USER GUIDE

2017 Hardware & Operating

System Recommendations

cmgl.ca
CONTENTS

Important Notice ...................................................................................................................................... 2

Hyper-Threading Recommendation ........................................................................................................... 2
System Recommendations ......................................................................................................................... 3
Recommended Configuration for 2-Socket Workstation ........................................................................... 3
Recommended Configuration for 2-Socket Server ................................................................................... 4
Recommended Configuration for 4-Socket Server ................................................................................... 5
Model Centric Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 6
Minimum Hardware or Laptop ................................................................................................................... 6
Recommended Hardware.......................................................................................................................... 6
Recommended Hardware for Simulation of Models Greater than 250,000 Grid Blocks ........................... 6
Recommended Hardware for Model Visualization .................................................................................... 7
Technical Assistance ................................................................................................................................. 7

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations

August 2017
Important Notice
†
CMG no longer tests, ships or supports software releases on the Windows XP operating system.
Customers using Windows XP are recommended to use the 2014 release or older.

In addition, CMG only supports 64-bit operating systems and hardware; customers using 32-bit systems
should use the 2012 release or older.

Hyper-Threading Recommendation

For the time being, we advise customers turn off hyper-threading on their compute nodes for performance
reasons. Running with hyper-threading on can result in as much as a 30% to 40% performance
degradation. Usually the setting is found in the Systems BIOS and needs to be set before the system
boots into the Operating System. Please consult your IT department for further guidance.

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations

August 2017
System Recommendations

Recommended Configuration for 2-Socket Workstation

Using Intel† “Broadwell” Architecture

RECOMMENDATION CMG IS PURCHASING

Number of 2 Sockets 2 Sockets: workstations
Sockets
†
Processor Dual 14-Core Xeon E5-2690 v4, 14-cores per Socket
2.6Ghz, 35M, 9.6GT/s, Turbo+
(28 cores* total)

Memory 64 GB – 256 GB RDIMM ECC DDR4 64 GB

Memory, 2400Mhz MHz
All four memory channels populated for
maximum memory performance
†
Graphics Card 2.5 GB NVIDIA Quadro 5000 – 8GB NVIDIA Quadro M5000 8GB
NVIDIA Quadro M5000

Disk Drive 256 SSD drive or 250 GB SATA drive 256 GB SSD Drive for OS and 2TB
for OS (C:), 500 GB – 1 TB SATA drive SATA drive for Data
for Data (D:)

Operating Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) or Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)

System Windows 10 Professional (64-bit)

* May require Parallel tokens from CMG to use all the cores in the system.

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations

August 2017
Recommended Configuration for 2-Socket Server
Using Intel “Broadwell” Architecture

RECOMMENDATION CMG IS PURCHASING

Number of 2 Sockets 2 Sockets: servers for CMG Software as
Sockets a Service (SaaS), CMG data center and
compute clusters

Processor Dual 8-Core Xeon E5-2667 v4, 3.2 Ghz, Highest frequency, 8-cores per Socket
25M, 9.6GT/s, Turbo+ (16 cores* total)
Dual 16-Core Xeon E5-2697 v4, 2.6
Lower frequency, 16-cores per Socket
Ghz, 35M, 9.6GT/s, Turbo+
(32 cores* total)

Memory 64GB – 512GB RDIMM ECC DDR4 128 GB – 512GB RDIMM ECC DDR4
Memory, 2400MT/s Memory, 2400MT/s
- All four memory channels populated for
maximum memory performance

Graphics Card Not Applicable; Servers not to be used

for Visualization
Most Servers have a built in Video Card
on Motherboard and are not
configurable

Disk Drive Discuss speed and capacity

requirements with vendor

Operating Windows Server 2012 R2 Std Windows Server 2012 R2 Std

System
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 (64-bit) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 (64-bit)

* May require Parallel tokens from CMG to use all the cores in the system.

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations

August 2017
Recommended Configuration for 4-Socket Server
Using Intel† “Broadwell” Architecture

RECOMMENDATION CMG IS PURCHASING

Number of 4 Sockets 4 Sockets: For large models, shortest
Sockets runtimes; CMG Software as a Service
(SaaS) etc.

