Computer Upgrade Time - Best Features to Run Logos 7 Smoothly

I've had my desktop computer for a few years now, and am planning an upgrade. Currently I have a AMD A6-5400 3.6 ghz processor, with 8 GB RAM. 500 GB hard drive. Logos 7 runs now, but its pretty slow. What's the best boost for the buck? More processor muscle or more RAM? I can get a very good deal on a Intel core 5 with 12 GB, but am wondering if I should pay a little more and get more RAM.

Thoughts?

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Graham Criddle

The thing that most people find really helps is having the Logos files - and ideally operating system files - on a solid state disk.

With that and a good current processor and 8GB RAM should be fine.

Dan Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/900647#Comment_900647

Solid state drive is without question needed for good performance, I would also say with the relatively cheap price these days of RAM 16 GB would be a better investment to have a machine that will last you a few years. Quad core would be nice but most processors should give a satisfactory performance. I have even heard of i3/m3 processors giving a satisfactory performance but the mid level processors would likely be better.

-Dan

Sylvio Janelle

David,

Perfect timing to ask the question, thanks! Same situation here...

Graham Owen

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/900657#Comment_900657

+1 for the SSD

Dave Hooton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/900647#Comment_900647

What Graham said/implied ---> a 250 GB SSD at least.

Wild Eagle

I've had my desktop computer for a few years now, and am planning an upgrade. Currently I have a AMD A6-5400 3.6 ghz processor, with 8 GB RAM. 500 GB hard drive. Logos 7 runs now, but its pretty slow. What's the best boost for the buck? More processor muscle or more RAM? I can get a very good deal on a Intel core 5 with 12 GB, but am wondering if I should pay a little more and get more RAM.

Thoughts?

I would keep it the way it is if you are on budget, except adding SSD as primary drive (Disc: C) for Operating system and programs and move all documents, music, pictures to hard drive.

Erwin Stull, Sr.

The SSD will be a tremendous performance boost, and they are affordable these days (if you are considering an upgrade). 250GB (or 256GB) for under $100, and 500GB (or 512GB) for under $200 US.

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

Another +1 [Y] for Solid State Disk (SSD) or PCIe. Personally look for write speed over 500 MB/s (spinning hard drive can write ~ 80 MB/s)

Currently I have a AMD A6-5400 3.6 ghz processor, with 8 GB RAM. 500 GB hard drive.

Geekbench Processor benchmarks => http://browser.primatelabs.com/processor-benchmarks

5438 Intel Core i5-7600K (noticeably faster)
1978 AMD A6-5400K
1964 Intel Core i5-4202Y (bit slower)
973 Intel Core i5-470UM (lot slower)

Depends on Intel Core i5 model whether changing CPU feels faster, slower, or the same.

Another computer component is graphics card, which could allow larger monitor(s) to be used (with faster response).

Keep Smiling [:)]

Mark Barnes

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/900647#Comment_900647

With that and a good current processor and 8GB RAM should be fine.

I agree with others that a good SSD will make by far the biggest impact. However, if you multitask, or tend to keep lots of browser tabs open, you'll also see some benefit in going above 8GB RAM. (Chrome, in particular, eats RAM.) Windows will use spare RAM to cache files you use often (including Logos files). That will rarely happen if you have 8GB or less.

It's also worth remembering that RAM is by far the easiest upgrade to do yourself, so if the PC you buy has spare RAM slots, you could always upgrade later, and probably save money too.

Patrick S.

We are assuming you are using Windows? Therefore computer will be Windows 10.

In order of importance/benfit:

SSD drive — for OS and the full Logos installation. This, really, is an absolute must. But be careful you don't want to be 'unequally yoked' — make sure the controller on the computer is at least the mainstream standard of SATA 3.1 - 6 Gb/s and matched to a SSD drive which also supports the same standard. Also SSD drives can vary a lot in quality and longevity (full support for TRIM feature being important).
Then you also need to consider the controller on the SSD drive — for example I have a Samsung SSD drive in my computer, the model I got had a controller which was only available on the larger SSD drives, and it (on paper) has tangible benefits.
Memory — realistically 8 GB of RAM, these days, is starting point. 16 GB is better.
i7 Processor — this makes a difference. You don't need to get the 'bleeding edge' i7 processor (beloved of gamers) but go for a mid-range i7 CPU if you can. Also, naturally, a desktop CPU will always outperform a notebook CPU.

Anyway at the end of the day it is the actual experienced (perceived) performance that counts, and how you are using Logos of course.

My desktop computer is an iMac 27" Mid 2011 — from pressing start to when my screen renders the Logos 7 home page (with all the stuff on it) takes 8.2 seconds. I find that acceptable given that in startup Logos 7 is going to the Internet (slower than an SSD drive!) and refreshing documents and downloading content for the home screen.

When my machine indexes new resources Logos 7, at times, takes almost 90% of CPU resources so a faster CPU (plus with more bandwidth) is going to help.

I've never yet seen anyone post any 'benchmarking tests' for Logos to be able to compare machines (part of the difficulty of that is everyone has different number of resources etc.) but here is a very simple query which basically is referencing indexes. On my iMac I get the following:

Search = "Jesus NEAR Christ"

213,716 results in 53,118 articles in 1,054 resources (1.14 sec)

Of course Logos 7 is not returning (rendering on screen) all those articles it just returns the first page of multiple pages of query results (which obviously is desirable).

Here's another (one of the example queries):

"(<Person Jesus> OR <Person God>) INTERSECTS {Speaker <Person Jesus>}"

I get 53,590 results in 3,011 articles in 23 resources (11.48 secs)

Bill Cook

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/900690#Comment_900690

Get the fastest processor, with the most RAM, a fast video card, and a fast SSD you can afford.

David Wanat

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/900826#Comment_900826

Get the fastest processor, with the most RAM, a fast video card, and a fast SSD you can afford.

That raises the question, what sort of Video card is best without being overkill?

Dave Hooton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/900958#Comment_900958

That raises the question, what sort of Video card is best without being overkill?

Note that integrated graphics/video is fine for Logos (but not so good for games). So get a video card if you can afford it i.e. if one is included in your price range! Even then, it may not be used for Logos because (Windows) Notebooks only use the video card for certain applications by default due to power saving.

Luke B. Wolford

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/901031#Comment_901031

On my laptop at least, you can right click on the icon and choose whether to run Logos with integrated graphics or the graphics card.

Dave Hooton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/901124#Comment_901124

On my laptop at least, you can right click on the icon and choose whether to run Logos with integrated graphics or the graphics card.

Ditto (I tended to use the manufacturer's 'Control Panel' settings).