mikeyj1

That's my conclusion alsornobleeddy, although most benchmarks are for gaming, but some, like userbenchmark.com rate them for the 'workstation' also, which is what we need for the number-crunching.  here's the difference with a Ryzen 5 3600 against my processor.  I will also do my own benchmark -  processing a couple of images in DSS and APP and PS, and then repeat them when I've  done the upgrade to give an indication of the improvement in time.  

Edit: just saw the PI benchmark link from @Starflyer (Thanks, I don't use PI so would never have found this!), and it shows my 133 secs reducing to 38-60 secs on the same comparison Ryzen5 3600 mentioned 

thanks for the inputs all 👍 🙂

Merry Christmas!

Mike

yes sure, fair point... but that's not my question (or a relevant  answer)... 😆

I guess I am hoping someone has done a similar upgrade and can say:  "it cuts the stacking time in half" or "photoshops actions take less than 2 seconds now compared with 1 minute before"

3 hours ago, Shimrod said:

you might also want to consider a motherboard with PCI 4.0 support. Getting one of these m.2 drives  will give you around 10x the performance of a standard SATA interface.

10 hours ago, licho52 said:

Here are some benchmarks that might give you some idea:

Astronomy software performance tests with different CPUs - astrojolo

Thanks, I like that website article, and I also subsequently found another on photoshop multi-core usage I thought I would share .  This comment from the article is interesting:

"Performance in Photoshop does improve directly with increases in processor clock speed, the higher, the better.  It is, therefore, better to utilise a processor with fewer cores but a higher clock speed if budget is limited.  If you use the PC for a variety of tasks including video editing and image processing, you may still benefit from higher core counts from the other applications".

I also found an article on the APP forum here which says it will use more threads and cores to improve stacking and processing performance..

I like the m2 drive idea, maybe I would use the SATA drives as a 'scratch disk' for PS and Premiere.

So my 3rd Gen i5-3570k has 4 cores and 4 threads, at 3.4Ghz.   It sounds like I would need to go for increased GHz and a 'couple of extra cores/threads' for the best price performance ratio.. which makes me think the better choice would be the 10th Gen core i5-10600k as it has higher clock speed (4.1Ghz, higher than the Ryzens) and 6/12 cores/threads.

does that sound logical?

yes it's a desktop, and I already did the swap to  SSD (in RAID striped config), which is a good upgrade i agree.  

I am thinking of upgrading my home computer (i5-3570) to an AMD Ryzen 5 or 3600 or 5600, and I wonder what sort of performance improvement I will get on software like APP / DSS and Photoshop 2019.  Although the processor clock speeds are similar, there are more 'cores and threads', and I will also be upgrading the memory from DDR3 to DDR4.

Thoughts and advice welcome..

Mike

Here's my WO61, been in my backpack to Australia and back, great little scope  for visual and imaging 

I'll swap you my sighting of Uranus for your Neptune as i did that for the first time last night

Good work...

I've been using APT (also subscription, but a lot less!) and more recently SGP.  Have to say SGP is outstanding, and as I had already purchased it at v3.x last year, (@$99) I can carry on with that Ad-infinitum, or move to the sub model for $10 and the sub... makes it a bit less painful i think.. but I won't be doing that until i need to that's for sure..!

Mike

I have to say imaging with a DSLR on a 1000mm or in my case 1200mm is perfect.  I've been trying out a QSi6120 mono (3.1um pixels), and i find that binning 2x2 is better than 1x1 for star shape and bloat. 

Personally, i have hankered after the QHY8 or the QHY10 as a good upgrade from DSLR, as they still have the same format sensor but good cooling.  i know they are getting on a bit, but that D5100 sensor is still really v good

hope that doesn't add to your confusion...! 

Mike

Hey Paul,

so viewing or astrophotography?  Viewing as you say, set the scope to your eyesight - I'm mildly short sighted, and i notice the difference when I share binos or an eyepiece viewing.  Of course if your glasses have to cope with other astigmatisms then it may be that you have to wear them.  In which case choose long focus EP's, often the focal point is beyond the glass of the spectacles, so you don't bang your eye on it.

