[Equest-users] Multithreading

[Jeremy McClanathan]

I had the same problem and our IT guy did a similar analysis and came to the same conclusion.  The CPU was the bottleneck.  I upgraded to a Dell Precision T3500 and it reduced my open time on a large hospital project from 10 minutes to 1.5 minutes.

___________________________________________
Jeremy McClanathan, LEED(r) AP BD+C
[cid:image003.jpg at 01CC1619.9D758560]
4200 194th St SW, Ste 200, Lynnwood, WA 98036
P 425-672-1071 | F 425-778-8769
P Please consider the environment before printing this email.

From: Brian Tysoe [mailto:BTysoe at mcw.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2011 11:06 AM
To: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: [Equest-users] Multithreading

Hello equest-users,

Does anyone out there know if the next release of eQuest (based on a new version of DOE 2 I believe) will be able to make use of processor multithreading?

We are running into problems modelling large buildings with eQuest 3.64. Files are taking upwards of 5 minutes to open and once they are open it takes about 8 seconds to modify any single field. If you want to change the flow rate of an AHU you enter your number and then wait for 8 seconds while the software thinks about it.

We have done some monitoring and found that the software is running on one processor core at 100% and that is the bottleneck.

Exhibit A: Loading the model

[cid:image004.png at 01CC1619.9D758560]

In this graph (taken while loading the model) you can see that eQUEST's CPU usage is constant. It is only using one of the available CPU cores and it is using that core to the max. Compare this to the Disk usage and you can see that the Disk usage spikes up several times but those spikes are relatively low.

Exhibit B: Changing values

[cid:image005.png at 01CC1619.9D758560]

In this graph you can see the CPU usage spike up when I made a change in eQUEST and then dip down several seconds after. The Disk usage is still sporadic and low.

We have concluded that adding RAM will not speed things up. The best solution is a faster processor.

Has anyone else done any similar benchmarking and want to share their findings?

Thanks,


Brian Tysoe M.A.Sc., P.Eng., LEED AP
Mechanical Engineer

MCW Consultants Ltd. <http://www.mcw.com>
600-156 Front Street West
Toronto, ON M5J 2L6
Phone 416-598-2920
Fax 416-598-5394

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