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eam1212003
It’s just about time to put my old Dell/Windows 7 computer to sleep...looking for inexpensive suggestions of a new computer/laptop that can comfortably handle HRD and WSJT...what say you folks? Yes, less expensive but fast and adequate are my two primary requirements...this will be dedicated just to radio related use with my Icom 7610...Tnx in advance,
Eli, N6PF |
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John
Go to your local computer shop with $5000US in hand, you'll get a real killer
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machine that even professional computer gamers would turn green with envy. John VE3KKQ ---------- Original Message ---------- |
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Russ Ravella
I just went through this myself with my station laptop (“laptop" because I do a lot of portable operation). One piece of advice I can offer is don’t get anything that uses Intel's i7 Kaby-Lake processor. Long story short, it was a bad idea. Mine was in an all around pretty poorly built, poorly supported HP Spectre X360. I’m done with HP forever. As for what to replace it with, be sure to get a lot of real world input from as many folks as you can because the target changes rapidly. My contribution is as follows.
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I replaced mine with a Dell Precision 5540 w/ an 8-core i9 following a recommendation by my son-in-law who has been drowning in all things computer for the last 4 or 5 years. He says Dell is desperately trying to recover their long lost reputation and is making the best computers right now. I found that running HRD (for the log only), the far FAR superior DXLab Suite, WSJT-X with JTAlert and often N1MM+, plus Flex SmartSDR along with a few utilities was way too much for the Kaby Lake. The Dell lays back and yawns at it. Its fairly light and very quiet with a beautiful monitor (I got the 4K touch). Uninstall all the Dell BS software right away, and especially if you’re going to use N1MM+, uninstall OneDrive immediately as well. Good Luck! Russ, KR6W On Feb 17, 2020, at 7:06 PM, John <jonie41@...> wrote: |
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D. Scott MacKenzie
It is a bit old school, but an intel I7-4770K with a modest amount of RAM is more than enough to run WSJT and HRD. I run WSJT and DxLabs (much better) and have absolutely no issues, and do other things besides.....
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-----Original Message-----
From: WSJTX@groups.io <WSJTX@groups.io> On Behalf Of John Sent: Monday, February 17, 2020 9:06 PM To: wsjtx <wsjtx@groups.io> Subject: Re: [WSJTX] Computer recommendations Go to your local computer shop with $5000US in hand, you'll get a real killer machine that even professional computer gamers would turn green with envy. John VE3KKQ ---------- Original Message ---------- |
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D. Scott MacKenzie
AMD Threadripper 3990X ($3995) with Nvida Titan RTX GPU ($2450), and a ASRock TRX40 Taichi motherboard ($526), 64GB DDR4 3200 RAM ($316) would be a good start. 😊
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Seriously, how much you want to spend, and what OS? -----Original Message-----
From: WSJTX@groups.io <WSJTX@groups.io> On Behalf Of John Sent: Monday, February 17, 2020 9:06 PM To: wsjtx <wsjtx@groups.io> Subject: Re: [WSJTX] Computer recommendations Go to your local computer shop with $5000US in hand, you'll get a real killer machine that even professional computer gamers would turn green with envy. John VE3KKQ ---------- Original Message ---------- |
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ka7hqp@...
Generally I go to "Tiger Direct" and start by looking at the "Certified Refurbished Computers". If it's for the shack, I will look hard for 1 Desktop and not any i3 or i5, I go straight to the i7 with at least 4 cores and over 3.06 Ghz speed per core. No Celerons or AMDs here. The link provided would be a drop in replacement for my current desktop and I would build off of that platform. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6040795&CatId=2627
Then I would look for a pair of laptops for the XYL and Myself for around the house. 73, Dennis - KA7HQP |
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D. Scott MacKenzie
Alternatively, instead of using Win7, use Linux - it works very well on older chipsets and you can run WSJT. You can probably run HRD in some sort of Win compatible mode.
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-----Original Message-----
From: WSJTX@groups.io <WSJTX@groups.io> On Behalf Of John Sent: Monday, February 17, 2020 9:06 PM To: wsjtx <wsjtx@groups.io> Subject: Re: [WSJTX] Computer recommendations Go to your local computer shop with $5000US in hand, you'll get a real killer machine that even professional computer gamers would turn green with envy. John VE3KKQ ---------- Original Message ---------- |
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John Morphet
I built my own computer. It has worked great for WSJT-X and other ham programs. Cost about $800 in parts, but that was more than a year ago and I am running two monitors, so you can probably do it cheaper today. Here is the parts list.
