White Paper |  O PTIMIZING AMD RYZEN™
THREADRIPPER™ PRO PROCESSORSFOR OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE WITH
ANSYS SIMULATION SOFTWARE
This white paper is a technical explanation of what the discussed technology has been designed toaccomplish. The actual technology or feature(s) in the resultant products may differ or may not meet theseaspirations. Each description of the technology must be interpreted as a goal that AMD strived to achieve
and not interpreted to mean that any such performance is guaranteed to be fully achieved. Any computersystem has risks of security vulnerabilities that cannot be completely prevented or mitigated.

INTRODUCTION
Lenovo has partnered with AMD to create the world’s first AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO-powered workstation: theThinkStation P620. Delivering dual-CPU performance in a single-processor workstation, the P620 is performance-tuned
and ISV certified for multithreaded application environments. With up to 64 cores, 128 PCIe lanes (Gen 4), up to 1TB ofmemory, and an 8-channel memory architecture, designers and engineers have access to datacenter-like power on theirdesktop in a compact and economical package. Backed by enterprise-level features for seamless security, manageability,and support, the ThinkStation P620 is an ideal solution for enterprises and SMBs creating mission critical simulations.
Ansys® develops some of the most widely used multiphysics engineering simulation software solutions for productdesign, testing, and operation. With the ThinkStation P620, designers and engineers can run complex simulations on thedesktop earlier in the design process to test and validate design ideas without tying up valuable data center resources.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS WHITEPAPER IS TWOFOLD:
1. To illustrate how Ansys® Fluent® computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software solutions scale on
the ThinkStation P620 family when the standard benchmarks are tested with 32 core and 64 coreThreadripper PRO processors.
2. To demonstrate how various optimization methods impact the performance of these Ansys Fluent
software solutions on the ThinkStation P620 family.

SUMMARY
AMD and Lenovo partnered with the consulting firm MVConcept (https://mvconceptlab.com) to assess theperformance of Ansys® Fluent on the latest workstation processors. Fluent is a versatile computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) tool that includes well validated physical modeling capabilities to deliver fast, accurate results
across a broad range of CFD and multiphysics applications. It is widely used in automotive, aerospace, academia,oil & gas, marine and Formula 1 racing. Typical workload sizes range from two million to 500 million cells. This
study analyzes the performance of Ansys Fluent software as measured with fourteen common benchmark
workloads provided by Ansys.
Real world workloads vary in size and complexity and there are additional BIOS, software, and OS variables that
impact performance beyond the CPU. Therefore this summary focuses on a high-level overview of relative CPUperformance. End users should contact their AMD and Lenovo technical representatives for additional guidanceon performance optimization when running Ansys Fluent on the AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO processor thatpowers the Lenovo ThinkStation P620.

WHITE PAPER: OPTIMIZING AMD RYZEN™ THREADRIPPER™ PRO PROCESSORS FOR OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE WITH ANSYS SIMULATION SOFTWARE

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KEY TAKEAWAYS:• A Lenovo ThinkStation P620 with an AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5975WX processor running (fourteen)
Ansys Fluent benchmarks1 has higher performance on Linux than on identically configured hardware
running Windows.
• The Lenovo ThinkStation P620 with AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX utilizing all 64 cores delivers
the highest absolute performance for Fluent users relative to other machines tested.
• When Ansys Fluent is licensed for 32 cores, the Lenovo ThinkStation P620 withAMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX delivers the highest performance of the tested solutions.

