I have several ZWO cameras but just purchased my first full frame CMOS from QHY. I need to upgrade my computer power and the folks at PI suggested I get a new one given my current Dell with 16 GBs and i5 core processor. They are suggesting one of the latest AMD Ryzen 9 processors, a minimum of 64 GB and a solid state disk drive.[b] [/b]I am not skilled enough to build my own but can afford a decent upgrade. Can you suggest brands/models out there that would work?[b] [/b]Thanks in advance,Bruce
Computer to handle full frame CMOS imaging
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Hi Bruce, during these days I have upgrade my old pc with i5 661 processor. Now I have a very fast pc with about 850 € and assembled by myself. I took an AMD Ryzen 7 3700x, MSI 570-A pro as motherboard, ssd M.2 Silicon Power 512 Gb Gen 3x4, 2x16 Gb Ram Corsair Vengeance DDR4 - 3200 MHz and an XFX RX550 as graphic card. Benchmarks are very well with Pixinisght. Next level…I add other 32 Gb of Ram.
I have, as storage, other hard disks and I use the M2 one just for software
I have, as storage, other hard disks and I use the M2 one just for software
I am using a QHY600m camera. Files sizes are huge, but one way to minimize data is to use longer exposures. 10-15 minute LRGB is fine and 20 minute narrowband for sure. I'm testing 30 minute now. This is not AT ALL like using a Panasonic chipped ZWO ASI1600.
I'm using a Dell XPS15 laptop with a i9-8950HK 2.90GHz processor, 32 gb RAM, and 2TB of solid state storage. The monitor is a 4K and I find it very difficult to calibrate it. I've read that it might be better to edit on a 2K screen as that is more fit to what it will be viewed on. I believe the Pixinsight benchmark was around 7500 for this machine, which is pretty good for laptop.
You get the same performance for a lot less money from a desktop, but I like to be able to edit all over the house and when I travel.
I did buy a NAS with RAID 5 after getting the camera. 4X10TB drives net me 27TB of storage.
But I'm not a hardware guru so, take all of this as a data point in your research.
I'm using a Dell XPS15 laptop with a i9-8950HK 2.90GHz processor, 32 gb RAM, and 2TB of solid state storage. The monitor is a 4K and I find it very difficult to calibrate it. I've read that it might be better to edit on a 2K screen as that is more fit to what it will be viewed on. I believe the Pixinsight benchmark was around 7500 for this machine, which is pretty good for laptop.
You get the same performance for a lot less money from a desktop, but I like to be able to edit all over the house and when I travel.
I did buy a NAS with RAID 5 after getting the camera. 4X10TB drives net me 27TB of storage.
But I'm not a hardware guru so, take all of this as a data point in your research.
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Well… QHY has quite a few full-frame cameras, with pixel counts from 20MP all the way to 60MP. Their requirements can be very different.
For a camera below 40MP, I think any latest-generation i7 CPU can do the job. High-end i7 and i9 are better, but may not be necessary. The AMD Ryzen seems amazing too. As for RAM, 32 GB should be sufficient for most common processing.
If you are doing mosaics, or going to stacking hundreds of subs, or have the 60MP camera, then you need to consider a high-end i7 or i9, and 64 GB of RAM.
No matter what CPU and RAM combination you pick, get a 1 TB SSD for your system and for scratch disk for PS or PI. It will speed up things a lot.
For a camera below 40MP, I think any latest-generation i7 CPU can do the job. High-end i7 and i9 are better, but may not be necessary. The AMD Ryzen seems amazing too. As for RAM, 32 GB should be sufficient for most common processing.
If you are doing mosaics, or going to stacking hundreds of subs, or have the 60MP camera, then you need to consider a high-end i7 or i9, and 64 GB of RAM.
No matter what CPU and RAM combination you pick, get a 1 TB SSD for your system and for scratch disk for PS or PI. It will speed up things a lot.
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Thank you all for your input. This is very helpful.
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Upgrade advice required
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Discusses ZWO camera upgrades and computer specifications for astrophotography imaging.