any pc?

[look out hes above u]

Hi peeps, noob ere, great site with alot of friendly people that as helped with a couple of my question and I thx u all.i got another one, it might not matter but I need a new pc and like the look of imaging and want to go down that route, is there any pc better then others I should get and programs, money no object within reason, im a big believer of the saying , u get what u pay for.so dont mind getting the cash out.i got a canon 700d and a adaptor and t ring, is this a good start, I heard webcams can be used as well, any tips will be welcome, thx again

[JamesM]

Hi and welcome to the forum. If it hasn't been suggested before, I would certainly recommend that you get a copy of Steve Richards' "Making Every Photon Count" if imaging is going to  be your ultimate goal in astronomy. Very comprehensive and will save you money by helping you to avoid buying the wrong kit. You might want to post your question in the general help and advice section as more people use that part of the forum.

Clear skies

James

[swag72]

+1 for the book - if you are thinking of imaging, you really should buy this and read it  ................ twice .............. before even thinking about what to buy!

Sounds silly but AP is really all about the mount - You want to be aiming for long exposures and good steady ones as well.

Regarding a PC, if you are looking at one for the processing side, then you wan the maximum RAM you can get as Photoshop for example can be a bit memory intensive. Saying that, my PC is an i5 processor with 8GB and it copes with it all fine.

[LeeWilky]

Hi mate and welcome

In terms of what computer to get im no expert but im pretty sure you dont need an incredible one for Astrophotography.  As long as it can run things like photoshop and DeepSkyStacker and the various other editing software you need then thats good enough.  The one thing i have heard tho is that Apple Macs dont run some of the software that a lot of people use so perhaps a windows PC will be the better choice.

As i said im no expert im just going off what i have picked up online and here in SGL and im sure someone will be able to give you a better idea.

If you are looking at getting into serious AP perhaps a decent laptop would suit you better as you could then also use that to control your setup as you will want a motorized mount and maybe a goto system also so a laptop would kill two birds with one stone.

Either way you go mate enjoy and see you around

[swag72]

........If you are looking at getting into serious AP perhaps a decent laptop would suit you better as you could then also use that to control your setup as you will want a motorized mount and maybe a goto system also so a laptop would kill two birds with one stone.

In my obs my PC is 9 years old and running Windows vista - mega PC's are really not required for that end of things in my experience.

[smudgeball]

Hi

Perhaps another thing to consider.

I have a core i7 2Ghz, 8Gb RAM, windows 8 touch screen laptop that I use for image processing and it's really quick at processing.

BUT, when I set up my neq6 plus dslr, plus webcam, plus remote focuser etc, the £600 lappy stays well away !

I've got an old DELL laptop off ebay that cost me £60.

It's good enough to control everything using windows XP and I can transfer all my captured data to the fast machine later.

I'd never be able to really run heavy applications on it, but if it ever got damaged, (unexpected trip in the dark  )well it would be less painfull than the expensive laptop.

Perhaps another option?

Neil

[pvaz]

+1 for an i5 (or i7) with 8GB RAM. That will handle pretty much anything you throw at it and give you at least 5 years dealing with any software out there.

If you ware doing large video files editing, intense gaming and such then an i7 processor and a good graphics card would be nice too, but not at all necessary for still image processing.

If you find you want faster startup, app loading and faster large file handling, any computer will benefit from an SSD disk drive, that's more useful then crazy RAM or too much processing capability. Today the most common bottle neck is the hard disk drive's speed, so I find an SSD makes the most noticeable diference in performance. But again, an SSD is not necessary at all, just makes most common operations faster and smoother.

[LouisJB]

if you have a PC already, what is it? It might do the job to get started. No point spending out until you've given the hobby a try and by then you'll know more what you need.

For processing, photoshop or something similar, a bit of ram helps but even just 4 or 8Gb should be enough. Basically any modern laptop/PC should likely be more than good enough, unless you've brought some real bottom of the range junk thing you should be ok. Second hand there are generally some good bargains to be found too.

Definitely wise to do some reading on the subject, not least because imaging is a real money pit if you're not careful (and sometimes even when you are).

You might want a laptop you can use outdoors for running capture and guiding software (if you start to do guiding and use webcams etc). For that you probably could use anything reasonable, just make sure it has adequate USB ports, for a webcam that's likely to be minimum USB2.0 (so again almost anything that isn't really old).

[LouisJB]

Should also say, in terms of software, most of what you'll need is free (deep sky stacker, registax etc). Photoshop is not, but there are free alternatives (not quite as good, but would do the job). Unless you have photoshop already I wouldn't rush out and get it straight away, get the free software and get some imaging data and have a play around. When you find your post-processing is being limited by not having photoshop, then is the time to go and get it...

[look out hes above u]

Thx everyone for the advice

[Kropster]

I bought a refurbished Dell desktop off the internet...ex business machine.

Well made, quiet, dual core processor with 4GB, Windows 7 and also has a built in COM port....handy for controlling the mount.

Cost about £70 including delivery. Perfect!

Most of the software you need is free except maybe Photoshop if you want that. Photoshop Elements is probably good enough... or you could use Gimp which is free.

Spend your cash  on the scope, mount , eyepieces etc... not on the PC.

[sologuitarist61]

Hello and welcome!

[Charon]

Welcome aboard. I am useless with computers so there is no way I could help you, sorry!

[Schorhr]

...I build my own, and there is some potential to save a few bucks/quids/euros ;-)

If you intend to get a desktop PC for gaming, and a good graphic card anyway, you can consider the Xeon e3 1230v2/1230v3/1240v3 as it's basically identical to some of the i7 series minus the integrated intel graphic chip.

If graphic cards are no issue (and they are not for 2D image editing) you can get one with low power consumption.

Also consider getting a mainboard with 4 instead of 2 slots for RAM, makes a later upgrade easier.

Xeon € 200 boxed with fan

mainboard €35

graphic card €20

8g ram €60 (better 16gb, get low CL and higher frequency for a few more % of performance)

case + power-supply €20-50

---

around 320-350€/270gbp, if you have an old PC with DVD drive and (SATA) harddrive, you may as well reuse those, though a more recent (faster) harddrive or even SSD can be a good addition.

My computer draws a bit under 100w under full load... 35-40w when idle.

Much better then my previous system :-)

That was the reason I bought an Intel system this time, as the AMD A10 or similar just had a much higher power consumption :-)

For the field one of those recent quad core intel atom netbooks or tablets might do the trick, start at around 200gbp and have a much longer battery run time then most lower price laptops...

[Stephen Green]

 HI welcome to the SGL

   Stephen