TESTING PROCESS:
Testing was conducted by performance consulting firm MVConcept. MVConcept ran the benchmarks on the Lenovo
ThinkStation P620 with AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, 5975WX, and 5995WX, as well as on a similarly
configured BOXX system with an Intel® Xeon® W-3365 processor. The benchmarks were run multiple times in an
exhaustive combination of Ansys Fluent versions (2020R1 and 2022R1), BIOS settings, core counts, tuned launch
settings, optimized math libraries, optimized MPI libraries, and applying MVConcept-defined affinity masks forenhanced thread pinning2. All test combinations were run on both Windows 10 Professional (x64) Build 19044.1706(21H2) and CentOS Linux release 8.4.2105, resulting in a total of 3452 unique test runs. The Lenovo recommended
BIOS settings leverage the testing that was reported in “Optimizing Ansys performance on the Lenovo ThinkStationP620”, available from https://www.ansys.com/content/dam/company/technology-and-solution-partners/
workstation-p620-ansys-white-paper.pdf. The largest representative tests (including f1_racecar_140m) wererun a minimum of three times with less than 1% variability among the repeated test runs. The following chartsummarizes the impact of the performance gained by the Lenovo optimized BIOS settings (SMT=OFF, NPS=4) andthe additional performance realized by MVConcept’s additional optimization methods.

[1] aircraft_wing_14m, aircraft_wing_2m, combustor_12m, combustor_71m, exhaust_system_33m, f1_racecar-140m, fluidized_bed_2m, ice_2m, landing_gear_15m,lm6000_16m, oil_rig_7m, pump_2m, rotor_3m, sedan_4m[2] An optimized processor affinity mask considers the shared access to L3 cache and minimizes core to core latency in a manner that results in better application
performance with higher numbers of CPU cores deployed. MVConcept created the affinity masks used in this study and they continue to further enhance theirrecommended affinity masks.

WHITE PAPER: OPTIMIZING AMD RYZEN™ THREADRIPPER™ PRO PROCESSORS FOR OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE WITH ANSYS SIMULATION SOFTWARE3

f1_racecar_140m performance with Ansys Fluent 2022 R1 on Threadripper PRO 5995WX, CentOS 8.4 (higher is better)

MAX OF CORE SOLVER RATING,
64 PROCESSES

6050.35044.641.3

403020100default BIOS and launch mode

Lenovo optimized BIOS
(SMT=OFF & NPS=4)

Lenovo optimized BIOS
(SMT=OFF & NPS=4) plus
MVConcept optimizations

BIOS AND LAUNCH MODE CONFIGURATION

The performance impact of the Lenovo optimized BIOS and the Lenovo optimized BIOS plus the MVConcept
optimizations varies based on the size and complexity of the workload. In this case the f1_racecar_140M workload
is shown because it is the largest of Ansys Fluent benchmark workloads and therefore representative of larger end
user workloads. End users with intensive performance challenges can consult with MVConcept to obtain the mostcurrent performance tuning recommendations for their specific workload requirements.

Performance Highlight #1: Operating System
Running the fourteen Ansys Fluent benchmarks on the Lenovo ThinkStation P620 with AMD Ryzen Threadripper
PRO 5975WX on Windows 10 requires up to 21% more time than running the same benchmarks under CentOS 8.4
Linux on the identical 5975WX hardware:

Aggregate performance of Ansys Fluent 2022 R1 on identical 5975WX hardware based on 14 standard benchmarks (lower is better)
1.20

1.00

1.00
0.83

0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00

CentOS 8.4

Windows 10FIGURE 1: ANSYS FLUENT 2022R1, THREADRIPPER PRO 5975WX, DEFAULT BIOS, 32 PROCESSES

WHITE PAPER: OPTIMIZING AMD RYZEN™ THREADRIPPER™ PRO PROCESSORS FOR OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE WITH ANSYS SIMULATION SOFTWARE

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Performance Highlight #2: Number of CPU cores
When Ansys Fluent is licensed to use all available cores, the Lenovo ThinkStation P620 with AMD Ryzen
Threadripper PRO 5995WX utilizing all 64 cores delivers the highest absolute performance for Fluent users
relative to other (32 core) workstations tested:Aggregate runtime performance of Ansys Fluent 2022 R1 running on all available cores and based on 14 standard benchmarks (lower is better)

TOTAL ELAPSED TIME (SECONDS)

12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0Xeon W-3365

Threadripper PRO 3975WXThreadripper PRO 5975WXThreadripper PRO 5995WX

FIGURE 2: ALL AVAILABLE CORES PER CPU, CentOS 8.4

Performance Highlight #3: Size of L3 cache
When licensing of Ansys Fluent is constrained to 32 processes (with an affinity mask to evenly distribute worker
threads by L3 cache domain), once again the Lenovo ThinkStation P620 with AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO5995WX delivers the highest performance for Fluent users. This is attributable to the larger (256MB) L3 cacheoffered on the 5995WX versus the 128MB L3 cache offered on the 5975WX. The performance delta varies withthe specific workload as indicated in the charts below, with larger workloads consistently running ~8% faster.

