Go Faster!

[David Smith]

Another quick session with the ASI178 today, just a few minutes between the clouds but enough to check out what's going on whilst capture is in progress. I expected to see the HDD maxed out in Task Manager but in reality it's not. Under both FireCapture and Sharp cap the HDD sits at around 50% utilisation. Appears it's the processor that's struggling, particularly when I am running SharpCap ~97% utilisation (2nd pic).

 

Don't think this changes my plans, I will still try replacing the HDD with an SSD (240GB or thereabouts) but based on the above I will also be expecting to have to replace the laptop as well! I would take the plunge and just do both jobs in one but laptops with SSD's of that size tend to be very expensive from what I can see, so I would look to purchase core i3 or something and then switch the drive to the SSD.

 

[LightBucket]

Under both FireCapture and Sharp cap the HDD sits at around 50% utilisation whilst in SharpCap the processor is sweating....

not sure I understand the above line...you mention sharpcap twice...??

[David Smith]

23 minutes ago, LightBucket said:

Under both FireCapture and Sharp cap the HDD sits at around 50% utilisation whilst in SharpCap the processor is sweating....

not sure I understand the above line...you mention sharpcap twice...??

I've re-worded as in hind sight it was open to interpretation! The intention was to describe that under both capture programmes hdd was not fully utilised and that the processor seemed to be under duress in both cases but particularly when capturing in SharpCap.

It may be that this still makes no sense, in which case just "move along, nothing to see here" 

[pipnina]

What CPU is in your laptop at the moment?

An SSD is always a good thing, not just for intensive applications. It just makes everything the computer does seem snappier. It could be possible to get a laptop with a smaller SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Keep files on the SSD for capture and process, then archive them on the HDD (And a suitable backup, of course!)

I must ask you to beware with laptops however. Finding one with a good display will haunt you. (So many these days still skimp on the screen, ideally look for an anti-reflective (matte) IPS panel though they are difficult to find).

All in all, depends on your budget. I would never skimp on a laptop that was going to be my only machine however (assuming this will be your only device?).

Hope you find what you need

[Ewan]

Dave, the laptops I bought for the wife & I were both non upgradable, ie no opening slots underside to get to the good parts. Not a problem though as I mo a guy who owns a local PC shop who upgraded the ram & put a Sammy 850 inside for me. Works great now.

Wasn't easy at the time finding a laptop with the right size screen ,enough ram & good processor, as manufacturer's tend to promote & push just what they want to sell.

A way & means around all of it though.

Good luck with your new upgrades mate.

Atb

 

[Merlin66]

I bought a MSI gaming laptop, i7, 16Gb memory, 1Tb SSD, 500 Gb HD to run my ASI 174 and ASI 183 for solar.

A 10sec SER video can take enormous amounts of data!!