Choice between two PC's to use with Star Tools

[dariv]

Given these two computers, which one would you choose to run Star Tools?

Desktop Computer:

• I7-2600

• 32GB RAM

• Nvidia GT 1030

Laptop Computer:

• i7-6820HQ

• 16GB RAM (can upgrade to 32)

• Quadro M3000M

Thanks!
-DaRiv

[admin]

Hi DaRiv,

The desktop would be the better choice here. It's CPU is marginally faster, and in particular, the GPU is superior.

Hope this helps!

[dariv]

Thanks for the response, although not exactly the answer I wanted to hear. I was thinking to move the desktop to observatory duty, and use the laptop for processing images, but turns out the desktop is the fastest PC I have right now. I can confirm in side by side tests on the same data set, that the desktop beats the laptop every time by perhaps 20% quicker time.

[Stefan B]

Similar question here...I'll probably put my 8 year old laptop to rest (or use it as an imaging PC outside at the scope) and want to replace it. There's the opportunity to get my hands on one of two laptops with the following specs:

1)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 5700U Octa-Core 1,80 GHz
16 GB, DDR4 SDRAM
1 TB SSD
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050Ti (4 GB)

2)
Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7 Quad-Core 2,40 GHz
16 GB, DDR4 SDRAM
1 TB SSD
Intel® Iris Xe Graphics

Sorry, I am really not good at this... My understanding is that (1) has the better gpu but (2) the better processor, right? What is the better choice for ST? Also in terms of where is ST going in the future (maybe the needs are going to change with future versions?).

Regards
Stefan

[Carles]

Similar question here...I'll probably put my 8 year old laptop to rest (or use it as an imaging PC outside at the scope) and want to replace it. There's the opportunity to get my hands on one of two laptops with the following specs:

1)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 5700U Octa-Core 1,80 GHz
16 GB, DDR4 SDRAM
1 TB SSD
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050Ti (4 GB)

2)
Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7 Quad-Core 2,40 GHz
16 GB, DDR4 SDRAM
1 TB SSD
Intel® Iris Xe Graphics

Sorry, I am really not good at this... My understanding is that (1) has the better gpu but (2) the better processor, right? What is the better choice for ST? Also in terms of where is ST going in the future (maybe the needs are going to change with future versions?).

Regards
Stefan

I would go for option 1. According to benchmarks RTX 3050TI is a LOT faster than Iris
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/N ... vsm1268515
also the Ryzen are good (I have one Ryzen7 5800H myself very happy with it! )

and since we're at it @admin what you recommend in RAM ? Depending on file size? Since StarTools is very RAM hungry, making "copies" of the file during Track, my 16GB of ram gets almost filled up with "normal" stacks, when using drizzle is almost 100% use of RAM, and even not using drizzle, when processing mosaics also takes a lot of it.

So let's say the original file is 500mb, for instance my Veil 3-pane mosaic ( drizzle as I'm very undersampled) what would be the recommended RAM ? as 16GB doesn't seem enough.

My laptop supports up to 64Gb, not sure if I should go to max supported and forget about it (but RAM still sort of expensive, DDR4 3200mhz I need would be now around 250eur for 64GB ) Oh and that is taking into the account my old qhy8L camera, that typical stacks are 65mb, newer CMOS with smaller pixels woud be around 3times heavier.

how many "copies" of the file does Track during processing usually? Will RAM usage get impacted on ST9 ? 32GB enough or better go up to max 64GB?

Thnks

Carles.

[admin]

Ryzen and RTX3050Ti all the way!

As for RAM, 32GB would help a lot over 16GB. More is always better, and if you'd run something like Linux (probably the best and most robust platform for super heavy apps like ST) you can put the /tmp folder on a RAM disk (if you have it to spare), which should speed up StarTools even more.

[Stefan B]

Thanks to both of you!

Don't know if 32 GB RAM is in the cards. 16 GB is already definitely a improvement compared to my 8GB RAM/500GB HDD laptop with internal gpu...

Regards
Stefan

[Carles]

Thanks to both of you!

Don't know if 32 GB RAM is in the cards. 16 GB is already definitely a improvement compared to my 8GB RAM/500GB HDD laptop with internal gpu...

Regards
Stefan

Most laptops would support 32GB, and many also 64GB. So RAM is something you can upgrade in the future if you feel the need of it

I think you will feel a massive difference, with the SSD alone you would! But with a Ryzen and discrete GPU also, you won't have time to go
for a coffee break between processes! hahah

[Carles]

Ryzen and RTX3050Ti all the way!

As for RAM, 32GB would help a lot over 16GB. More is always better, and if you'd run something like Linux (probably the best and most robust platform for super heavy apps like ST) you can put the /tmp folder on a RAM disk (if you have it to spare), which should speed up StarTools even more.

Thanks, unfortunately I've tried Linux few times and I can't handle it. I think it still a lot of work to do to make it more accessible for non computer savvy people to migrate to Linux. As soon as something doesn't work, it requires code of some sort. (at least on my experiences)

On my old laptop tried Linux, and sure StarTools worked faster, but, had troubles with drivers and it is a nightmare to fix them on linux (at least it was for me ) so gave up.

[Stefan B]

Most laptops would support 32GB, and many also 64GB. So RAM is something you can upgrade in the future if you feel the need of it

Yes, it supports 32 GB. So that's the way to go I guess