CCL: Hardware suggestions for CPMD calculations

 Sent to CCL by: Simon Halstead [joyjoyhappyjoy!A!yahoo.co.uk]
 Dear CCLers,
 I am starting a new research project which will require CPMD calculations.
 However, my current cluster is not especially powerful and I feel it will not be
 up to the task. So, I am looking to buy and build a new machine. I have very
 little experience with running CPMD, so I am not sure about what kind of
 hardware requirements it has.
 I am planning to run CPMD calculations with something on the order of 200 to 400
 relatively light atoms, primarily C, H and O. I do not need to run large
 quantities of simulations, and would be perfectly happy with only being able to
 run one simulation at a time as long as it is within a reasonable time scale.
 With this in mind, does anybody have any suggestions about what hardware I
 should be looking to use, especially which CPU? Also, would should be my primary
 concern with the cluster? I am currently assuming that the most important thing
 will be large quantities of RAM for each CPU...
 Any help or advice is appreciated.
 Regards,
 Simon Halstead