[RTTY] Intel NUC, anyone?

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

> ​So my question is this ... how much of the processing for RTTY is
> done by the sound device (avoiding $0.99 USB dongles) and how much is
> done by the CPU? Will their least expensive Core i3 be adequate?
*ALL* of the processing (decoding) is performed by the CPU.  The sound
card - whether it is a "$0.99 dongle" or a "$200 professional" card -
is simply the analog to digital converter on receive and digital to
analog converter on transmit.

When looking at Windows based computers for amateur use, you are
primarily interested in the amount of RAM (16 GB is appropriate for
Windows 10) and the number of "cores" (simultaneous execution units).
With Intel processors, the sweet spot appears to be quad core processors
(8 simultaneous execution units - each "core" handles two execution
units) while AMD processors tend to do better with six core processors
(each core can execute only one "thread").


73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 9/30/2017 4:40 PM, Peter Laws wrote:
> I've been dancing around replacing the PC at N5UWY (2006 Dell Precision 670
> with a Xeon or two - I forget - and 16 GB RAM) for quite some time now but
> have now been introduced to Intel's little NUC boxes.  If you don't mind a
> Celery processor, they're really cheap.  As soon as you make the jump to a
> Core i3 (or i5 or i7), the price jumps up a lot but still +/-$300 if you
> don't go nuts.
> 
> Some cases have room for a 2.5" disk, some don't.  No room inside for
> "cards" but no one cares.  Some do have MB headers for serial ports if you
> are desperate.  Plenty of USB 2 and 3 and DP/Thunderbolt and HDMI and SATA
> connectors depending on which version you get.  These things also run on
> "12-19 V dc", which opens up interesting possibilities.
> 
> ​So my question is this ... how much of the processing for RTTY is done by
> the sound device (avoiding $0.99 USB dongles) and how much is done by the
> CPU?  Will their least expensive Core i3 be adequate?  I'm assuming the
> answer is yes but really need more expert advice.  What about for more
> DSP-intensive stuff like the JT modes?
> 
> 
> ​Here's an example: ​
> https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=56-102-168
> 
>