Purpose
The main goal of this build is to make a custom engineering workstation that is appropriate for Scientific Computing (MATLAB), CAD (SolidWorks, OnShape, AutoDesk products, etc), FEA (Code_Aster, Calculix, LISA, etc), CFD (OpenFoam, Code_Saturne, Code_Syrthes), video encoding (AV1, h.265, h.266), and computer vision. It will dual boot Windows and Linux.
The rest of what follows is my design rationale for my choices.
Notes
I am using PCPartPicker.com to configure the build: Engineering Build 2025.
I am using passmark.com to compare different parts.
I benchmarked my 10 year old desktop and my linux laptop. Both are outdated compared to what is available.
CPU
Single CPU XY Scatter Graph and Single Thread XY Scatter Graph to identify processor that balance price and speed. The graphs are shown below for convenience.
