Computer system guide

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This page contains some general hardware guidelines, regarding computer configurations and components, suited best for the needs of composing panoramic images with Autopano. All the info on that page is derived from my personal experience, which, in the last 10 or so years, involves assembling and maintaining a range of computer systems for different small companies, including my own.

This page will try to stay out of specifics and too much detail! It it targeted at the enthusiast, who is past beginner and the prosumer, who make plenty of panoramas or just want APP to perform better. Obviously, if you're getting involved in a project, consisting of hundreds of gigapanoramas, or some specific hardware or image format, you need much more know-how or specialist consulting, so this page is not for you.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them in this topic

Contents

General guidelines

Autopano is probably the best pano tool in regards of system resource utilization. Version 2.0 adds threaded panorama detection and it uses the GPU for Panorama Editor acceleration as well, so not many parts of the software have left that are single-threaded.

The main contributor to fast performance is the CPU, then comes the HDD speed and lastly - the amount of RAM.

  • Multi core CPUs have great advantage over single core CPUs. Even today, a common Q6600 should give at least 2-3 times the single core performance. If you're using Multiband rendering, you should see quite an improvement in rendering too.
  • HDD speed is most important when using Smartblend, but even if you're using Multiband, the source images have to be read and the resulting render must be stored on the drive as quickly as possible. Also, if you're feeding RAW files to APP, HDD speed is of huge importance.
  • Having tons of RAM is not a strict requirement, but it can help tremendously with larger projects or plenty of smaller panos you want to keep open in the same time.

HDD

  • Not all HDDs are created equal--even at the same rotational speed. Compare WD Black vs Green, the black drives are fast, the green are power efficient.
  • Current drives are those with 320 or 500GB per platter. I'd go with Baracuda 7200.12, 1TB, two 500GB platters or at least 640GB WD, two 320GB platters.
  • Keep in mind that there are special RAID editions drives from most manufacturers, which cost more, but perform better in RAIDs. Still, it's better to get two VelociRaptors instead of two RAID drives.

RAM speed, bus speed, multichannel memory

  • Make sure the CPU, motherboard and RAM you get have compatible (bus) speeds. For example, Core i7 CPUs have 800MHz or 1066Mhz bus speed, so you should get corresponding RAM.
  • Beware of pre-assembled systems' advertisements. Some systems advertise the processor has 1066MHz FSB, but use 800MHz RAM. Others advertise that they use 1066MHz RAM, but use a processor with an 800 MHz FSB.
  • Dual-channel memory requires the corresponding RAM slots on the MB to be filled with identical RAM sticks. i7 supports triple-channel memory, so that means three stick of the same RAM, if you want to unitize the better speed.
  • i7 has a concept of "rank". If you use two quad-rank RAM sticks in the same channel, the currently available i7 and equivelant Xeon processors will drop memory access time to 800 MHz.

Video card

  • Current display adapters are pretty powerful and luckily APP can utilize this power to make the Panorama Editor changes work in real time (as opposed to waiting a few seconds to a few minutes for a refresh of the preview).
  • How much video RAM is enough - find a thread or ask Alex?
  • List of supported cards?

The PC of today

  • Q6600 or Q8400, optionally overclocked to about 3.2Ghz
  • At least 4GB, but preferably 8GB of RAM
  • At least 8600GT with 256MB RAM, but preferably 9800GT with at least 512MB RAM on it, which is cheap and has more than enough power for APP and will run recent games as well :)
  • 64-bit (x64) OS of your choice, I'd go with Windows 7 as soon as APP plays nice with it.

If you use Smartblend...

...you have to be aware that Smartblend is not multi-threaded and uses the hard drive a lot during the final rendering phase - blending. Currently, that's the biggest bottleneck in APP workflow, especially with larger projects. So the aim is to get a better performing HDD, so your panos render quicker. If you don't use Smartblend - skip to the next section.

HDD, no RAID

If you don't want to build a RAID array, you can go with single or several separate disks:

  • 150BG or 300GB VelociRaptor (VR) for the source files and temp files
  • If you have the money, get a separate VR for the temp files
  • If you get two VR, install the OS on one of those and keep the sources there, while putting the system SWAP and APP temp files on the other.
  • Choose whether to render to Disk1 or Disk2 depending on your free space. I'd go with rendering on Disk2.
  • If you can get three VR, then you have plenty of cash, so look into the RAID option :)

HDD with RAID

  • Separate VelociRaptor 150 or 300GB for the system and software. You'd want a system that's available even if your RAID array collapses.
    • If you cannot afford a separate VR for the system, better get a current 7200rpm drive and still keep the system separate.
  • Preferably three drives in RAID5, obviously it'll be best to use VelociRaptors. If not, use any current drive of a size that suits you.
  • If not RAID5, put at least two current drives in RAID0, but be sure to schedule a backup!

Ramdrive

External drive/case

An option to add a Raptor or Velociraptor in an external HDD case, connected via eSATA to your PC. eSATA and Gigabit ethernet are becoming ubiquitous. External storage could be the solution for fast, reliable, accessible and portable storage.

If you use Multiband...

...then you don't have to worry about HDD performance as much.

The PC of tomorrow

Let's say APP 2.2 is out and it includes Smartblend 2, which is multi-threaded and does not put so much strain on the HDD. By the end of year 2009, this is the PC you should be aiming for.

  • i7 920 or 940 or a similar alternative
  • At least 6GB (3x2GB), but I'd say 24GB (3x8GB) is a reasonable amount, as 8GB sticks start to appear on the market
  • Some member of the GTX 2## familly, probably 280, but at least 220. This may be too much, as currently 9800GT is more than enough, but we cannot speculate whether APP will or will not use the GPU processing power for more tasks in the future (for example to speed up rendering).
  • Solid state drive for your system and software and temp files. By the end of the year 256GB drives will become accessible and very fast alternative to classic HDD in terms of dollar-per-GB.
  • RAID5 or similar for storing your sources. Plenty of motherboards support RAID5 out of the box with simple tools. 3 disks get you space, redundancy and faster performance on low price. As of May 2009, you can get 3 x 1TB disks (each last-gen 2x500GB platters) for less than USD 500.

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