PC #1: I am keeping this PC: It is running an i7-3610QM @ 2.30GHz (I believe with auto turbo) and 8GB memory. This one has Intel HD Graphics 400. PC is a 64 bit system.

NEW PC #2: I am considering replacing PC #2, an old PC, with a new one that has an Intel Skylake Core i7-6700HQ 2.60 GHz with auto turbo up to 3.50 GHz and 8GB DDR3L 1600MHz SDRAM. Graphics is integrated. Machine is 64 bit.

Question 1: Do you feel the SETI output for 6700HQ will be about equal to the 3610QM I already have? (This laptop is under $700 so it appears to be pretty good bang for the buck. Cost is a major factor.)

Question 2: Based on comments I have seen in here, I doubt it is worth it to add another 8 GB memory to either machine. For example, PC #1 is running 8 SETI threads with 100% CPU usage and 3.61 GB memory.

Thank your for your comments. JB

Answering Q2 - SETI is very conservative in the amount of memory it needs, so 8Gb should be enough. A quick look at Windows Task Manager will show you how much memory each task uses. Just now I'm seeing an MB on the CPU uses a total of about 80Mb, and an MB on the GPU grabs about 2750Mb, I've no APs running just now. So doing the quick and dirty sums for whats running just now
6 off CPU MB = 6x70 = 450Mb
6 off GPU MB - 6x275 = 1650Mb
That's a grand total of 2100Mb

Allow 3Gb for windows as a rough guide.

That gives a bit over 5Gb in use, which means 8Gb is adequate for running my system.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Thank you for taking the time to answer about memory. In the past I have gone for more and more memory, but I would rather spend my money on other aspects. Yes, the memory usage I gave was from Task Manager. Thanks again.

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I'm running a laptop with Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4720HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz (8G RAM) with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M running 8 SETI threads for 16 hours/day which gives me a RAC ~8700.
I don' use the built-in iGPU as it is heating my CPU to much so the throttle get down to <1 GHz.

Q1: Without GPU-tasks (as in january) it gives me a RAC of ~4000, so you should be able to get at least 4000 on that new one.

Q2: Memory usage is less than 4G even if I watch Netflix or similar, so 8G is more than enough.

Thanks!

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