 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Asus ROG RYUJIN II ARGB 70.07 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($586.97 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI II ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($499.00 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 192 GB (4 x 48 GB) DDR5-5200 CL38 Memory ($669.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($119.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: Asus ROG STRIX GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card ($2694.54 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 700 EVO ATX Full Tower Case ($544.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: MSI MEG Ai1300P PCIE5 1300 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $5942.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-11-24 08:40 EST-0500