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Carbide Series® 100R Silent Edition Mid-Tower Case I3-7100 ASUS H110M-E/M.2 G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 Samsung PM961 Polaris 128GB M.2 NGFF PCIe Gen3 x4 CORSAIR VS Series VS500 TP-Link N900 Wireless Dual Band PCI-Express Adapter EVGA GEForce GT 710 Asus VS248H-P Asus VS248H-P Microsoft Wireless Desktop 900 John, WØZI -----Original Message-----
From: WSJTX@groups.io <WSJTX@groups.io> On Behalf Of John Sent: Monday, February 17, 2020 7:06 PM To: wsjtx <wsjtx@groups.io> Subject: Re: [WSJTX] Computer recommendations Go to your local computer shop with $5000US in hand, you'll get a real killer machine that even professional computer gamers would turn green with envy. John VE3KKQ ---------- Original Message ---------- |
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Jan AE7U <jan@...>
A week or so ago when Microsoft ended support for Windows 7, I upgraded my Dell PC to Windows 10. The upgrade turned out to be free and it was seamless. I run several instances of WSJT-X, CWSkimmer, DX Lab etc. without any problems. You want to disable/delete bloatware installed by Dell (and also HP as I have an HP printer) to speed up start-up. I also removed Avast anti-virus software as it really thrashes my disk (100% for long periods of time). You do not need a new all-sing-and-dance PC - I have a Dell Inspiron 3847 bought from Costco quite a few years ago (Intel i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz with 16 GB RAM:) running on Windows 10 Pro 64 bit...
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Markku SM5FLM
I bought a new HP computer only for HAM-programs. It's low end model (Intel i5-8600K, 3,6GHz, memory 16GHz), but I thought this would be enough. I was wrong!
I'm quite sure my computer can't handle the big load during the short interval (abt 2 seconds) when FT8-message are decoded. In the same time my DXlab applications also use they decoded messages for spot handling etc. During this interval the cpu usage goes up to 100%, and sometimes FT8-cycles are dropped/not detected. You can read in other postings about this problem. My recommendation is to get a computer with the strongest cpu you can afford. |
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Andy Williams KG5ABO
I bought a used Dell Optiplex 3020 Core i5-4490 minitower on eBay for $120 plus shipping. It came with 8 GB memory, a 500 GB hard drive, a second video card, Windows 10 Professional and 6 months remaining on the original warranty. The seller was a technical college getting rid of a lot of these. I replaced the hard drive with a WD 1 TB SSD on sale and installed Windows 10 Home since I had an unused copy. I also picked up a used Dell monitor locally for a second monitor. I estimate the total expenditure was around $250.
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I use this system to run WSJT-X in WSPR mode. It runs SDR Console to control an AFEDRI-Net SDR. Sometimes I also run SDRuno to control an RSP1A SDR if I want to listen to a 2M repeater. The computer is lightly loaded and has no problems running both SDRs simultaneously. Andy KG5ABO On Feb 17, 2020, at 7:54 PM, eam1212003 via Groups.Io <eam1212003@...> wrote: |
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Joe
On 2/17/2020 9:45 PM, ka7hqp@... wrote:
..... The link provided would be a drop in replacement for my current desktop and I would build off of that platform. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6040795&CatId=2627I've heard a few hams talk about Tiger Direct. I'm curious, is the WIN10 software load they provide a clean copy or does it include bloatware? 73, Joe, K1ike |
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Lawrence (VA3IQ)
Take a look for a Dell “Workstation” coming back in off of lease. I picked up for $200 Canadian a Dell Precision t3500 with 12Gigs of memory, a 160 Gig hard drive, and Windows 10 Pro. It has the Intel XEON W3565 @ 3.2GHz. I have upgraded to 24 Gigs of memory, an SSD, a quad monitor video card, and A USB 3.0 drive. It rocks. I can run multiple instances of WDJTX without issue. Very cost effective. YMMV. 73 de VA3IQ Lawrence On Tue, Feb 18, 2020 at 5:46 AM Joe <k1ike_mail@...> wrote: On 2/17/2020 9:45 PM, ka7hqp@... wrote: |
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Jim Nuytens
There's something seriously wrong with your computer. Probably a lot of HP bloatware running in the background, or you're running Norton or McAfee.
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I'm running on an AMD Ryzen 3 2200G @ 3.5Ghz and 16GB of RAM. At present, I have 12 tabs open in FireFox, WSJT-X and JT-Alert are running, Thunderbird (email) running, and an IRC client open. At peak decodes (about 25-36 station per cycle), I'm seeing no more than 40% CPU usage. Typically, I'm seeing about 25-30% during decodes. Remove the bloatware, stop using Norton/McAfee, and you'll probably notice a significant reduction in CPU usage. On 2/18/2020 07:59, Markku SM5FLM wrote:
I bought a new HP computer only for HAM-programs. It's low end model (Intel i5-8600K, 3,6GHz, memory 16GHz), but I thought this would be enough. I was wrong! |
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Jim Bacher - WB8VSU
From a RFI perspective Dell and HP are good choices. I always used one of those two when I had to run RF Emissions tests, and they always had good margin to Class B (better than 10 db). A few other brands I used over the years were not as good.
