Flex 5000/PSDR Praise - Flex 6xxx/SmartSDR Question for users

N5LB - Lionel

First a disclosure, as an owner of a Flex5000. I really enjoy the equipment and PSDR and have many enjoyable hours and contacts in the log.  PSDR is running on a W10-64/A10-7800 and as a rule has been reliable since installed. The Firewire card is the recommended chipset.  Latency is normally very low and the CPU meter on PSDR bounces between 8 and 20%. Every so often W10 will engage in some background activity and can result in a hang when running CW.  I know where some of the unpredictable issues come from and I know and use the typical solutions.  I have no complaints.  What I do have is the intention to upgrade to SmartSDR and a 6xxx in the near future and a curiosity about users' experiences on CW with W10 and a 6xxx.
Do SmartSDR users sometimes experience similar issues (on CW) caused by the OS and non Flex services and apps? From the perspective of a user who upgraded from PSDR, is SmartSDR more demanding on the OS and CPU?

George KF2T

I'd say SSDR is actually LESS CPU-intensive for the most part. Since all the SDR processing happens in the radio, not in the PC, SSDR is just a client application.

It can get quite intense with multiple panadapters open with lots of high-refresh video going on. A good video card with ample resources will be a help to you.

I run SSDR in a Parallels Windows 10 virtual machine. The machine is set up with 2 processors, 4Gb RAM and 256 Mb video RAM. Average CPU use is around 10% with one slice. With four running, about 21-22 percent. Your mileage may vary.

Very pleased with my move to the 6500 over the last 3-4 years.

(PS - on a lark, opened SSDR to full screen, 14 MHz bandwidth, turned averaging off, display FPS and rate to maximum. Single slice 37%. With four identical slices, CPU usage stayed about the same, but the video started showing a little jumpiness. Ran fine, though.)

Duane_AC5AA

I can't address moving from PSDR and the 5000 since I moved from a TenTec Orion, however I find that the CW issues are just about zero. In two years of operating (90% CW) and using CWX or the built-in keyer, I have had a very few occasions where CWX didn't start sending the instant when I pressed the function key. Very few - as in I could count on one hand. I've found the 6500 and SSDR to be very stable with almost zero issues on any of the modes I've used (mostly CW plus RTTY and SSB).