Computer recomendations, Dell's For LV8 using 500Ks/S 6031E PCI card?

[Vr6Fidelity]

Ok So im going to buy a computer for recording data using LV8. What are the requirements for the computer?

FSB speed? is 533 enough? 800?

Ram? 256MB DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz -1 DIMM

Processor? Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 521 w/HT Technology (2.8GHz,800FSB)

Computer will be a Dell, and im sure more is better with everything. But what is the minimum i need as to not choke the capacity of that card.

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

Vr6...

I would presume that the 6031 card handles all it needs via onboard hardware WRT signal acquisition and timing. It is the post processing in software that will tax the PC hardware. If I am wrong here, someone please set the record straight.

I would bump up the RAM as suggested by NI in the LV 8 Upgrade notes to at least 512MB.

Personally suggest you go with 800MHz FSB

Video? At least 1024x768 capable per upgrade notes. If application is graphics intensive, I would suggest a dedicated AGP or PCI-e card over an on-board video adapter.

Hard drive- probably not an issue WRT speed or capacity. LV needs 1.2G for full install. SATA's are faster than IDE's

At least one open PCI slot if going with the PCI version of the 6031

That's all I can think of

[Vr6Fidelity]

Celeron or pentium?

Is my 6031E PCI-E or PCI-x compatible?

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

Here's a link to the manual for the 6031E and brethren:

https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/370503k/resource/370503k.pdf

It looks as if the 6031E only comes in standard PCI and PXI formats.

I would go the Pentium 4 route.

WARNING: Looking at your message title, you want to sample at 500ksamples/sec. I think the 6031 has an aggregate rate of only 100ksamples/sec. Please check the manual to verify. I have no experience with this card.

[Dennis_Knutson]

I wouldn't recomend a celeron for any kind of serious work.

The 6031E (and all E series boards) are PCI only. Some of the newer M series boards are available in PCI-Express versions. The M series boards have better specs and cheaper as well.

[Vr6Fidelity]

Yes i was just schooled by my local sales rep. Now i know a few things. Im gonna get an optiplex pentium.

Ram suggestions?

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

6.72 TeraQuads worth But that will cost you a lot of gold pressed latinum.

 Again, NI recommends at least 512M, and not knowing what you plan to run SW wise on the system, personally I would get at least 1Gig. Memory is 'cheap' these days.

[jasonhill]

I wouldn't recomend a Celeron to prop a door open.

I had problems getting LabView 7.1 to address more than 2G of ram on an XP machine.  I.e. on a 4GB machine, I would still get "out of memory" errors with "only" 2G in use.  I don't know if this is a limitation of LabView or Windows.  I have not pushed my luck with LV8 (yet).

[Vr6Fidelity]

Have my eye on this now:

OptiPlex GX520 Desktop: Intel Pentium 4 Processor 640 with HT (3.2GHz, 2M, 800MHz FSB) 80GB HD

Running XP pro

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

Very well, but avoid the desktop and small form factor case, you will have a hard time fitting a full height PCI card in only a low profile PCI slot of 2.5" high.

Again, to reiterate, the 6031E will not sample at 500ks/s no matter how poerful of a PC you have.