[SOLVED] iPU vs. GPU Graphics

[Coast Guard]

Hi Gang

I have a Dell Precision 3620 i7 7700K (with onboard sound & graphics). My goals are: video editing (mainly SD), and the use of several versions of PhotoShop. Although I considered only a 2GB graphics card, (rather not get involved with PSU upgrade at this time), I've been told there's no need to install a GPU? Apparently I currently have driver support for the existing iPU and it can use up to 50% of RAM available in the system as VRAM. And apparently will also get the latest WDDM 2.7 feature support on Windows 10 v21H2. I'd be willing to invest in a suitable GPU but it seems I may have underestimated the current iPU?

Any other thoughts?
Thank You!

 

[lvt]

Photoshop doesn't need a dedicated GPU just to use it, this app uses CPU extensively.

You'd better invest in a good SSD, more RAM, and even a better CPU.

 

[Coast Guard]

Photoshop doesn't need a dedicated GPU just to use it, this app uses CPU extensively.

You'd better invest in a good SSD, more RAM, and even a better CPU.

Other than 'faster boot time', I see no need for an expensive SSD (with proportionately less space capacity for the high price). Currently have new WD Black 1TB system drive, with 2TB scratch drive and 32 GB Ram ... I just bought the machine. I'm 73 years old (not a gamer). Have no intention of replacing the CPU. It blows away my old machine .

 

[USAFRet]

Other than 'faster boot time', I see no need for an expensive SSD (with proportionately less space capacity for the high price). Currently have new WD Black 1TB system drive, with 2TB scratch drive and 32 GB Ram ... I just bought the machine, (no way will I get invloved in replacing the CPU), it blows away my old machine .

An SSD is far far more than just 'faster boot time'.
$100 for a 1TB SATA III SSD.

But to your original question, that Radeon 5450 would be a poor purchase, compared to the iGPU in the 17-7700k.

 

[Coast Guard]

Thank you .... and that's exactly why I'm returning it.

$100 for a 1TB SSD vs. $79 for a 2TB HHD

Thanks for the comment. So far, I'm seeing amazing results with conventional HHD. Disabled on fixed income, can't justify that expense ...

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you .... and that's exactly why I'm returning it.

$100 for a 1TB SSD vs. $79 for a 2TB HHD

Thanks for the comment. So far, I'm seeing amazing results with conventional HHD. Disabled on fixed income, can't justify that expense ...

Currently have new WD Black 1TB system drive

Personally, I would never ever have an HDD as the system drive.
I've not had that for about a decade, on any system where I have an actual choice. It does make a real difference.

 

[Coast Guard]

Thanks for the comment USAFRet (and thanx for your service). I might re-consider an SSD for the 'system drive' and use the HHD's for storage. I have dozens of them which store extensive video for a WWII Documentary. But I'd also like to avoid possible conflicts with communication to numerous externals via an Esata PCIe card. Not to mention the capability of the motherboard? And BTW Mr. Estimable (thanx for your comment): Photoshop 7 functions with a scratch drive, I wasn't sure how demanding it would be on the iPU?

I'll have to research any incompatibilities with SSD?

Thank You !

 

[USAFRet]

I'll have to research any incompatibilities with SSD?

A SATA III SSD such as a Samsung 870 EVO or Crucial MX500 is a direct drop in replacement for your existing 1TB HDD.
In fact, we could even do a direct migration of all the data from HDD to SSD. No new install or setup needed.

 

[Coast Guard]

Hi again USAFRet

Thank you for staying with me on this. I appreciate your suggestions and, (since I was going to re-format anyway), or unless you have other cautions, I'd be more comfortable with a new install rather than a direct migration. It would be great if this goes smoothly. I'll post a question on the Dell Forum just to be sure the motherboard will function with a system SSD? It appears I'll need a bracket-adapter, and of course a Sata Data Cable, unless 'other' connections are necessary? The Crucial gets a high rating on Amazon. BTW here's a Picture of the drives associated with my G5's.

Thank you USAFRet & Mr. Estimable

 

[USAFRet]

2.5" adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Internal-Drive-Mounting-BK-HDDH/dp/B00G57BN1M
+ cables: https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Internal-Drive-Mounting-BK-HDDH/dp/B015MSJ1DG

If you're going to replace, the cables that are currently used for the HDD will work.
If you're going to add the SSD, then yes, you need another SATA data cable.

One of my SSDs is that specific MX500.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

An ssd as your boot drive would make the machine feel new. At my work my pc is a Dell with an i7 6700. Used to have just a 1tb hard drive. It was one that you could start up, log in, and walk away to get coffee. My boss let me put an ssd in (I’m in the IT department), and now you start it up and it’s a few seconds to a minute or so and it’s running. I’ve had them in personal PCs for a while. It will make your clicking around and general use much faster I think.

As far as your old hard drives, you can certainly keep them connected for longer term storage and use the ssd as your boot/working drive.

 

[USAFRet]

I'll post a question on the Dell Forum just to be sure the motherboard will function with a system SSD?

