PC and monitor aimed at image stacking and processing

[Orion]

I've had some discussions on some Facebook astro forums and obtained some hints and suggestions.  Thanks Red Dwarf Rob - the intended PC will be used to continue following your book.  I have received my first quote which I'd welcome feedback.  I won't be making any decisions without some other quotes and more importantly, a consensus of feedback.  The monitor can be obtained elsewhere £40 cheaper. 

 

I gather, for the monitor, a 24" is regarded as a minimum to some imagers.  IPS panel rather than TN, but I'm still open to extra views (the monitor suggested has a TN panel).  RAM memory to be 8Gb minimum.

 

First quote for a custom build.  I'm not sure what the make is, if the PC is a tower, whether it contains Wifi, DVD bay or not.  

 

"£784 including VAT. The specification of the machine, is an I5 3.00Ghz processor, a Geforce 1050 2GB graphics card, 1TB of storage and 8GB of RAM. The operating system Windows 10 home edition.  If you also chose to have a monitor from us we could supply a AOC E2460SH 24" monitor at £147 including VAT. "

 

I'm not looking for second hand or refurbished machines.

 

Comments welcome, thank you, Derek

 

 

[+Bino-viewer]

It seems a bit pricy to me.

 

I know you say your not looking for refurbs etc, but i would try SB computers in Long Eaton.

Alot of their stuff is as good as new, best prices around, much better than the stuff PC World etc sell.

 

Check them out.

 

http://www.sb-computers.co.uk

[Orion]

Thank you Rob, I think the other Rob mentioned them too, which were on the cards to check or make an enquiry.

[Bottletopburly]

Only thing I would say is get a SSD  drive even if it’s only 250 gb as a primary and have a 1or  2tb as a secondary, they are so quick and can easily keep up with imaging rates , response times are so quick , and usb3 ports too , as newer cameras are usb3   

[Orion]

Yes, thanks. I'm not really familiar with SSD for PC's. Are they the same as the SSD's used for storage, often found as 500, 1000, 2000 Mb USB devices? Or are they different compared to the relative much larger 250 Gb you mention?

 

Another thing I'd ask is, when I bought my Pentium II in 1998, it was partitioned as a 10 Gb hard drive, split between C - the primary! (2 Gb) and D (8 Gb). At that time, desk tops used to use only A (flexible drive) and C. But the introduction of a partitioned drive was new, I think aimed at keeping the operating software and programs from data (D was the data drive).  But is later became apparent that my C drive was filling up with programs and I couldn't put any more on. I had to uninstall programs.  Some years on, I learned that, the big idea then was to have this great idea of having a C drive only because the partioning way (which seemed a short lived idea) was the better way.

 

So, suppliers went back to supplying hard drives based on C, and programs could benefit from using the whole PC space.

 

I don't know if the 250 Gb SSD you mention is purely for the operating system, or operating system plus programs?  If for op system and programs, I can see what could happen, a reinvention of history.  So can you clarify in case I just don't understand the purpose of an SSD these days, though it sounds uncannily like partitioning to me.

 

 

[Bottletopburly]

5 hours ago, Orion said:

Yes, thanks. I'm not really familiar with SSD for PC's. Are they the same as the SSD's used for storage, often found as 500, 1000, 2000 Mb USB devices? Or are they different compared to the relative much larger 250 Gb you mention?

 

Another thing I'd ask is, when I bought my Pentium II in 1998, it was partitioned as a 10 Gb hard drive, split between C - the primary! (2 Gb) and D (8 Gb). At that time, desk tops used to use only A (flexible drive) and C. But the introduction of a partitioned drive was new, I think aimed at keeping the operating software and programs from data (D was the data drive).  But is later became apparent that my C drive was filling up with programs and I couldn't put any more on. I had to uninstall programs.  Some years on, I learned that, the big idea then was to have this great idea of having a C drive only because the partioning way (which seemed a short lived idea) was the better way.

 

So, suppliers went back to supplying hard drives based on C, and programs could benefit from using the whole PC space.

 

I don't know if the 250 Gb SSD you mention is purely for the operating system, or operating system plus programs?  If for op system and programs, I can see what could happen, a reinvention of history.  So can you clarify in case I just don't understand the purpose of an SSD these days, though it sounds uncannily like partitioning to me.

 

 

SSD or solid state drive same principle as memory cards you put in your camera there’s no moving parts so no heat generated and no noise they don’t slow down I can boot my pc up within 20 -30sec , you can partition if you want to but I don’t on my laptop I picked up a 250gb SSD for £45 I replaced I my main drive which was 1Tb I installed it as my primary then I took out my cd rom and put my 1Tb  in there as my secondary works well , I just move stuff to secondary  as and when required no partitions on my system , I will never have a pc that doesn’t run primary from a SSD , price is the only obstacle, I got a 750gb for sons game pc and that was about £180 , personally I would get a laptop that has requirements needed it will be cheaper than getting bespoke 

[Bottletopburly]

 Btw you can still have a separate monitor with a laptop  most new have pc come with a hdmi socket .

[Orion]

Yes, thanks. I'm not really familiar with SSD for PC's. Are they the same as the SSD's used for storage, often found as 500, 1000, 2000 Mb USB devices? Or are they different compared to the relative much larger 250 Gb you mention?

 

Another thing I'd ask is, when I bought my Pentium II in 1998, it was partitioned as a 10 Gb hard drive, split between C - the primary! (2 Gb) and D (8 Gb). At that time, desk tops used to use only A (flexible drive) and C. But the introduction of a partitioned drive was new, I think aimed at keeping the operating software and programs from data (D was the data drive).  But is later became apparent that my C drive was filling up with programs and I couldn't put any more on. I had to uninstall programs.  Some years on, I learned that, the big idea then was to have this great idea of having a C drive only because the partioning way (which seemed a short lived idea) was the better way.

 

So, suppliers went back to supplying hard drives based on C, and programs could benefit from using the whole PC space.

 

I don't know if the 250 Gb SSD you mention is purely for the operating system, or operating system plus programs?  If for op system and programs, I can see what could happen, a reinvention of history.  So can you clarify in case I just don't understand the purpose of an SSD these days, though it sounds uncannily like partitioning to me.

 

 

[Orion]

Thanks for the explanation.  I don't think I'd be getting a laptop. It might be that I might want to leave on a desk top for an extended period. I don't want to increase the risks by leaving on a laptop, unattended.  I've heard too many stories of fire from some laptops. One friend came down to noises and found his laptop was on fire.  The batteries contain a lot of stored energy, unlike a desktop, where it would probably just turn off if a problem arose.