I just recently purchased 5000a & Need Computer

Chris Tucker

A Flex 5000A with second receiver and tuner is being shipped to me. I want to buy a dedicated computer for it. Will a Core 3 or Core 5 processor be enough with 8 mb memory and a 128 mb Solid State Drive.  Any tips for me ? 

Bill -VA3WTB

A core 3 or 5 would be good, how ever I would increase the mem more than 8 mb

Chris Tucker

Al K0VM

JohnK2CIB

JohnK2CIB

IU4IVR

Chris Tucker

IU4IVR

check motherboard for a free slot for firewire card ..besides this,a good power supply might help to reject rfi from pc, the same applies for the case..motherboard is a bet..might be good or not..but if the pc is game focused should be ok!

WX7Y

Paul - K6HR

Hello Chris, I suggest you look for an Intel i7 machine w/ 16GB RAM.  Something like an i7 K875 cpu, should be very affordable these days and has the horsepower you will need. Especially if you have any desire to run WSJT and/or any other 'cpu load intensive' software alongside your Flex. You will be disappointed that you didn't spend a few dollars more (or maybe even less!) to get an i7 cpu. I speak from experience. Unfortunately an i5, (and most certainly an i3) will be very disappointing later on. You'll also have a better experience using a decent video card as opposed to onboard graphics. They're are plenty of secondhand i7 machines out there. Keep looking until you find the right deal. And, as others have mentioned, make sure whatever you get has an available slot for the Firewire card. An i7 cpu will give you enough 'headroom' to run the Flex and a whole lot more. If you only want to run the Flex, and nothing else, an i5 will probably be ok.

Chris Tucker

Yes, it will be a dedicated computer

Chris Tucker

The guy who sold me the Flex 5000A is including a Firewire Card. 
Someone suggested I look at Gaming Computers, since most of them have stand alone graphic cards, etc, etc.

Clay N9IO

You might want to ask if the fire wire card is for the old IDE slots on the motherboard or the new current eIDE. Only reason I mention this is I picked up an HP I7 machine and it only had the newer eIDE slots so had to purchase a 4 come port card for eIDE. I have a bunch of 4 com port cards for IDE that are useless to me. I imagine you can probably find a motherboard with both just I have not seen óne. Just a consideration when you make the PC purchase. 73 de Clay N9IO

Chris Tucker

Thanks !

WX7Y

Remember 32Bit Windows can only access approx 3.5Mb of RAM so be sure you get a 64Bit version of Windows even if you put 32Gb in the computer the 32 bit OS will only find approx 3.5Mb. 

Clay N9IO

Yes Chris definitely want 64 bit, the HP I7 I picked up is 64 bit Win 10Pro, 16GB ram.

Plenty of overhead.

Chris Tucker

Thanks, this is good to know !

Chris Tucker

What about the hard drive ? 
The computer will be a dedicated Flex only computer, so would I be able to get by with only a 128 GB Solid State Drive ? 

Bill -VA3WTB

Yes your good to go,, the flex software does not use much space, and it leaves you with lots of room for any 3rd party software you need. The most space is used by windows.

David Fee

Chris, 128 Gb will be plenty.
I strongly advise not to put any other software on this system, as you say make it dedicated.
This will stop Windows from slowing down running background tasks from other programs and slowing down the radio.
I'd make an i5 with at least 8Gb ram the minimum.
The 5000 is a very, very good radio when teamed with a capable ( dedicated ) computer, I love mine !
Good luck and have fun !
Cheers....dave / VE7SGI.