SURVEY--What Kind of Computer are YOU using?

[Peter Toth]

Hello to all digital cartographers,

Like many of you, I rely on my computer to produce my fantasy cartography, as well as the programs Wilbur and GIMP.

My current laptop, a 7-year-old Dell i5 6 GB with no video memory, is becoming obsolete as my file size exceeds 4000x2000 pixels. Naturally, I'm in the market for a new system, but I need your guidance to help me decide what model and specs to invest in.

Could everyone reading this memo please specify their computer, including the name (the make), the age (year purchased), RAM, VRAM, as well as the file size you normally work with?

Perhaps we could establish a benchmark to help everyone on the Guild invest in a computer that suits their cartography needs.

I appreciate everyone's involvement in this endeavor.

Cheers,

Peter

[Larb]

Well I am planning to upgrade mine over the next few months as this one is getting pretty old now but I'll provide the specs as best I can. I also use this computer for games as well as digital art. It is not a particular make though - it was a barebones system that I upgraded,

i7, 8gb RAM, GeForce 750Ti. Running Windows 7 Professional. Generally work between 1500x1500 to 3000x3000 - sometimes more depending on the thing. I still use Photoshop CS3 though which seems to hate larger canvas sizes (I think it can't make use of my graphic card's memory), coupled with 8gb RAM which seems low these days. SAI doesn't seem too bothered though. This system still runs most modern games fine though. I can't tell you exactly when I purchased it though because I forgot.

And I use two monitors.

[Falconius]

I doubt my computer will be much help for you since I built it for 3D work but I like computers so I'll share

It's a Ryzen 7 1700 (which got in anticipation of upgrading to the gen that will be released soon), 16 GB 3000mhz ram (but I've found it's not enough for the 3d work, I need 32 or in a perfect world 64), and a GTX 1080 with 8gb VRAM (important for rendering) which has served me very well. I'm running a 4k screen and a 1080 as my second screen. Ive got a wacom intous PT medium and honestly I'd never go back to working without a tablet input of some kind. Upgrades I'm looking at are in order: 16gb more ram, Ryzen gen 3 chip of the same class (I'm assuming it'll be called 3700 x), and possibly a 3Dconnexion input.
Edit: Although I'm sure it's not too relevant its running on a MSI x470 Gaming Pro, which I got to replace a Asus B-350 plus that was giving me some issues. The MSI is a pretty good board I've been happy with it. I've been on Asus MB's since like 2004 so it's also kind of interesting.

For painting 2d tasks I use Clip Studio Paint (pro?) which you can often get on sale, Krita for some stuff, and Inkscape for vector work (my biggest problem with Inkscape is it's limitation to one page only, also for my Shor City map it's actually a bit sluggish not sure of the cause, I think it's RAM related).

3D work is done on 3DCoat and Blender, and I've been seriously eying picking up MOI.

I've been keeping my eye out and if you are building a system and you have a certain reliance upon the graphics card you might want to wait till the release and reviews of the new AMD Vega's come in because I hear pretty good things about them.

[Jaxilon]

Alienware 17 R4 laptop
Intel Core i7
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
16 GB ram
win10 64 pro
2 x SSDs
This was purchased as my development machine so it is what butters my bread.
I think the most important thing is the 16GB ram as that's still the bump when I'm making giant maps.

[Azélor]

Most of my computer is new from last fall.
Only the case, fan and optical drive (that I never use) are original.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/VincentLocas/saved/

So far, it can handle anything without a problem (mapwise). But I must say that I got the habit of avoiding working on files that are too large.
The size of my files seems ridiculously small compared to others complaining about performance issues. It's likely because I use a lot of linework and very few textures.
I'm talking about the size in bytes not in pixel.

8 gig of VRam, the card can get noisy with some games but performances are good at 1080p 60Hz.
The gpu is definitely overkill, if you don't play games. The GTX 1050 would do fine.

16 g of RAM is probably a bit much but it's cheap and easy to upgrade.

Software: I use mainly Photoshop and Illustrator CS6, the latest version I can own.

[Mark Oliva]

Main Computer:
(Also have a 2nd desktop and a laptop)

Desktop with 27" BenQ monitor
Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit
Intel Core I7-7700 @ 4,2 GHz
32 GB DDR4 RAM
NVDIA GeForce GTX 1070 4 GB
3 x SSD 250 GB/250 GB/500 GB
1x 1TB Hard Drive
6x 2TB External USB Hard Drive
100 MBits Flatrate Internet connection
No tablet

Mapping Software:
Fractal Mapper 8 (main mapping software)
The GIMP (use occasionally to make mapping objects)
CC3+ with DD3, CD3, Character Artist, SS1, SS2, SS3, SS4, Perspectives, Cosmographer (use only Character Artist)
Dundjinni (don't use at all anymore)
MapForge (haven't used yet)

[Hai-Etlik]

Smaug: AMD Ryzen 7 1800X, Asus ROG Strix B350-F Gaming motherboard, 64 GiB Corsair Vengeance LPX 2666 main memory, Asus Dual (refers to having 2 fans) GTX 1070 8 GiB GPU, Noctua NH-D14 cooler with the front fan replaced with an NF-F12 PWM, Antec P183 chassis with 4x Noctua NF-S12A PWM fans, Corsair RM850 Silence PSU, 3x Benq GL2450 monitors (24", 1920x1080), WD Black 512 GiB M.2 SSD, WD Green 3TB IntelliPower 64MiB Cache SATA HDD, Western Digital WD Green 500GB 32MiB Cache SATA HDD, KUL ES-87 keyboard with Cherry MX Blue switches, Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS Bionic Beaver

Smaug has been around in some form since around 2012 when it replaced Glaurung as my desktop but has undergone multiple significant upgrades since then. I think the chassis, heat sync (less one of its fans and its mounting plate), and the chassis fans are all that are left of the original Smaug. The last major upgrade with in early 2018,

Kohaku: System76 Gazelle, Intel Core i5-8300H, 32GiB DDR4 2400 main memory, 500 GB M.2 SSD, Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS Bionic Beaver

Kohaku replaced Wyvern (A Lenovo Thinkpad T530) as my work laptop in mid 2018 and I was allowed to keep it when I was laid off.

Software used includes: Inkscape 0.92, Gimp 2.8.22, Eclipse 2018-09, QGIS 3.4.1, Blender 2.79, and Postgres 10.6 with PostGIS 2.4.3

I also use the same RFC-1178 implementation as the OpenStreetMap project.

[damonjynx]

Hahhah. I'm no help! I use a 2007 iMac with 5gb RAM and a 750Gb SSD drive, coupled with a Huion tablet 1610PRO IIRC and Adobe Cs4 (Ps, Ai, Id, Sw and so on). Recently we've upgraded our iPad from an iPad mini - 5 or 6 years old, to a 12.9" iPad Pro 256GB wireless with an Apple pencil. I'm playing around with Procreate and may move my cartographical efforts to that once the other half has finished her diploma (reason for upgrade) or the iMac dies, whichever comes first...

[Amanda91]

Core i7 6700k
16gb DDR4 3400mhz
GTX 1070 HoF
120gb SSD
500gb HDD
60mb internet

[Jaxilon]

One thing I think to remember is that you are likely to get all of us folks who have strong systems pitching in here....why? Because why else, in most cases, do we have powerful machines if not to taunt our friends.

What you want to do is look for the common denominator in these and at who turns out the best work similar to what you want to create using the weakest machine. Then you know what you can and cannot do without.