Processor Quad 24-core E7-8890 v4 2.2GHz,60M 24-cores per socket

Cache,9.6GT/s QPI Turbo
(96 cores* total)

Memory 512 GB – 2,048 GB DDR4 Memory, 512 GB – 1,024 GB

2400 Mhz
- All Four memory channels populated
for maximum memory performance

Graphics Card Not Applicable; Servers not to be used

for Visualization
Most Servers have a built in Video Card
on Motherboard and are not
configurable

Disk Drive Discuss speed and capacity

requirements with vendor

Operating Windows Server 2012 R2 Std Windows Server 2012 R2 Std

System
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 (64-bit) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 (64-bit)

* May require Parallel tokens from CMG to use all the cores in the system.

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations

August 2017
Model Centric Recommendations

Minimum Hardware or Laptop

(a) Small/Medium Black Oil less than 250,000 blocks and/or WinProp™
•
† †
Intel Xeon- or equivalent AMD -based PC, 4 GB RAM, Windows 7 64-bit versions,
†
OpenGL -capable video card.

Recommended Hardware
• See previous section for the recommended configuration for a 2-socket workstation

Recommended Hardware for Simulation of Models Greater than 250,000

Grid Blocks
(a) IMEX™: up to 500,000 blocks
GEM™: up to 250,000 blocks
STARS™: up to 250,000 blocks
• 2 quad-core Intel Xeon 5520 or better or single Xeon E5-1620 v2 or better with Windows 7
x64, or Red Hat Linux 7.2 for x86_64
• 16 GB RAM or more

(b) IMEX: 500,000 to 2,000,000 blocks

GEM: 250,000 to 1,000,000 blocks
STARS: 250,000 to 1,000,000 blocks
• 2 six-core Intel Xeon 5620 or better or single Xeon E5-1660 v2 or better with Windows 7 x64,
or Red Hat Linux 7.2 for x86_64
• 32 GB RAM or more

(c) IMEX: 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 blocks

GEM: 1,000,000 to 2,500,000 blocks
STARS: 1,000,000 to 2,500,000 blocks
• 2 eight-core Intel Xeon E5-2680 or 2 Xeon E5-2667 v2 or better with Windows 7 x64, or Red
Hat Linux 7.2 for x86_64
• 64 GB RAM or more

(d) IMEX: More than 5,000,000 blocks

GEM: More than 2,500,000 blocks
STARS: More than 2,500,000 blocks
• 2 twelve-core Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 or better with Windows 2012 R2 or RHEL 7.2 for x86_64
• 4 fifteen-core Intel Xeon E7-4890 v2 or better with Windows 2012 R2 or RHEL 7.2 for x86_64
• 128 GB RAM or more

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations

August 2017
Recommended Hardware for Model Visualization
Smooth visualization of reservoir simulation results requires a video card that can handle large amounts
of data quickly, and has the rendering capabilities to support all display features. While high-end gaming
video cards may be able to do this, CMG recommends the use of an up-to-date, professional-level video
card with up-to-date drivers. The hardware and software integration of professional cards is better than
that of consumer cards and generally, drivers are updated more frequently. For this reason, CMG has
been buying cards from the NVIDIA Quadro line for its developers and support staff. Other vendors may
offer similar quality cards.
The Quadro line has lower-, middle-, and upper-tier cards. Besides processor speed, the main difference
between these cards is the amount of video memory on the card. The amount of video memory is directly
correlated to the size of the model that can be displayed. CMG is using “middle-tier” cards to display and
interact with models up to several tens of millions of cells.
Factors that influence the model size that can be displayed and manipulated are:
• Total number of grid cells
• Number of active grid cells
• Grid aspect ratio
• Number of fault surfaces
• Current zoom level
In addition to the above, if stereo viewing is a requirement, you will need additional equipment, such as
stereo glasses.

Technical Assistance
If you require technical assistance, or have specific questions about the hardware and operating system
recommendations which are not discussed here, please contact CMG at:
Email: support@cmgl.ca
Phone: +1.403.531.1300

Hardware & Operating System Recommendations

August 2017
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† Other company, product, and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. 17-CMG-05