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What kind of computer do you guys run for a RIP?

Raghaus

Raghaus

New Member
I'm running an older i5 Dell with 8GB of RAM with the OS from an SSD with Rasterlink for my small Mimaki UJF3042MKII, which is perfectly adequate for the size etc. The machine also drives my 24" Summa cutter with no problem. Now I'm in the process of adding a larger machine, likely a UCJV300-130... What kind of computer / processor / how much RAM do you guys use to drive the larger roll-to-roll machines?

FYI - I might be one of the few people on here who actually like Rasterlink, but I also have never used it with a larger machine or cutter.
 
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Pauly

Pauly

Printrade.com.au
RIPs need processing power. not as much RAM.

I have 12 large files open in the RIP and software open. Im using 7gb of ram out of 32gb.
 
richsweeney

richsweeney

New Member
I think the main thing is to retire any rip older than 4 years. Turn the rip into a work station and up grade. I used to upgrade every 24 months, but 48 months seems right in 2022
 
balstestrat

balstestrat

Problem Solver
Basic use you can use almost anything that's decent from last years. Just drop a large SSD in to handle the files and it will speed up things like 10 times compared to HDD (I'm sure many of you are still running them). These days you can get a good 2TB SSD for $150 if not less.

Then when you start having multiple printers and/or you are dealing with hundreds of files daily you will see a benefit on the multithreads. But that also needs RIP-threads (Onyx, Caldera). Otherwise it won't benefit you.

And then it's time to fix your network. Won't help if your PC is lightning fast but it takes 5 minutes to send that file to the printer...
 
jochwat

jochwat

Graphics Department
Here's the rig that runs my RIP.

LetErRIP.JPG


Laugh all you want, I charge by the hour.
 
Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
When it comes to CPUs and RIPing, clock speed is the most important factor. RIPing is not a process that can be parallelized so more cores doesn't do much unless your RIP is also your design computer in which case more cores will allow you to multi task better.
 
N

netsol

Premium Subscriber
Also remember, it makes a difference, what generation processor it is

A client asked me the other day why his new i5 (12 cores) seemed to be faster than his Older i7 (only 4 cores)
Even though the speed numerically was the same
 
Goatshaver

Goatshaver

Shaving goats and eating bushes
I'm running my Epson 40600, Graphtec and Summa cutter off my laptop. I could use a bit more power for handling larger files but it's served me well for the last couple years.

My Lenovo P50 with an Intel Core I7-6700HQ (2.6GHZ) and 16GB Ram.
 
balstestrat

balstestrat

Problem Solver
Solventinkjet said:
When it comes to CPUs and RIPing, clock speed is the most important factor. RIPing is not a process that can be parallelized so more cores doesn't do much unless your RIP is also your design computer in which case more cores will allow you to multi task better.
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It's not true. Onyx for example will benefit from more threads. If you have the license it will RIP simultaneously in multiple threads.
Very usefull when doing panelling or opening many jobs at the same time etc.

Of course it's only for the ripping part of the process but Onyx is kind of a pain in the ass on that. And multiple RIPs help a lot if you handle a lot of files.
 
Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
balstestrat said:
It's not true. Onyx for example will benefit from more threads. If you have the license it will RIP simultaneously in multiple threads.
Very usefull when doing panelling or opening many jobs at the same time etc.

Of course it's only for the ripping part of the process but Onyx is kind of a pain in the *** on that. And multiple RIPs help a lot if you handle a lot of files.
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For sure. If you're RIPing multiple files at once it can help. But if you're a one man shop printing a file at a time on one printer it's not as helpful.
 
V

victor bogdanov

Active Member
I purchased a new rip PC when I bought a Colorado. Ryzen 5800x, 32 gig ram and adding more and more Hard drives as needed. Handles Onyx 422 no problem, sometimes I'll open 20+ files that are 1 gig each and it rips them no problem. The mechanical HD read speed is the bottleneck with the huge files
 
10sacer

10sacer

New Member
Raghaus said:
I'm running an older i5 Dell with 8GB of RAM with the OS from an SSD with Rasterlink for my small Mimaki UJF3042MKII, which is perfectly adequate for the size etc. The machine also drives my 24" Summa cutter with no problem. Now I'm in the process of adding a larger machine, likely a UCJV300-130... What kind of computer / processor / how much RAM do you guys use to drive the larger roll-to-roll machines?

FYI - I might be one of the few people on here who actually like Rasterlink, but I also have never used it with a larger machine or cutter.
Click to expand...
Signburst makes a whole line of graphics dedicated computers. Casey is a real smart guy. Tell him your needs and he will build one out for you.
 
V

victor bogdanov

Active Member
JBurton said:
What's the holdup in the upgrade? I guess it's been 10 years since I put one in my own setup and then the RIP pc, the difference is amazing, backup as needed to something more stable.
Heck, you can do a raid array for like $150 if you motherboard supports it and really feel the difference.
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The holdup is I have 15 TB of data and adding 100gb daily during busy times , mechanical is the only way. having 2 local copies of 15TB and growing gets expensive. i do lots of wall murals and when everything is split up into panels each order ends up being 5+ Gigs. I like to keep the files for a couple of years as I get asked for reprints alot. The OS is on SSD
 
V

victor bogdanov

Active Member
JBurton said:
Then you're the target demographic for one of those signburst setups. I bet they could even help you automate offsite backups that could save you a good deal of cash and headache on actually dealing with the files as far as dealing with them when your done with production. Doesn't sound like you need the help, but if it saves time its saving money after all...
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I have everything auto backed up to 2 cloud services but I need all those files on the rip pc because any one of the files could be needed that day. Getting it even from a local server/NAS takes too long. not sure if there is a way to rip from a NAS, haven't looked into it too much but it would be great if I could rip from a NAS instead of having to have the files on the RIP pc
 
V

victor bogdanov

Active Member
JBurton said:
In theory a nice internet connection and SSD's would beat the pants off a dedicated beast retaining all of your onsite storage. Not trying to harp on ya, it sounds like something I'd setup and defend to the death, but if you are storing everything on one PC and counting on it for emergency calls, you are on a freight train to disaster. At some point something dumb will fail, and you'll lose serious time troubleshooting the PC, downloading the files, or setting up a new system with the on site drives. An ideal option (if you've pretty well nailed down production as far as your profiling and color matching goes, if you constantly tinker you'd have to constantly update backups) would be a linux OS and a VM windows install, fiber to the shop, and a couple of backup PC's to literally fire up with the running windows virtual machine.
But I tinker, I'm lazy, and I do none of those things in an over the top manor like that. I also understand the downtime potential with internet as your primary backup of old files, nothing I backup is only on the cloud, but it's not necessarily spinning on a disk.
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I design and get files ready for print at home. The home PC is my main PC and has every work related file on it and everything is backed up to 2 cloud services. Every morning I load up the new files on a portable hard drive and take them to the shop. At the shop I copy the files over to the RIP PC and to a local server that has mirrored HDD. The server also gets 2 cloud backups.

I have at least 3 copies of all my files at home and shop and 4 cloud backups. The cloud backups can overnight the backups on Hard drives if needed, I'm also on Gigabit internet at home

Came very close to losing all my files a few years ago when I didn't have any backups so go overboard now lol
 
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