Advice on new computer for processing

Hello all. My current computer just took 17 hours processing 30 hours of image data in WBPP. Star extraction will take another hour or two. I think I need a faster computer. I've contacted Facon NW for their recommendation for a computer working with Pixinsight. I've pasted a screen shot of their recommended package.
I don't know enough about computer specs to make an informed decision and I would welcome opinions and comments.
Thanks,
Dan

I don't think you can go wrong with a Ryzen 9, 128GB of RAM, a 4060, and a good SSD.

The Ryzen 9 is currently one of the best CPUs.
128GB of RAM is more than sufficient.
The 4060 is quite good. It's not the best, but I don't think higher options are worth the extra price unless you're into serious gaming.

Even with such a setup, processing 30 hours of data will still take time.
What is your current setup?

While that sounds like a really good system,

My desktop I think is on the slow side, it's an HP windows 11 home, Ryzen 7, 3.80 HGz 16 GB ram, NVIDIA 3060, $800
While I've only run 12 hours of data not 30, WBPP only takes about 40 minutes. Thats running 35 30MB files and 35 51MB files.

Bob Lockwood:
While that sounds like a really good system,

My desktop I think is on the slow side, it's an HP windows 11 home, Ryzen 7, 3.80 HGz 16 GB ram, NVIDIA 3060, $800
While I've only run 12 hours of data not 30, WBPP only takes about 40 minutes. Thats running 35 30MB files and 35 51MB files.

Your computer is much faster than mine. I'm also shooting with two QHY600s, which may be a difference. The files are large.
Dan

Dan, thanks for posting this. I have a similar question: What would be a good configuration for a new desktop for Pixinsight processing?

I'm currently using a Lenovo Legion 5 laptop that is several years old (Intel i7, 16GB Ram, and NVIDIA GTX1660Ti), and for the most part, it works very well with Pixinsight. However, BX, SX and NX have been very slow. Sometimes, it would take over 30 minutes to run SX on a large image.

However, that problem was recently solved by installing the software to run these applications using the GPU of the NVIDIA card. Now SX is over 20x faster. BX and NX are also much faster, to the point where running them takes a similar amount of time as other Pixinsight processes and scripts. The method I used follows the Russ Croman post on the Pixinsight forum, which makes the whole process no more difficult than installing other software additions using "resource updates." Here is the link:

https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?threads/experimental-tensorflow-gpu-acceleration-repository.22325/

I got this from Adam Block. Of course, there can be complications, but I have yet to see any. I did backup the new Tensorflow.dll, ~500K) in case a PI update replaces it with the normal Tensorflow file (~200K).

I'm still interested in getting a new and faster computer for Pixinsight and other software, such as Flight Simulator. This Lenovo Legion 5 desktop looks like it would fill the bill, and it is less than $2000. I'd like more RAM than 32MB, but hopefully, that can be an option add-on.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/desktops/legion-desktops/legion-t-series-towers/legion-tower-5-gen-8-amd/90ux0013us?orgRef=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F

How much was the FalconNW quote?

George

George Hatfield:
Dan, thanks for posting this. I have a similar question: What would be a good configuration for a new desktop for Pixinsight processing?

I'm currently using a Lenovo Legion 5 laptop that is several years old (Intel i7, 16GB Ram, and NVIDIA GTX1660Ti), and for the most part, it works very well with Pixinsight. However, BX, SX and NX have been very slow. Sometimes, it would take over 30 minutes to run SX on a large image.

However, that problem was recently solved by installing the software to run these applications using the GPU of the NVIDIA card. Now SX is over 20x faster. BX and NX are also much faster, to the point where running them takes a similar amount of time as other Pixinsight processes and scripts. The method I used follows the Russ Croman post on the Pixinsight forum, which makes the whole process no more difficult than installing other software additions using "resource updates." Here is the link:

https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?threads/experimental-tensorflow-gpu-acceleration-repository.22325/

I got this from Adam Block. Of course, there can be complications, but I have yet to see any. I did backup the new Tensorflow.dll, ~500K) in case a PI update replaces it with the normal Tensorflow file (~200K).

I'm still interested in getting a new and faster computer for Pixinsight and other software, such as Flight Simulator. This Lenovo Legion 5 desktop looks like it would fill the bill, and it is less than $2000. I'd like more RAM than 32MB, but hopefully, that can be an option add-on.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/desktops/legion-desktops/legion-t-series-towers/legion-tower-5-gen-8-amd/90ux0013us?orgRef=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F

How much was the FalconNW quote?

George

The Falcon quote was about $4300. Thanks for the info regarding speeding up the GPU.
Dan

I built a very similar workstation recently and the processing and stacking time is significantly faster now. You need to activate cudas if you want to take advantage of GPU acceleration with AI tools. On my pc, this cut down BlurXterminator of a 2x drizzled APS-C master from 10min to 1min.

