What would be the minimum requirements laptop/desktop to run the 6300 comfortably?Thank You

Dolan Morrison

Tim - W4TME

This information is on the FlexRadio web site on the SmartSDR for Windows product page under the Requirements tab, but I'll summarize it here.


Operating System Requirements

SmartSDR for Windows is a Windows 32/64-bit WPF application designed to operate on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. The .NET Framework 4.0 Client Profile is required.

If you need to install the .NET Framework 4.0 Client Profile, the SmartSDR Integrated Installer will either install .NET Framework 4.0 Client Profile from the installation CD or try and download the necessary software from the Internet.

PC Hardware Requirements
Minimum required CPU for SmartSDR is an Intel Core 2 Duo or an AMD Athlon 64 X2 and greater. Lesser processors may not perform adequately when displaying multiple or full screen spectrum displays. However for the optimal user experience, as most hams run multiple applications along with SmartSDR for Windows such as loggers and digital mode programs, a quad-core CPU or greater is highly recommended.

SmartSDR for Windows is a WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) application which can utilize a video card’s graphics processing unit (GPU) for optimal rendering of high definition spectrum displays.  If your video card does not fully support hardware graphics acceleration or DirectX 9 and greater, then SmartSDR for Windows will revert to using the PC’s CPU for rendering the displays.  This will consume more CPU than running with a video card that has sufficient hardware accelerated graphics capabilities.

Steve N4LQ

Tim:
Looks as if SSDR requires more CPU than PowerSDR did or am I missing something? I thought one of the advantages of SSDR was less CPU/Video power needed. 
Steve N4LQ

Jon_KF2E

If you can afford a state of the art radio costing thousands of dollars, why would you want to try and run it with a POS computer? Today, you can get a lot od computer for not many bucks.

Jon...kf2e

Bill -VA3WTB

But I do see his point, there is nothing thin client about that kind of horse power...

W5XZ - dan

BUT, if you just want to run the radio, nothing else, it's TRUE.  LESS horsepower is required than PowerSDR.  The liquid smooth graphics, with multi pans, IS a sight to behold, with "Maximum Graphics Acceleration" however... of course, i doubt I'll ever see that on my galaxy S-3; and if I
could, I probably would not be able to use it, with a touch screen. ha!

JM2C  73, w5xz, dan

Ken - NM9P

There is a difference between what will work, and what will work well.  My old Intell Centrino laptop will work with the 6500 if I turned off a lot of the "bells and whistles."  But it bogs down quickly when I add multiple panadapters with panfall at high FPS rates, and if I try to add an additional monitor.  It bogs down even more when I try to add Digi mode software and logging software....  

That is why I added a Desktop with i3 and 6 Gm RAM and eventually added a medium power video card with 2G Video memory.  (I hope to get my third monitor up and running next week.)  This is no super-power gaming machine, but it runs everything I want with a CPU load of about 40%.  Not bad, and not all that expensive.

You can "run" this rig (6500) with a very thin client, but you cannot run EVERYTHING with one.  But you certainly don't need a top of the line super computer, either.

George KF2T

Just chiming in with 2 more cents. The CPU power required for SSDR is pretty minimal, since the "SDR" handling happens in the radio. The GPU (graphics) rendering and features are much more intense, due in most part to the amazing display capabilities (multiple, large slices, panadapters, etc.). Two options, as you've seen - invest in a machine with excellent GPU capabilities (best approach!) or reduce the FPS, averaging, color depth, resolution, etc., while running SSDR. The radio will still kick some serious ****, but it won't look as pretty or work as smoothly. SSDR with a single slice and lower FPS works wonderfully on a Windows 7 netbook with just 1 GB RAM. It wouldn't be my installation of choice long-term, but it does fine in a pinch.

Bill -VA3WTB

Looks like I am good to do then. I will not use the digital modes and logging software, I like using HRD logging, but I can do that on the other computer anyways. so If I use the flex just as the hf radio I should be good. I runs my 3000 very well at about 17% cpu.

Tim - W4TME

The answer is it can.  If you stream 4 channels of 192 kHz IQ data from the radio, run SmartCAT and SmartSDR with 4-8 panafalls running, then yes, it is probably going to use more CPU that a single 192k low-resolution PowerSDR spectrum display.