15th Feb 2024: Astro Pixel Processor 2.0.0-beta29 released - macOS native File Chooser, macOS CMD-Q fixed, read-only Fits on network fixed and other bug fixes
7th December 2023: added payment option Alipay to purchase Astro Pixel Processor from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and other countries where Alipay is used.
I am looking to get a new system soon and want to make sure that I get something that APP can take full advantage of. I'll be processing some very large subexposures (122MB from the ASI6200 Color and Mono). I would assume LOTS of memory, and LOTS of cores, but what about the GPU? Or if I have a good GPU, can I get fewer processing cores? How is the Vulkan & Metal (MacOS) API work related to this?
Right now I have a 4.2 Ghz i7 with 32G RAM and Radeon Pro 580 (8GB), and it will take pretty about 7 or 8 hours to fully process about 200 subs (5 nights). I'd like to get something that can speed that up. My assumption is that the GPU processing that is being worked on WILL add a major speed boost. So I want to be ready for that once it's available, but I would also like to get something that will work with the versions now.
Roy
I'll be watching this issue with great interest since I recently bought an ASI6200 mono as well and am looking to buy a new MacBook precisely for processing the images.
Wouter
Well, that's already a nice setup so those sub exposures are large indeed. Basically it's all about the amount of cores, memory, disk speed and definitely for the future a nice GPU. I would advice to go for a desktop if possible as these tend to be cheaper in comparison to raw performance (and still have better performance overall anyway). The new Threadripper CPU's from AMD are amazing for this, then a nice M.2 SSD directly on your motherboard for the processing part, as much memory as you can put in and a good GPU. Basically any GPU would already give a speed boost when Vulkan is added and this should work on either NVidia or AMD. If you want to keep it with MacOS, also there a desktop would be better (though getting expensive very fast). If you do simply need a laptop, I would go for something like the new 16" Macbook. It has a dedicated graphics card.
You can also think about keeping MacOS as your work laptop and buying a Windows or Linux machine that you can spec to your need and upgrade parts on when needed. That might even be the cheapest option.
When Vulkan is added is not known to me, I do know it's a pretty complicated thing to add, so will take time.
