How to enable multi-CPU for the SMSa solver in IE3D 12?

Hi,

I have a licensed version of IE3D 12 on a system with two dual-core (2x2) processors. The IE3D manual states that ver. 12 onwards multi-CPU is supported by the SMSa solver - the way I understand it, this means that the matrix solver itself can use all available CPUs to process any single frequency point, as opposed to the network distributed simulation which solves different frequencies on each CPU. Is this correct?
I have been looking for a way to enable multi-CPU support for the solver with no luck. Does it need a separate license, or am I misinterpreting the information? any pointers will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Sree

You can use multi-CPUs on one single license. For distributed licenses, each node can use multiple CPUs. Regards.

Hi jian,

thanks for your prompt response. My question remains unanswered - so how do you use multi-CPUs on the single license? when I run a simulation and check the task manager, the process ie3dos.exe is only using 25% (one processor) of total CPU.

-s

HI, how_many:

It is not the full process is using multiple CPUs. It is only part of it. We are still working and testing on more multiple CPU support. If you watch the process, you will see all the 4 cpus are used for some processes. It does involve much validation. Some portion of the code is even slower using multple CPUs and we need to implement a good way so that the performance can be boosted with multiple CPUs instead of slowing it down. That is the reason we still need to use single CPU for some process inside the simulation. Regards,

oh ok...thanks for clarifying that Jian. I didn't know if I had to enable multiple CPUs in Options somewhere, that's why I was confused. looking forward to full multi-CPU support!

regards
sree

Hi how_many & jian

When I looked in performance (task manager) I noticed that In 2 HT xeon 32bit the matrix calculation and the solver uses only 25% of all cpu but in 2 HT xeon 64bit the matrix calculation remain 25% but only the solver uses 100% cpu

Jian I don't know why there is a difference running the solver between 32bit and 64bit machine.

pl

Hi, Plasma:

The multi-CPU one uses more memory. It is possible that the IE3D Win64 engine is able to allocate enough RAM for multi-CPUs while the IE3D Win32 engine is not due to the 2 GB limit. Please try a smaller example and it should be able to use multi-CPUs.

Regards