Astrophotography:  just don't rely on focusing by eye - use a Bhatinov mask or similar to get the focus right...

HTH?

Mike

It’s an 102ed Altair refractor.  The fits file is also there for info, the graph you show is interesting, so you think its definitely a focus issue?

I focused on LUM, which i didn't even use...

i guess i need to do some experiments on focusing next clear night

thanks Vlaiv 

Hi,

can anyone help me - I've attached some png's showing stacked channels on the pacman nebula.  Ha and Green are really sharp, but the red and blue are showing really bloated stars.  i didn't re-focus on filter change as I had left it running and don't have an autofocus on that scope.  Having said that, the small / faint stars in the images still seem nice and sharp...so is there another explanation, and how should i handle the processing?

thanks in anticipation

Mike

NGC281_Pacman_Nebula-Blue-session_1.fits

Looks like it lost the star.  Look at star mass and SNR in the graphs, they both take a tumble at that point.

curious why the camera frame size is showing as 640x480  in your  screen shot also...

thanks Ray,

I'm still wondering if the ADU max level  will change if I Bin 2x2 compared to 1x1?  

in any case i will aim for around 20k and 2 secs or less for the LRGB.

I will experiment some more tonight hopefully, looks like it may be clearing...!

cheers

Mike

Hi all, 

I have been trying to get flats using the 6120 and LRGB filters, but struggling to find an exposure, it's either ridiculously short for 20,000 adu (approaching bias frame speed!), or far too long (8-10sec) for 33,000, which is the 'default' in SGP.  i seem to only be able to get a max of around 31,000 adu even with a multi second exposure, into a relatively bright source. I have a stretched t shirt as my diffuser

What should i be aiming for, and does the binning level make a difference on the max level?

thanks

Mike

which Sky safari are you using?  I have the plus version which is good enough for me, but the pro version claims mag 18 and 'the largest mobile star database'

extract from web site: (mag 18 was galaxies)

We Have The Best Stars

We’ve updated to use the UCAC5 star catalog with 29 million stars down to 15th magnitude. And with an in-app purchase you can get a total 109 million stars.*

I'd normally work it the other way round - how many resistors spaced approx 1 cm gap do you need for a certain length..  Looking at the 'dewNot' table below, suggests 8W, 0.66A at 12vdc

Power (P) of a resistor "ladder" is calculated the following way:  P = ( Supply voltage ^ 2 ) / ( resistor value / number of resistors ) (ref: http://www.deepskywatch.com/Articles/newtonian-dew-heater.html)

8= 144 / (330 / X)

X = ~18

but .. they are 1/4 w resistors and using that calculation you would be putting nearly 1/2 W through them... a bit hot!

so.. it looks like you would need 660 ohm resistors or rely on the PWM drive to limit the max power/heat (EDIT: this would half the power to 4W, maybe not enough to keep things clear)

or use  18 330 ohm 1/2 W resistors...

PS:  connect them all up to the cable, and try it out before adding the covering, you can feel how hot they get

did you post to the APT forum?...usually a good bet Ivo can sort it out 

just going back to the OP, difference between Coll cap and Laser, it could be that the focuser tube is out of alignment, ie not square / lined up to the main tube.  This doesn't normally show itself on a coll cap, but a laser will pick it up.  Checking that is a little more difficult; you need to find the diametrically opposite point of the focuser center inside the main tube, and then make sure a collimated laser points directly at it...

HTH

Mike

Are we having the table top sale again this year?  I've got a few things to move along.  Maybe a separate thread needed for ppl to list their items in advance if so

cheers

Mike

its what i'm not bringing that's concerning me...no caravan this year, left it in Spain! 

groups.yahoo.com

and search for 'Starlightxpress'

its 'restricted group' so you have to apply to join, but easy enough

you can also get to it from sxccd.com 'message board' section

Mike

I am sure someone has one here and can help you, but i also recommend you go to/join the SX forum, Terry will answer you very quickly...it's a good resource also for any other issue

Are you bringing one along to Lucksall? 

I think you've probably got the message by now... I have renewed each  year, Ivo is very accessible, if something doesn't work, he fixes it, and if you want a new feature he's happy to add it to the list if it makes logical sense.