I am looking at upgrading the computer I dedicate to my radio work
and I am looking for some advice. It is an old office Dell running at
2.66GHz with 1Gb RAM.
There are two reasons:
Firstly, I want to de-clutter my desk and use only one computer for
radio and everything else (mostly web browsing, email and office
work). But I don't want to slow down the radio signal processing
whilst I look at BBC News, for instance.
Secondly, my existing computer already seems rather slow. I often run
HDSDR, WSJT-X and Opera together, and it works more smoothly if I
turn off the waterfall displays on these. It struggled when I ran
OPDS. I would like to try EbNaut but I don't think it is man enough.
It would be good to run SpecLab more or less permanently, too. The
computer clock seems to drift when I use too many programs (heat
problem?) so I need to use NTP software with frequent polling to keep
the time accurate. By chance the computer has a dual video card and I
found it useful to run two screens, but again it seemed to slow
things down too much so I stopped.
My question is: What do you think are the things to prioritise for
your own radio computers? Processor speed - is dual processor
essential? RAM - how much is essential? Are there reasons to have
lots of HD space?
I see advertisements for "ultra-fast gaming computers" - would these
give any benefits?
Is there a complication if I want to use two screens?
Is there something important that I have missed?
I want to get the best value for money but I am confused by the
specifications.
Mike, G3XDV
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