Venturing into Software Defined Radio can sometimes be frightening when it comes to learning how to choose a computer to run SDR (software defined radio) which in my case is for the Flex Radio 5000A. I started out trying to use a mediocre PC running Windows XP on a Pentium 4 processor which now when I look back, it was very frustrating to hear I would have to find a more powerful computer. It is definitely a steep learning curve and somewhat expensive finding that "right" computer which will do everything, now and in the near future as software increases in complexity. Luckily in July of 2009, I found a computer at Best Buy which was a QUAD 4 Phenom Processor with 4 GB of RAM, expandable to 8 GB if needed later. It is the model HP A6700Y for $549 and after doing some research on GOOGLE, found that it's graphics was integrated into the mother board. Someone on E-Bay was selling the same PC for $349 which they called "refurbished" but more research showed that because of the integrated graphics, it was unwanted by most gamers who wanted a QUAD 4 machine but with the ability to easily add a new graphics card.
Needless to say, I had one in a matter of 5 days off of E-Bay. Best buy had a nice Graphics card, the GFORCE 9800 for $94 which I purchased but also discovered I would need a heavier power supply to run this new card. Best Buy had the Antec EA500 for $85 which is a great power supply with oodles of connection cables for now and in the future if needed. This was my first time installing a graphics card into a PC with integrated graphics and was somewhat apprehensive disabling the integrated graphics and then turning off the PC and installing the rather long GT9800 card. This card must be installed in a PCI 16E slot without any extra power supply connections. I crossed my fingers and rebooted with a monitor connected to one of it's VGA outputs. Low and behold, the screen lit up but with rather large icons but after running the included Nvidia CD and installing drivers, the display was great. I must say that operating with two monitors is the only way to go and in the near future will be using three since the SDR console with it's CW interface requires a screen, MixW on another monitor and logging on the third.
The Flex 5000A had to be installed on this new computer since it was connected to a DUO QUAD ASUS PC which is normally used at the living room entertainment center since it has HDMI output and can download NETFLIX videos. The latest FIREWIRE software and FIRMWARE was downloaded along with the latest SDR Console 1.18.10 version. The 5000A must be connected with power turned off when installing the FIREWIRE program. New FIRMWARE was available also, making everything run smoothly. My first contact using this QUAD 4 computer was a station in Russia using about 80 watts. The audio settings were saved from the earlier hookup and was told I had excellent sounding USB. Of course I went back to using CW after my first contact on voice and am well pleased.
So, for a total of about $560 (including E-Bay shipping), I now have a computer which never hesitates when using more that 3 applications at the same time.
While browsing around at Best Buy the other day (August, 2009) I was looking at the various pointing devices and spotted the trackball type where the ball is manipulated by the left thumb. One thing about Best Buy is, if you try something and don't like it, retain the packaging and return it for full refund. It comes with software allowing you to adjust the pointer speed etc. The mouse can also be installed using USB or PS2 and in my case used PS2, not that it would use up resources but prefer the solid connection. Am able to swiftly move the pointer from one screen to the other and tuning the SDR console is a breeze.
CPU Usage while running Flex Radio on 20 meter CW along with N3FJP logging, MixW and CWX