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Jim Bacher, WB8VSU wb8vsu@... https://trc.guru
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Hasan Schiers N0AN
NewEgg Lenovo M92 , 8 GB RAM, Core I5, Win10 Pro $174 Refurb. I have 3 of them, easily runs wsjt-x and loads of others. Great multitasking. 73 , N0AN Hasan On Mon, Feb 17, 2020, 7:54 PM eam1212003 via Groups.Io <eam1212003=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote: It’s just about time to put my old Dell/Windows 7 computer to sleep...looking for inexpensive suggestions of a new computer/laptop that can comfortably handle HRD and WSJT...what say you folks? Yes, less expensive but fast and adequate are my two primary requirements...this will be dedicated just to radio related use with my Icom 7610...Tnx in advance, |
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Bill Lederer
I am using Intel NUCs for all my radio work: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/boards-kits/nuc.html They have very adequate horsepower (given that some folks run WSJT on Raspberry Pi) and the cost is quite reasonable. Running WSJTX on a busy 80 meter band, it is running at just %13 CSP. I sourced my parts separately (memory, SSD disk) and the cost was maybe $400 all told. They have a Windows version, if you must, but I run Linux. If you want to go the Linux route, the old computer is perfectly adequate. On Mon, Feb 17, 2020 at 7:54 PM eam1212003 via Groups.Io <eam1212003=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote: It’s just about time to put my old Dell/Windows 7 computer to sleep...looking for inexpensive suggestions of a new computer/laptop that can comfortably handle HRD and WSJT...what say you folks? Yes, less expensive but fast and adequate are my two primary requirements...this will be dedicated just to radio related use with my Icom 7610...Tnx in advance, -- --w8lvn-- |
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Kai-KE4PT
I still use a six-year old Dell Mini Inspiron 11 laptop with Windows
8.1. Native screen is 1366 by 768 pixels, 4 GB RAM and Intel Celeron
N2815 CPU at 2 GHz. Fine for all WSJT-X modes, and FLDIGI modes.
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I use TARDIS for time synchronization (with Mike Black's TimeFudge and WWV while in the field), and Signalink sound card with Yaesu FT817 transceiver. It doesn't take much of a computer to run WSJT-X, but you do have to manage what else is running in the background, and what else is stealing focus away from WSJT-X. Kindest regards, Kai, KE4PT I bought a new HP computer only for HAM-programs. It's low end model (Intel i5-8600K, 3,6GHz, memory 16GHz), but I thought this would be enough. I was wrong! |
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Gwen Patton <ardrhi@...>
It's not your computer, it's something else. I run the linux version of WSJT-X on an 11" Chromebook, reflashed with GalliumOS. It has only 2GB of RAM, a 2.16ghz Celeron, and can handle FT8 and JS8Call just fine. I use it with my MDS Phaser digimode transceiver. So that I5 should be enough iron to do the job. Maybe it's your sound card? If you're relying on the sound card on the motherboard, maybe it's time to get a better one and slap it in an expansion slot. The sound processing on the Chromebook motherboard can't handle it, either, so I use a USB sound dongle. But even then, I had to try a couple to find one that could handle it. There's a lot of people running it without trouble on RASPBERRY PI processors. If a Pi can handle it, your I5 can handle it. It's probably either the sound card, or like has been suggested, some bloatware or other processes in the background messing it up. 73, Gwen, NG3P On Tue, Feb 18, 2020 at 9:46 AM Kai-KE4PT <k.siwiak@...> wrote:
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groups@...
That computer has much more power than what is needed to run
WSJTX and other ham radio programs.
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You need to look at what else is running in the background on that computer. Depending on the release of Windows 10 that is running on the computer, and what other background processes are running on that computer, you might see your issue for some time after booting the computer. If you have Google Chrome installed on the computer, it runs a background process called "Software Reporter Tool" that is intended to improve the Google user experience, HOWEVER, this process can take up to a half hour to run and will use considerable resources during that time. Also, depending on the release of Windows 10, you may have some Windows background processes that run on startup and also take a considerable amount of time and system resources to run. Later Windows updates improved but did not prevent this issue. There are various online forums that discuss these issues and how to workaround them. Just to give you an example of how much effect these processes can affect a computer, I was asked to check the secretary's computer at my church because she was saying that after a specific Windows 10 update, is was impossible to check email or do word processing for at least 10 minutes after booting the computer and its performance would be significantly degraded for as much as an hour. After researching what was running on the computer at startup, and removing some unneeded processes, the computer is as usable as it was when new only two to three minutes after booting. 73 David AK9F p.s., before retiring 5 years ago, I was a tech support and application engineer, for 20 years, for a company that made computerized building control systems, so I do have some experience in the area of computer performance issues. On 2/18/2020 1:59 AM, Markku SM5FLM
wrote:
I bought a new HP computer only for HAM-programs. It's low end model (Intel i5-8600K, 3,6GHz, memory 16GHz), but I thought this would be enough. I was wrong! |
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