System for simulations

[tekzor]

Planning on building a system for work.
Here is the use.

Calculations of large amounts that take a while.
Simulations, nothing major in 3D mostly animations in.
Videos output in avi.
here is what I have chosen so far. If you can suggest anything that will lower the price is a nice bonus.
TY



SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N





$26.99

1

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case



-$5.00 Instant



$54.99
$49.99

1

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive





$79.99

1

SAPPHIRE 100236L Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card



$15.00 Mail-in Rebate


$59.99

1

COOLER MASTER eXtreme RP-500-PCAR 500W ATX from factor 12V V2.01 Power Supply






$49.99

1

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5



-$33.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate


$119.50
$86.50

1

GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard


$20.00 Mail-in Rebate


$119.99

1

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP3 English for System Builders 1 Pack CD





$89.99

1


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Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80580Q9300 - Retail

 

[akhilles]

2 things: since you don't game, downgrade the gpu to a $10 card and swap the psu out with a better one:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

 

[WR2]

Calculations of large amounts that take a while.
Simulations, nothing major in 3D mostly animations in. Videos output in avi.

What software do you use? Is it multithreaded, multicore capable?
A lot of simulations are single theaded - since they depend on previous results in the computational process.
If that is the case a faster Ghz dual core (even single core) CPU will get better performance than a slower Ghz quad core.

 

[tekzor]

the software is here
http://www.ansoft.com/products/hf/hfss/

Will a core2duo @ 3.2Ghz be sufficient?
I will replace the vid card with a cheaper one. Will that affect any encoding of video?

 

[WR2]

There isnt enough information on that product to know which CPU / video card combinations will give the best performance.

Your best bet is to contact the company and ask them.

 

[akhilles]

There's no minimal requirements. It's what you can live with and afford.

Finalize your specs & send them to the software developer.