Quick Sign In:  

Forum: General Discussion

Topic: Laptop choices

This topic is old and might contain outdated or incorrect information.

With the new stems feature I am faced with buying a new laptop, well new to me anyway. I will most likely will buy a used one.
So I would like to know some configuration users have found to work well with stems separations.

Im looking for what CPU you are using?
How much ram?
what video card are you using?

Im not looking for brand or model numbers just those specs I asked for.
 

Posted Mon 07 Sep 20 @ 12:50 am
Hi win 10 I5 or i7 prozessor 8-16 gb ram Geforce Grafic card :-)
 

Posted Mon 07 Sep 20 @ 6:51 am
For PC get a computer with Nvidia graphic card, 7xx series or better. Recommended 9xx or better.
For Mac get one with AMD graphic card.

The stems generated on the graphic card is the ideal way, since its ultra fast, and doesnt use the CPU for it ;-)

(if you are getting one without the supported GPU (graphic card), at least 5th generation CPU or better will work ok..)


 

Posted Mon 07 Sep 20 @ 8:58 am
discotronic wrote :
Hi win 10 I5 or i7 prozessor 8-16 gb ram Geforce Grafic card :-)


Does the processor generation make a huge difference?


 

Posted Mon 07 Sep 20 @ 9:42 pm
Djratedxxx919 wrote :

Does the processor generation make a huge difference?


While perhaps not huge, it can make a bit of difference.
For VirtualDJ anything from 5th generation and above should be ok (inc. stems if no supported GPU).
Earlier generations than that might work ok as well, but recommended spec is 5th gen and above.
https://www.virtualdj.com/wiki/Minimum-system-requirements.html

The later generation gives better performance, often higher clock speed, better efficiency, faster ram support, faster pci/slot support, etc etc

As for generations:
i7 - 5xxx, for example i7 5930k , the 5 means 5th gen. And equally i7-7700 means 7th generation.
Often they will also use "nicknames" such as Haswell, Skylake, Kaby Lake etc for each generation.

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/ can be of interest if you want to take a peak at value vs performance etc

 

Posted Mon 07 Sep 20 @ 10:30 pm
Last question, I just want to make sure I get the proper device. So would a 2nd or 3rd generation cpu with a required GPU like gtx 9xx handle stems well?
 

Posted Mon 07 Sep 20 @ 10:53 pm
Djratedxxx919 wrote :
Last question, I just want to make sure I get the proper device. So would a 2nd or 3rd generation cpu with a required GPU like gtx 9xx handle stems well?


The GPU will do all the stems work then yes... And cpu matter less.

Getting a GPU is the best investment if you have stems in mind.
A GPU will render the stems close to instant, while CPU can take some seconds, and if slow cpu even quite a bit of time.


(keep in mind a 2nd or 3rd gen cpu is a decade old, and probably not that much to save on getting that vs a 5th or 6th gen)
 

Posted Mon 07 Sep 20 @ 11:08 pm
Rune (dj-in-norway) wrote :


The GPU will do all the stems work then yes...
And cpu matter less.

(keep in mind a 2nd or 3rd gen cpu is a decade old, and probably not that much to save on getting that vs a 5th or 6th gen)


Ive found a few on ebay. Though i will focus on5th gen and above its good to know i have a little wiggle room. Like 3rd or 4th, my laptop i have now is a 2nd gen HP DV7, I was thinking about upgrading the video card to a gtx 9xx. I really don't want to give up the 2 harddrive configuration.
 

Posted Mon 07 Sep 20 @ 11:13 pm
If it can fit and use a gtx 9xx card it might be worth a try.
Think you can find those for decent price.

Its the recommended specs, 9xx and above. But you can also use 7xx and above if on budget. Those are for sure "cheap".
I got an old backup desktop with gtx 645, and even that card can do stems (using around 3-4 seconds or so on it)
 

Posted Mon 07 Sep 20 @ 11:30 pm
well cant upgrade this laptop. video card is integrated into motherboard .
 

Posted Tue 08 Sep 20 @ 12:09 am
I know I said last question before but i just had a thought.
I use my desktop to handle all my music and have my DJ tracks mirrored to my DJ laptop. Ill explain; On my desktop I have multiple harddrives c: drive where all new tracks go into my music folder, this is where i level and tag tracks. After prep is done i send it to my Library drive. On my dj laptop my second drive has the exact same name and files structure as Library drive so the file is automactly sent to my laptop in the corresponding folder. So anything done in the library drive is copied to my dj drive. Now if I compute the stems on my desktop if its copied to laptop, will the VDJ software be able to load the stem computed file?
If so i could do that until I can afford a better laptop.
 

Posted Tue 08 Sep 20 @ 12:39 am
Rune (dj-in-norway) wrote :
If it can fit and use a gtx 9xx card it might be worth a try.
Think you can find those for decent price.

Its the recommended specs, 9xx and above. But you can also use 7xx and above if on budget. Those are for sure "cheap".
I got an old backup desktop with gtx 645, and even that card can do stems (using around 3-4 seconds or so on it)


I just bought a gtx 770 for my desktop

 

Posted Wed 09 Sep 20 @ 3:24 am
That GTX770 got it running like butter. Not instant maybe 2-3 seconds for hiphop song but 6 seconds for rock like Kiss - Sure Know Something.
 

Posted Sun 20 Sep 20 @ 11:33 pm
LIMOLPRO InfinityMember since 2003
 

Posted Mon 21 Sep 20 @ 12:04 am


(Old topics and forums are automatically closed)