Something to consider is also the powerhungry CPU, my ryzen 9 7900x CPU will during stacking go to 100% load, heat up to 95°C and consume around 200W. They are made for this kind of loads but the power consumption is considerable.

If I were you, I would order those parts separately and built your PC yourself. But the specs check out.

I built a very similar workstation recently and the processing and stacking time is significantly faster now. You need to activate cudas if you want to take advantage of GPU acceleration with AI tools. On my pc, this cut down BlurXterminator of a 2x drizzled APS-C master from 10min to 1min.

Something to consider is also the powerhungry CPU, my ryzen 9 7900x CPU will during stacking go to 100% load, heat up to 95°C and consume around 200W. They are made for this kind of loads but the power consumption is considerable.

If I were you, I would order those parts separately and built your PC yourself. But the specs check out.

What would you guess my savings would be building it myself?
Thanks,
Dan

Dan Brown:
Bob Lockwood:
While that sounds like a really good system,

My desktop I think is on the slow side, it's an HP windows 11 home, Ryzen 7, 3.80 HGz 16 GB ram, NVIDIA 3060, $800
While I've only run 12 hours of data not 30, WBPP only takes about 40 minutes. Thats running 35 30MB files and 35 51MB files.

Your computer is much faster than mine. I'm also shooting with two QHY600s, which may be a difference. The files are large.
Dan

I use the Moravian C3-61000 same chip as the QHY600 and the C3-26000 and I intentionally bin the 61000 so I don't deal with the 120MB files. The 7.52um pixels are still plenty small for my seeing. I use the 26000 unbin for any fine detail I need and let WBPP make them the same size to combine.

I've nothing to add to the already discussed PC spec topic, but on the topic of speed with WBPP i would say that you could try preprocessing with Siril and do the rest in PI. You would save some money if that was a concern, and it will still be much faster with the new PC should you get one.

Siril is at least 5 times faster with my PC, maybe more. My biggest image of 1517 subs wouldnt stack at all in PI (or APP), left it overnight and wasnt even close to done come morning after maybe 12 hours of number crunching. With Siril it was registered, normalized and rejection stacked in about 2 hours.

Dan Brown:
I built a very similar workstation recently and the processing and stacking time is significantly faster now. You need to activate cudas if you want to take advantage of GPU acceleration with AI tools. On my pc, this cut down BlurXterminator of a 2x drizzled APS-C master from 10min to 1min.

Something to consider is also the powerhungry CPU, my ryzen 9 7900x CPU will during stacking go to 100% load, heat up to 95°C and consume around 200W. They are made for this kind of loads but the power consumption is considerable.

If I were you, I would order those parts separately and built your PC yourself. But the specs check out.

What would you guess my savings would be building it myself?
Thanks,
Dan

Well, how much do they want?

I could built my pc for around 1500$.

Dan Brown:
I built a very similar workstation recently and the processing and stacking time is significantly faster now. You need to activate cudas if you want to take advantage of GPU acceleration with AI tools. On my pc, this cut down BlurXterminator of a 2x drizzled APS-C master from 10min to 1min.

Something to consider is also the powerhungry CPU, my ryzen 9 7900x CPU will during stacking go to 100% load, heat up to 95°C and consume around 200W. They are made for this kind of loads but the power consumption is considerable.

If I were you, I would order those parts separately and built your PC yourself. But the specs check out.

What would you guess my savings would be building it myself?
Thanks,
Dan

Well, how much do they want?

I could built my pc for around 1500$.

My quote was $4300.
Dan

Jean-David Gadina:
I don't think you can go wrong with a Ryzen 9, 128GB of RAM, a 4060, and a good SSD.

The Ryzen 9 is currently one of the best CPUs.
128GB of RAM is more than sufficient.
The 4060 is quite good. It's not the best, but I don't think higher options are worth the extra price unless you're into serious gaming.

Even with such a setup, processing 30 hours of data will still take time.
What is your current setup?

Here is what I'm using currently.

Dan Brown:
Dan Brown:
I built a very similar workstation recently and the processing and stacking time is significantly faster now. You need to activate cudas if you want to take advantage of GPU acceleration with AI tools. On my pc, this cut down BlurXterminator of a 2x drizzled APS-C master from 10min to 1min.

Something to consider is also the powerhungry CPU, my ryzen 9 7900x CPU will during stacking go to 100% load, heat up to 95°C and consume around 200W. They are made for this kind of loads but the power consumption is considerable.

If I were you, I would order those parts separately and built your PC yourself. But the specs check out.

What would you guess my savings would be building it myself?
Thanks,
Dan

Well, how much do they want?

I could built my pc for around 1500$.

My quote was $4300.
Dan

Then definitely built yourself your own PC, that is insanely expensive imo. Get yourself informed, there is lots of resources around but I would never spend that kind of money on a pre-built PC.

