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john banks
12-09-2011, 4:29 PM
Wondering if E8400 at 3.6GHz with 4GB, 2 x SATA 2 7200 RPM drives (RAID 0 but backed up regularly!), and 8800GT-512MB with 1920 x 1200 24" monitor will be OK for general laser cutting/engraving design work, using CorelDraw X5 etc.

I expect it would, and whilst desktops are not that expensive, every saving helps when setting up a new business and I already have the above setup spare. Is a dual monitor setup of much benefit for this sort of work? I gather CorelDraw is a 32 bit application so cannot use more than 2GB, which is less than what is free. Would an SSD or i5-2500K make an obvious difference to productivity?

Lee DeRaud
12-09-2011, 4:41 PM
The phrase "insane overkill" is running through my head for some reason. :eek:

CorelDraw is not CPU-intensive in the same sense that gaming or video editing are, nor is it at all sensitive to disk speed. If a stable 64-bit driver is available for your laser, I'd probably go to 64-bit Windows 7 and bump the memory up to 8GB just on general principles, but it's not really necessary.

Howard Garner
12-09-2011, 6:21 PM
Go the dual monitor route.
Main application on one screen and notes, calculator, etc on the other.
I shudder when I have to return to a single monitor system.

Howard Garner
VersaLaser V300, Corel X3

Mike Null
12-10-2011, 9:06 AM
That computer is considerably more powerful than what I've been using for the past three years without any problems. And I have everything on this pc; accounting, graphics software, email, internet and office software. I use Carbonite for backup BTW.

Chris DeGerolamo
12-10-2011, 1:08 PM
We just upgraded to SSD's and they are killer fast. You sacrifice capacity so if you go that route, set up a slave or use and external if you have to. RAM and CPU specs more than enough...i5 would be overkill in my opinion. Just put a 24" on our laser computer and the difference is amazing.

Chuck Stone
12-10-2011, 3:48 PM
I second the dual monitor. I've been running contiguous monitors for years, and
recently one monitor went out. I forgot how much Corel and Photoshop SUCK on
a single monitor!
Use one big monitor for your image, put all the tools on another monitor. Nothing
more irritating than having to move all your toolboxes so you can see what you're
working on! Monitors are cheap, and most video cards out there can support two.

Graphics tablet and contiguous monitors .. the two best things to ever happen
for graphics processing.. even better than RAM upgrades.

andrew zen
12-10-2011, 3:58 PM
OMG You system is grossly underpowered. If you send me your system i will send you a perfect system for your requirements and I will pay for shipping........ i need a new server like yours.


Any motherboard out there supports dual monitor. But I even have one monitor Atom systems which controls the laser,, two monitor system for the one where I layout the designs because it is more convenient, but sometimes I use the Atom system, with no problems. I do video editing, and that requires your system, laser cutting, needs nothing special to pass the to the driver,.

My offer stands :)