Time for a New PC.

[JimmyJet727]

8 gigs of ram is not efficient. A small silicon injection would really help that system.

Quite true. And RAM for older PC's is dirt cheap...

8GB PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHZ 1.35V SODIMM Memory HMT41GS6BFR8A-PB N0 at Amazon.com

Buy 8GB PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHZ 1.35V SODIMM Memory HMT41GS6BFR8A-PB N0: Memory - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

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I've seen many occasions when upgrading from 8GB to 16GB gave a *big* performance improvement. Like waking a sleeping giant. If a PC has an empty RAM slot, pull the existing RAM stick and take a picture with the cell phone. Expand the picture so the model number is readable. (helps tired old eyes) Search the model number on Amazon/Ebay and quite often they have the exact same item at low cost.

 

[merlin]

8 gigs of ram is not efficient. A small silicon injection would really help that system.

You can push these up to 16 Gb, worth the upgrade.
I stll have half dozen trashed after the Vegas expo, they all had Umbutu OS.
Was going to jump on the Linux bandwagon, but a long lost project.

 

[JimmyJet727]

+1 on these refurbished Optiplexes. Solid hardware options and good prices with these things; the used market is flooded with 'em. I've purchased several over the years and used them for radio stuff, HTPCs, home servers, and MIDI workstations.

All true statements and same experience here. Solid machines. For a while I was buying a couple Optiplexes per year from CraigsList in the $80-$120 range. Just random projects doing whatever. CraigsList kinda dried up in my area then Amazon lit up with them, which is nice should a return be necessary, but I don't recall any returns. Absolute bargain/bang for the buck.

 

[Alan531]

Which Model?

I am using a BeeLink SER5 MAX. I don't believe that it is still being distrubuted, but they have newer models out. I've also heard good things about the S13 also made by BeeLink and is one of the cheaper options. I spent $300 something on my SER5, configured with a 1TB SSD and 32GB of RAM. Nice little unit and zippy fast using the Ryzen 7 chip.

 

[KMG54]

I am not a gamer but love building PC's. Have two high end machines I never use. Have two beelink 8745 series doing everything I am capable of!

 

[Deziel0495]

A few months ago I got a Lenovo ThinkCentre M710q with a Intel Quad-Core i7-7700T 2.90GHz, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and Win 10 Pro for around $200 CAD. Great little machine.

 

[jschmall]

I recently (3 months ago) upgraded my SDR PC to a Dell Precision 3420. $100 off Ebay plus a 4-hub USB 3 PCIE card. Currently handling 18 RTL-SDRs and 1 Airspy R2.

The Airspy Mini is attached to an Optiplex 7040 I had lying around. That machine is also handling some HF software and other radio experiments.

 

[JimmyJet727]

Love it! 19 SDR dongles? That has to be a record.

 

[jschmall]

Love it! 19 SDR dongles? That has to be a record.

Ha probably not but it’s enough for now. Actually, I want to add a couple more but that’s a project for another day.

 

[airwavelistener]

I found a HP 800 G3 that I forgot I had in a storage Bin.
It has an i5-6500T,16gb Ram and 512gb SSD.
Would this work for 3-4 SDR Dongles?

 

[JimmyJet727]

I found a HP 800 G3 that I forgot I had in a storage Bin.
It has an i5-6500T,16gb Ram and 512gb SSD.
Would this work for 3-4 SDR Dongles?

Yes. That's basically the same horsepower as my mini Dell running 2 dongles at about 20% CPU. Still plenty of resources for other tasks (even YouTube) and never had a stutter. Definitely worth a try. To clarify, I'm running sdrtrunk on Linux Mint Mate.

 

[jblackst]

I found a HP 800 G3 that I forgot I had in a storage Bin.
It has an i5-6500T,16gb Ram and 512gb SSD.
Would this work for 3-4 SDR Dongles?

Even with Windows, that should run 3-4 SDR dongles along with SDRTrunk just fine.

 

[airwavelistener]

Even with Windows, that should run 3-4 SDR dongles along with SDRTrunk just fine.

It does have Windows installed on it. Yes, SDRTrunk is what I would be using.

 

[KQ4ZVY]

oh no now im in trouble. You lot had me looking up the specs on my radio server and I can get it tricked out for really not much money... curses!