If someone there says "No", they are wrong.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

It will work fine. I’ve put drives in old PCs from 2011/2012 and they are just fine, including Dell optiplex systems. An ssd drive usually makes a big difference. I’m spoiled these days and don’t have any spinning drives in my gaming pc at home.

 

[Coast Guard]

Thanx again to both USAFRet & ohio_buckeye

I've actually got plenty of extra Sata Cables, (was just concerned the SSD might need a specialized cable)? The amazon illustration encourages some sort of USB to Sata cable? Not in this case, of course I'll be plugging into the Boot Port on the motherboard. As for speed, this 3620 is already a 'Lightening Fast' replacement to my original owner 10 year old Optiplex 790! In actuality, I use older G5's for the main documentary. But that photo illustrates I continue to use Esata enclosures for Video. Nice to know ohio_buckeye uses Dell and a decent testimonial for the Crucial SSD from USAFRet!

Thank You & Best Regards
Mike

 

[USAFRet]

I've actually got plenty of extra Sata Cables, (was just concerned the SSD might need a specialized cable)?

No. It uses the same standard SATA cable as your current HDD.

 

[Lafong]

I'd be more comfortable with a new install rather than a direct migration........ I'll post a question on the Dell Forum just to be sure the motherboard will function with a system SSD?

The SSD would use the same connections as an ordinary SATA spinning hard drive.

"New install versus direct migration"....

The latter would be either a clone operation or a image/image restoration operation. There is some learning curve, but an excellent chance you can be walked through it here. Chances of success circa 97 to 99% and you'd end up with an immediately usable replica of the HDD, with Windows, applications, and configurations intact as they were on the HDD.

Weigh that against the time required for your "new install" of Windows, all applications, and configuration of both. If that time is 1 hour, maybe you do the new install. If it is 10 hours, maybe you try a clone/image . Up to you entirely.

I do some degree of photo and video editing myself, with Photoshop CS2, which I think is aka Photoshop 9.0. I have always used integrated graphics with no issues. I frankly don't notice any great difference in Photoshop from an SSD versus HDD, but I don't use it for hours at a time or to make money. CS2 pops open in about 4 seconds from my SSD.

 

[USAFRet]

Cloning vs fresh install.


Install:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Cloning:
-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specifiy the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

 

[Coast Guard]

Hello there Mr. Lafong! Nice to see you ...

No worries here - I just picked up the 3620 and haven't installed much of anything so far .... so I won't mind a new format ... 🆒

"I have always used integrated graphics with no issues"

I've been hearing that a lot these days ... I'm just an old dog I guess .... Hey USAFRet convinced me on the SSD after all this time ... ALWAYS TRUST A VETERAN!

 

[Lafong]

Hello there Mr. Lafong! Nice to see you ...

No worries here - I just picked up the 3620 and haven't installed much of anything so far .... so I won't mind a new format ... 🆒

"I have always used integrated graphics with no issues"

I've been hearing that a lot these days ... I'm just an old dog I guess .... Hey USAFRet convinced me on the SSD after all this time ... ALWAYS TRUST A VETERAN!

OK; get your ducks in a row about how to do a clean install while you are waiting on an SSD. Be sure to get the right size. Crucial MX500 is a good standard 2.5 inch choice.

I was one of those vet things myself, decades ago. I was the buck private in the rear rank, trying to keep the First Sergeant from seeing me laughing hysterically as he was chewing out another buck private who was dumb enough to line up in the front rank of the formation. Emerged unscathed from the Battle Of El Paso (Fort Bliss).

 

[Coast Guard]

"do a clean install while you are waiting on an SSD"

I do them in my sleep ... .... how many of my compadres here can say they've been formatting since Windows 95?

BUT YES - ROGER THAT - and Thank You ...

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I’m only 41, but my first computer was a Commodore 64 at 5 years old. My first pc was an amd k6 200mhz running windows 95. The rest is history as they say.

 

[Coast Guard]

Hey guys thanx again for all the moral support ....

One last question for my USAF buddy or anyone: Just wanna make sure the 2.5 to 3.5 adapter cradle fits inside the 3620 Caddy? Correct?

Here's an excerpt from the 'Back Story' and here's the twin G5 set up with endless externals LOL

Thank You
Regards
Mike

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Can’t say on the 3620 adapter specifically but sometimes in the dells I’ve used those brackets with they can be pretty tight due to small screw holes on the bracket, so you may need a drill with a small bit to make those holes a little bigger. These ssd drives are very light, so I’m not above using double sided tape to stick them to a flat part inside the case.

 

[USAFRet]

It should fit.
Those adapters are meant to replicate the physical size and mount holes of a 3.6" drive.

Slight tweaks may be needed.

 

[Coast Guard]

"Slight tweaks may be needed "

Thank you my friend - ohio_buckeye gave similiar feedback. I'm pretty good at making adjustments - we'll see how it goes and I'll post the results. Today I ordered the Crucial 1TB SSD, should get it soon. And again my thanx to 'you' and 'lvt' (Estimable) who were merely trying to present convincing evidence as to the merits of SSD technology.

Be Back Soon ... Happy Flag Day!