Relative core solver rating for Ansys Fluent 2022 R1 on 32 processes, 5975WX vs 5995WX (higher is better)
1.12
1.09

ice_2m

airc

rai
ft_w

ng_14m

pum

1.08

p_2m

aircr_w
aft

1.07ing_2m

landigeng_

1.07

ar_15m

FIGURE 4: CentOS 8.4, TUNED BIOS

ro t

1.07

or_3m
0lm6

1.07

00

_16aexhm

ust_tes ys

1.08

1.06

m_33m

flu

idi_b
zed

1.05

ed_2m

sed

1.04

an_4m

oil_

1.08

1.08

1.02

rig_7mco mtbus

or_12mco mtbus

or_71m
f1_r

ca
ace

r-140mThreadripper™ PRO 5995WX running 32 processes
Threadripper™ PRO 5975WX running 32 processes

WHITE PAPER: OPTIMIZING AMD RYZEN™ THREADRIPPER™ PRO PROCESSORS FOR OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE WITH ANSYS SIMULATION SOFTWARE

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CONCLUSION:
AMD and Ansys maintain ongoing technical engagements that strive to improve the performance of Ansys software
on AMD hardware. The analysis shared above reveals that performance of Ansys Fluent on AMD Ryzen Threadripper
PRO processors is impacted by a variety of variables including operating system, BIOS settings, launch mode, corecount, and L3 cache size. Whether running 32 processes or 64 processes of Ansys Fluent, the Lenovo ThinkStation
P620 with AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX delivers the best overall performance in representative tests
among the systems tested.
As demonstrated through exhaustive
testing of the Lenovo ThinkStation P620,
AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5000 WXSeries processors deliver datacenter-like
performance to designers and engineers in acompact and economical desktop package.
The value proposition for Threadripper PRO
5000WX is further enhanced by the system
optimizations and application settings thatMVConcept has developed through theiroptimized affinity masks and other tuning
methods. Contact your AMD or Lenovo
technical representative for the latest
updates and advice for extracting
the maximum performance for specificend user workloads when using theLenovo ThinkStation P620 and the
AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5000
WX-Series processors.

Test system configurations
AMD 32 CORE
(SYSTEM 1)

AMD 32 CORE
(SYSTEM 2)

INTEL 32 CORE

AMD 64 CORE

AMD 64 CORE

CPU

Threadripper PRO
5975WX

Threadripper PRO
5975WX

Xeon W-3365

Threadripper PRO
5995WX

Threadripper PRO
3995WXMEMORY

512GB DDR4 3200

512GB DDR4 3200

512GB DDR4 3200

1TB DDR4 3200

1TB DDR4 3200

STORAGEINTELSSDPED1D015TAY
1.5TB

INTEL
SSDPED1D960GAY960GBSAMSUNG
MZ1L21T9HCLS-00A07
1.920TBSAMSUNGMZVL21T0HCLR-00BL71TB

INTEL
SSDPED1D015TAY 1.5TB

OSCentOS Linux 8.4.2105
Microsoft Windows 10
Enterprise LTSCCentOS Linux 8.4.2105
Microsoft Windows 10
Enterprise LTSCCentOS Linux 8.4.2105
Microsoft Windows 10
Enterprise LTSCCentOS Linux 8.4.2105
Microsoft Windows 10
Enterprise LTSCCentOS Linux 8.4.2105
Microsoft Windows 10
Enterprise LTSCANSYS VERSION

2022 R1

2022 R1

2022 R1

2022 R1

2022 R1AMD.com/workstation
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