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Computer Rip Station Question

M

mharrison

New Member
Im going to have another printer installed shortly and Im thinking about putting a computer next to both machines. I would like some help with what computer requirements I will need. I curently use Windows Vista with Flexi 8.5 pro along with Production Manager. This new printer comes with Wasatch. I will have these computers networked so that we can send the artwork to it and use it for just the rip. Can a regular HP computer handle this task? Thanks for any and all help.

Martin:smile:
 
RobGF

RobGF

New Member
What's a regular computer?

Is the question do you need to have something souped up to handle a new printer? Perhaps, perhaps not. Wasatch will have specs on their site as to their minimum requirements on their website and that's perhaps a good start.

In my experience, you want a fair amount of juice for the RIP component of the process but I don't know if you really have to worry about assembling a box with all of the latest and greatest hardware. For instance, I have Wasatch SoftRIP driving 3 printers and I have never had a problem with simultaneous printing/deliveries using a 3ghz PC with a single processor (not even dual core).

Now having the latest and greatest would certainly reduce my actual RIP times but Wasatch is a fast product in its own right and this configuration has never slowed me down except when doing a trade show booth. Sure, I'd like to have something newer for this station but until it really becomes a bottleneck I can't be bothered to spend the money.

YMMV
 
M

mharrison

New Member
RobGF, Thanks for the info. Thats kinda what I was looking for. I bought 2 Hp computers with Dual Quad Core intel Proscessors with 4g ram, Q6600 Processor, GForce 8400 graphics card, and 640g Hard drive. This is what I meant when I say regular computer (store bought). I just want to buy another computer for the rip and not have one built. Thanks again for the info.

Martin
 
cdiesel

cdiesel

New Member
It really depends on your workflow. We use some very basic (2gb ram, 2.4ghz core2duo RAID 0) computers for our RIP stations. As slow as they are, the printer is slower. As long as you keep them pretty busy, and can RIP one file while outputting another, you can save a few bucks here.
If you don't have a ton of work, and will often be sending one file at a time to print, you may want to opt for a faster computer.
 
C

ChiknNutz

New Member
I just built a custom rig using the Q6600. One cool thing about Wasatch is that it can use all multiple cores...meaning that it will RIP multiple files simultaneously. We have a job right now where we are RIPing some large jobs (multiple 4x8-ish panels) and they are taking like 3-5 minutes to do 4 at a time!!! This is SO much faster than on the 'old' PC that is still no slouch...a dual core AMD Athlon 4200+ processor.
 
eforer

eforer

New Member
Quad cores are awesome if you are doing the above: Ripping multiple jobs simultaneously. Multiple meaning 3 or 4 really. The issues is that as far as I know, none of the rips can multi-thread a single rip job. IE, the benefit of a quad core is really lost if you tend to rip one job at a time. In that case save yourself some money and go with a core2duo. In fact, in a 1 job at a time scenario the clock speed will be more important than the number of cores.

So to summarize, ripping a lot of jobs at once, go for the quad. 1 job at a time, go for the core 2 duo.

Finally, I really recommend having separate RIP and design PCs. My office is next to the print room, so I have our RIP computer and a design workstation in there. I found a neat piece of software called MaxiVista, which allows you to control two separate PCs via 1 set of controls really seamlessly. It gives you a ton of configuration options so with a click of a button I can go from a dual head display of my design computer to a side by side view of my rip and design stations. Again, both computers controlled by 1 keyboard and mouse seamlessly.
 
W

wetgravy

Guest
eforer said:
I found a neat piece of software called MaxiVista, which allows you to control two separate PCs via 1 set of controls really seamlessly. It gives you a ton of configuration options so with a click of a button I can go from a dual head display of my design computer to a side by side view of my rip and design stations. Again, both computers controlled by 1 keyboard and mouse seamlessly.
Click to expand...

OH MAN! Thank you! I have been trying to find something like this for a couple days now that wasn't just remote desktop software. I will have to play with the trial to see if it will be usable in my studio.

Completely a hot bowl of awesome sauce if it does.
 
jiarby

jiarby

New Member
I have a design workstation (new-ish i7-920 Quad, 12gb Ram, Win7-64) and a separate RIP workstation (my OLD workstation, P4-3.2 Single Core, 4gb RAM XP-Pro, Onyx 7).

Unfortunately the mobo in my RIP PC uses a 915P chipset so the CPU is not upgradeable to a Core2 LGA775.... Upgrading means a mobo upgrade, then probably new RAM, etc... I have not found it to be worth the hassle.

I design on my fast PC then export to a hot folder shared on the RIP PC. I can then KVM (or even VNC) to the RIP PC to kick off the RIP and then go back to work (or surfing) on the design workstation.

I use a 4 port Belkin KVM switch (had for 10-12 years now). One port is my Design Station, One is the RIP, One is a spare for hooking up various machines and one is empty.

2-port KVM Switches are cheap! I have a couple in a box somewhere! check ebay or CL

I use a single monitor, but may go to a dual setup... will look at that Synergy software.
 
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