And it is fun as well. You should find all the parts they list on Amazon or similar. I would estimate you would safe half if you built yourself and maybe even get a better GPU like the 4070 if you also play games with around 2000$.

Happy building.

Dan Brown:
My quote was $4300.

That’s really expensive for such a setup.
You can probably get the same specs at almost half the price elsewhere.

Jean-David Gadina:
Dan Brown:
My quote was $4300.

That’s really expensive for such a setup.
You can probably get the same specs at almost half the price elsewhere.

I just configured my new PC, here the price for the complet PC in germany (no grafic-card, because I had one):
Chieftec Gamer GS-01B HunterSKU: 19304 189,99 €
AMD Ryzen 9 7900XSKU: ryzen-9-7900x1 369,99 €
MSI B650 Gaming Plus WIFI AM5SKU: 191641 179,99 €
Kingston DDR5 Kit 64GB (2x 32GB) 6000MHz FURY Beast BLACKSKU: 192691 239,99 €
Bequiet ATX 650W System Power10 BN328SKU: 191451 79,99 €
be quiet! Dark Rock PRO 5SKU: 196281 104,99 €
Kingston NV2 NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD 2000GBSKU: 181221 129,99 €
Windows 11 Pro ESD inkl. InstallationSKU: 188881 89,99 €
Montage inkl. FunktionstestSKU: EIN0221 49,00 €

Gesamtsumme (Total) 1.338,82 €

Stephan

I will look into building it myself. Thank you all for your input.
Dan

I might suggest waiting until October when the latest Intel processors are supposed to be released. The reviews on the newest AMD processors have been underwhelming and it is quite possible Intel may do better. I have an older AMD system (3950) that is in need of a rebuild so what I did was to upgrade the GPU to a 4080 and upgrade the power supply to match (one could also wait for the 5000 series GPU but they will be crazy expensive to begin with) and will plan to replace the CPU and Mobo once I see what Intel comes up with.

Building one is the only way to go and will save you a ton of money as well as get you a PC more suited to your specific needs.

@Dan Brown I posted up a PCPartPicker link over on CN regarding this same question, so figured I'd put it here as well: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mLHjfy

Under $2500. Of course, there's none of the fancy RGB, so there's that

. Pretty significant savings sourcing your own components and building it yourself.

I am in the same boat but based on the early research I've done $4300 is insane, and that doesn't include the NiVidia GPU that is needed to use the acceleration trick that Russ Crowman posted. For PI you want Cores and threads, RAM and fast ssd drives and the right GPU. These things have to be chosen to play nice with each other. With FBPP I have found that things have improved dramatically but I still need a more robust machine than my Dell Laptop. Build or buy seems to save a few hundred dollars to $500 depending on vendor and niggly details. I don't need "cool" Gamer add-ons like lights and super wizzy cases. Neat, organized, easy to expand and properly cooled are the main things in my view.

Jonny Bravo:
Of course, there's none of the fancy RGB, so there's that

Agreed. One of the issues there is that the higher end stuff tends to have RGB because the higher end consumer stuff often is made for the gamer market and they want that RGB bling.

Another bling related thing is trying to find a good case w/o a clear window for one's observatory - it can be a challenge and windows let the RGB light out of the PC.

In my case the processing PC doubles for some gaming so I don't mind the RGB since that machine is in the house anyway and the RGB does not really add much to the price and higher end parts can be hard to find w/o it (especially some parts like water coolers).

Oh, I don't think there's anything wrong with some RGB lighting in a PC (assuming of course you're not putting it into your observatory). My own build has RGB lighting on the fans and RAM, and the MSI logo is lit up on the GPU. I built in a Lian Li Dynamic Evo case, so the internals are on full display:

Here's the full setup:

I thought I would give a follow up to my post. I decided to build my own computer, it was easier than I thought it would be. Here is my parts list,
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NBqC28

It has completed the pixinsight benchmark with a score of 38000, which I'm happy with. It also flies through the Russ Croman plugins in less than a minute with 62 megapixel files. My old computer would likely have quit on my latest project of 102 hours, https://www.astrobin.com/jgi7ok/, but this computer completed WBPP in about 24 hours.
Thanks for all your help.
Dan

The elephant in the room is Pixinsight ! 17 hours is ridiculous, spending £000’s on a new pc to speed this up to 10 hours is a joke. Siril does the job in a fraction of the time, without any noticeable differences.
process the stacked image in PI by all means but save the thousands for something that will help you take better images.
PI is just very inefficient at this process - dont through good money after bad

The elephant in the room is Pixinsight ! 17 hours is ridiculous, spending £000’s on a new pc to speed this up to 10 hours is a joke. Siril does the job in a fraction of the time, without any noticeable differences.
process the stacked image in PI by all means but save the thousands for something that will help you take better images.
PI is just very inefficient at this process - dont through good money after bad

The last 1% is costly.
Dan

Related discussions