minimum PC requirement for basic scope system

[bosone]

hi!
I have 2 unused boards and I'm trying to setup a second PC with just that 2 cards to run SFP 5.0 and the scope plugins.
the PC will be ADAT connected to my main DAW with VNC and I will just run win XP and SFP on it. So no sequencer, no ASIO, no recording/playback, just scope power!
One of the board is a pulsar 1 which has of course low PCI bandwidth. But I had a test on a pentium 3 and I can run up to 4-5 dynatubes or a mastering suite (optimaster, psyq, vinco, eq, SBC) or some reverb. that is not a problem.

Unfortunately the PC i was using is no longer working... shame!!

So i have to find another (old) PC to reinstall winXP and SFP but I was wondering which are the minimum specs I should look for... since i don't want to spend money on this!
for example, is an AMD 1 GHz too slow? but I suppose a Pentium 2 will not run XP... or any PC running XP will be fine?
RAM is not an issue since i can gather several banks.

thanks for your help!

[HUROLURA]

What type is the 2nd DSP board ?

My Scope 5.1 modular dedicated PC is a brave old Pentium III 500 with Win XP pro SP3 with 1 GB Ram. Though sometimes slow to refresh screen, it just works quite flawlessly.

[bosone]

it's a LUNA. I have 7 dsp to use! this is the last try before definitely selling the boards...

[HUROLURA]

Is the Scope 5 key attached to Luna or Pulsar ?
Regarding PCI bandwidth, Luna is better (i.e. 2nd gen) than Pulsar.
That was my point.

Maybe you could find an old good Win XP PC with 3 free PCI slots for a small amount of money, or you can grab one from friends or relatives who upgraded their setup.

[bosone]

SFP 5.0 is on pulsar 1!
yes, my plan is indeed to find some old pc at zero cost...
maybe, if the system works well, I will purchase another luna to add some DSP power, but even with 7 dsp i should do what i want to do: mastering station and optimaster/reverb extension with no PCI bandwidth problem (at least on the PC i have tried).

the only doubt is how "easy" will be to use VNC to control this PC from the main DAW.

[bosone]

OK, I have foudn an old PC (pentium 3), installed SFP 5.1, pulsar 1+ luna.
set up internet via wifi USB

connected this PC to my master DAW via ADAT and controlled it via tight VNC;

there are 2 problems...

1) there a crackles!!! as soon as i connect the ADAT SOURCE in the main DAW I hear crackles. I don't know why, since my other ADAT/SPDIF gear (fostex VC8, VAMP; POD) are OK.
the cracles stop if I turn off the PC... I also tried 2 pairs of adat cables but nothing changed.

any ideas on this??

2) thightVNC is pretty slow and seeing the meters in the slave PC with a small lag is really annoying...

So... I finally think i will give up!
and i will make the decision to sell my old pulsar 1 and luna...

[HUROLURA]

Regarding the crackles, maybe a clock master/slave setting issue ?

Regarding the slow display, my solution regarding such configuration is using a KVM switch instead of going through ethernet connexion to remote control the other PC.

My current setup has 4 PC sharing the very same Keyboard/Mouse/Display:
- the main one for handling the Xite-1 under Win XP
- one is my good old Scope SDK 4 setup also alternatively Scope 4.5 setup under Win XP
- one is a Mod IV dedicated 3U rack PC with Win XP
- last one is my Fanless Win 98 SE PC used as a NOAH like rack

[bosone]

I had the idea of a KVM switch.
I found it for some euro at a second hand market, without cables. then i purchased the cables but found that they were the wrong type! :-/

I feel the KVM would be 10x better than VNC...

which kind of switch do you have?

[HUROLURA]

It is a D-Link DKVM-4K providing switch for VGA SubD15+PS2 Kbd+PS2 mouse.

I tried another one found on ebay before but found out the kbd/mouse wasn't switched until I rebooted the different computer (a much useles or defective one actually).