StarTools

I'm looking at a new laptop that would serve in part as my astro pc. One option is the Lenovo P70 workstation, which uses nVidia Quadro graphics. Does ST take advantage of the Quadro's capabilities to accelerate graphics processing?

Wayne Hixson

Hi Wayne,

StarTools does not take advantage of GPU acceleration, as the bottleneck is often the memory bus and not raw processing power. Especially so in StarTools, the algorithms (due to Tracking) are very complex and memory heavy and not very suitable for execution by a GPU. This may change in the future with tighter integration of on-die components (AMD seems to go that way).

You will benefit most from loading up your system with the maximum amount of RAM (16Gb+) and equipping it with a fast SSD. ST will fly!

What about number of cores? Would we see a significant difference with a quad versus a dual core?

Actually, I think you answered that question in an old 2012 thread on system specs:
http://forum.startools.org/viewtopic.ph ... tions#p139

I've been looking at new laptops for imaging, so concentrating on best battery life. Often the best battery life is coming from dual core machines.