Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b89429c566825f6ab32bcafbada449c9.jpg

Pc for pixinsight

Neo_uk

By Neo_uk
in Discussions - Software

 Share

Recommended Posts

Neo_uk

Neo_uk

Posted
Posted

Hi ,

I know this is a very big and probably subjective question but ....

I'm looking at building / buying a pc for image processing using pixinsight and rc astro X tools ...

My little laptop takes an age to do some of the processes and I'm looking to speed things up .

I know gpu can be important if you can get cuda working and also ram ..but its been about 20yrs since i last built a pc and im looking for a bit of advice on the following...

Mac or pc ?

Processor ,Graphics card , ram etc

Many thanks Chris.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Clarkey

Clarkey

Posted
Posted

I know nothing about Macs - so this is my opinion for Windows PC only. (I am no expert so hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along)

Despite the PI website suggesting you need the greatest PC in the world, a reasonably decent PC will work. Obviously better ones will be quicker. I would say you definitely want and SSD for your working area of at least 1Tb. Use a standard drive for storage - but for PI you will need lots of it. I had 32Gb of Ram on my PC, which I upgraded to 64Gb - but this made no real difference in performance. I don't think PI uses the graphic cards to help in the processing, so spend the money on the main processor to give the best performance. (Obviously this may change in future releases). FWIW I use a Rysen 5600X which works fine, but a quicker processor with more cores would be better. (PI seems to run processes on a core-by-core basis). The other worthwhile investment is a decent monitor. I have a 27" 2560 x 1440, which I would say is the minimum specification you really want.

I am no expert in PC's, but I built mine on line from PC Specialist about 18 months ago. I did a bit of research to get the best bang for my buck, but with hindsight a slightly better processer would have helped. However, at the time I was using other software that did take advantage of the graphics card capability, so the build was a compromise - largely on cost vs performance.

So, in summary I would say 32+ Gb RAM, large SSD working area, plenty of drive space (or external) and the best multi core processor you can.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DaveS

DaveS

Posted
Posted

I went online with Scan Computers and built a high-end but not extreme PC. Speaking personally I wouldn't touch Macs with the proverbial, as I don't want to be locked into an ecosystem I won't touch ASIAir for the same reason. No need to go Thread Ripper unless you do this professionally with huge data sets.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Elp

Elp

Posted
Posted

Most importantly what's your budget, space (do you need a mini type pc or can go full case, this will have a bearing on processor recommended), do you intend to use the computer for anything else more processing intensive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Neo_uk

Neo_uk

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the replies .

Budget would be in the region of £1000

To include monitor but could possibly stretch the budget slightly... 

Really only going to use it for processing as i game on a ps5 .

Size of case not really a issue as I've yet to decide where to keep it ...

All the numbers on processors and graphics cards loose me now days ...

Was just a pentium 1 , 2 , 3 back in the day and the higher the nuber the better lol ... non of this quad core business. 

Many thanks Chris.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Elp

Elp

Posted
Posted (edited)

It doesn't state what processor is inside it. Generally the best (bang for buck) high CPU ones to look at (if you need the processing power, 80-90pc of people don't) are the Intel 13900K now superseded by the 14000 line and the AMD Ryzen 7950 (x3d being the top end). For your purposes work down/backward from these. Any GPU will really do, you could even go as far back as an Nvidia 1060/70/80. If you do decide you want to game better to get a 2000 series with RTX for ray tracing (not that it really makes a difference to the game). Power supplies are the most important thing, nothing worse in these pre built PCs where they use a cheap PSU. I'd say 16GB is plenty, I never use more than 10GB usually and that's very heavy usage.

Edited by Elp
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Neo_uk

Neo_uk

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks elp ,

For the info .. as I say I'm lost now days with specs etc as I never kept up with them ..

So I've been browsing and found this refurbished pc bundle on ebay would this be adequate ? ... just want to make sure I'm putting my money in the right place ...

Many thanks Chris.

 

Screenshot_20231108_110203_eBay.jpg

Screenshot_20231108_110150_eBay.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Elp

Elp

Posted
Posted

It'll likely do a job and I don't think it'll have an issue with astro but the processor is from 2015 I believe which in modern computing terms is ancient, considering the age I think it's also overpriced likely pumped up by the graphics card which is fairly basic in terms of processing power.

Aren't you going to build one, it'll be much cheaper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Elp

Elp

Posted
Posted (edited)

Something like this will provide more milage, stick in an Nvidia 2060 GPU or better and another NVME SSD drive (or large TB HDD) and you'd be in a better position. I'm not saying this is the one but you'd want it to last a few years wouldn't you?

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/desktop-computers/vostro-tower-desktop/spd/vostro-3910-desktop/s7597vdt3910bts01sb

Edited by Elp
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Neo_uk

Neo_uk

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks 👍 

I just saw the i7 processer in the one I posted thinking they where all equal .. but looking closer I see there not ...

I did look at dell pc's and as you say with a little bit of a upgrade the one you linked would be better .

I was just looking for guidance... someone to say ... this will do the trick 😉 

Cheers Chris.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Elp

Elp

Posted
Posted (edited)

The i designation is quite generic i9 being the highest consumer grade intel chip line, they're not all built equal at all you have to look at the actual model numbers and cores and clock speeds (Intel's arc website is good for this), you could also say the same about AMDs Ryzen line. I don't use pixinsight to comment but I would of thought any recent (as in the last three to five years) released hardware will be sufficient without too much bottleneck. I can still astro process on a ten year old laptop, but if I try rendering on that same laptop compared to what I'm using now, no chance, so it depends on how much power you want/need/budget.

Edited by Elp
Link to comment
Share on other sites
tomato

tomato

Posted
Posted

Here is the spec on the desktop PC I decided on for image processing back in 2020, I use PI quite a lot on this machine:

Case: PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)

Motherboard: ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready
RAM: 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 16GB)
GPU: 4GB AMD RADEONTM RX 550 - HDMI, DVI - DX® 12
Primary storage: 512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
Secondary storage: 2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
power supply: CORSAIR 450W CV SERIESTM CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
PCS FrostFlow 100 V2 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD) STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

I would agree with more capacity on the SSD, I have also bought additional HDDs for external storage, I don’t delete any processing data files.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sinbad40

sinbad40

Posted
Posted

My PC was good in the day, 32GB ram, I7 skylake etc, and it runs fine for 7 years old.  If you are finding RC tools is one of the time killers, make sure you have an nvidia gpu with 6GB ram, that will allow cuda to be setup, and turns rc tools from a number of minutes to 20 seconds ish for me, and that is on an old 980ti.  Tried to get it to run on my laptop which has 4GB 3050ti, found it didn't like it, read up on pi and seems they want 6GB to do it.

Defo get ssd for the OS and PI files in  use if you can.  Standard drives for storage, cheap as chips, so get a big drive.  32GB RAM seems plenty, not had any issues at all, and thats with other apps etc running as well.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.