Does anyone have recommendations for what you would need in a new computer to process scan information?
Thank you,
Larry
Best bet is to figure out what processing software you'll run and check the minimum specs for that software.
We have 4 cadd stations, one of which is old and clunky. On a rare occasion, we have done scan jobs (2, but a couple of years ago). I need to order a new computer and would like to have the capability to process a large scan job in the future. I'd rather have it more robust than I need.
Biggest, baddest, fastest thing you can get. Dual Xeon processors, multiple storage drives, dedicated solid state processing drive, max RAM and best video card (video card is crucial and many overlook it) you can get. Dedicated SSD seems to speed things up a good bit.
A machine like this is going to run you $10 - $15K. Make sure your software is Win 10 compatible if you can't get Win 7 Pro.
RAM and a SSD seem to make the biggest speed benefits for the work I do with Cyclone. My scans are mostly of 1-20 acre shopping centers so not huge in terms of scanning. My XPS15 with 8 cores, 16GB RAM and 500GB SSD run those fine. I benchmarked my rig against another with 32GB RAM and it was a couple seconds slower so it seems like the 16 figure is about the mark for diminishing returns. Selecting a multi-core capable software for processing is also important. Cyclone is and that's the only platform I've used; maybe they all are but it's something you should check to be sure.
As others have said the better specs you can get the easier it will be. I can just about process a relatively small scan on a 5 year old Dell laptop with 4gb ram and integrated graphics card. I don't recommend it at all!!! Depending on what you will be doing an entry level gaming laptop can do the job nicely. Dell do a decent one for about 1,000 with 4GB graphics card, SSD, 8GB ram. All upgradeable as well. The 10-15k quoted above seems a bit high for one machine but again it depends on what you are doing.
I was told; you will need to store each job on a separate, external drive.
I run Cyclone on a dual Xeon 2.13ghz cpu. 16.0GB of RAM. It works.
Get the biggest HD you can get.
Cyclone projects can easily top 2gb on a small project.
RADAR, post: 375222, member: 413 wrote: I was told; you will need to store each job on a separate, external drive.
At least with Cyclone this is not the case. I keep my current active jobs on my local hard drive and store the others on the server. When one pops back up I just copy it back to my computer. Basically the same work flow without a server and just using external hard drives. External hard drives/server storage made more financial sense to me vs. buying a computer with a huge SSD and try to store everything local.
Depends on the software. We got a screaming dual xeon only to find out the software doesn't use both chips. Ran sloowww Got a better one
Great point - dual Xeon only helps you if the software uses all the cores.
I wound not say you need to spend $10k on a machine but you don't want one you picked up at Walmart. Right now I'm out of town using my trusty Lenovo W510 laptop with an i7 2.0 GHz (x 920) processor;16 GB of RAM; 232 GB SSD; and a NVIDA Qudro FX 880 discrete video card to do some processing in Cyclone. Not the fastest system for the job but it gets it done when I'm away from the office.
Back at home I have a killer machine that I put together for around $5K. The chip is not Zeon but it was the latest top of the line i7 when I put it together at the beginning of 2015. Now days I only use SSD for storage. I did not skimp on memory and loaded it up with 32 GB. For the most bang for the buck I would recommend getting the best video card you can afford, you a pushing around a lot of pixels. I have had the best luck with the NVIDA cards. This is the one place you do not want to go cheap. The first scan workstation I built had a $400 card that was great for CAD but junk when I came to Cyclone. Look to spend somewhere around $1000 for the card alone.
P.s. Dual monitors is a big plus. I really miss them working on my little laptop monitor right now.
Dave Karoly, post: 375226, member: 94 wrote: I run Cyclone on a dual Xeon 2.13ghz cpu. 16.0GB of RAM. It works.
Get the biggest HD you can get.
Cyclone projects can easily top 2gb on a small project.
The little project I punching out while on vacation is an 8'x10'x30' deep vault in a dam (with water dripping like rain). As is sits now just the raw data for 2 high res C10 scans is over 2 GB and the Cyclone file sits at 8.5 GB.
Which brings up another feature for your work station, USB 3
RADAR, post: 375222, member: 413 wrote: I was told; you will need to store each job on a separate, external drive.
Once upon a time that was probably true, and a significant cost consideration. Not that the data files have become smaller but terrabyte hard drives have become common and 64Gb thumb drive are $20 items.
We are acquiring a new PS40. Finally Leica is providing a tablet with it and the high speed flash drive. The C10 is great but the downloading was not well thought out not too mention the third party wifi and 2x client on an iPad to control it (clunky). I just used the little screen on the side of the C10 which could be difficult but better than my phone with 2X client.
