PC Spec help

[Blake 7]

Hi Team!

Just a quickie - as most of you know i'm a Data Analyst and as such perform lots of matching routines, pivoting, filtering, de-duping, and ect ect but on lots of data - sometimes up to half a million rows.

I am finding however, that things take an age to process, I have turned off the Calculation Thing in Formula > Calulation Options to try to speed up performance. But still things take forever.

My boss is willing to get me a pc fit for purpose, so my q is... is there a min spc that I should be using? what do you guys use? Is it all about the RAM or is processor speed important?

Cheers

[arthurbr]

DDR3 RAM will certainly help - quad core CPU with high levels of cache - MB with high FSB frequency and someone to pay the bill

And if you're boss is in the mood, ask for High speed SATA HD (7200-10000 rpm) ( won't help for excel, but nice to have)

[Domski]

I'm still chugging along with an old Pentium 4 with a couple of gig of memory at work. I guess if I was going to spec one up I'd go for at least an i3 or i5 with the full amount of ram Excel can handle (8 gig I think). Someone who's more of an expert on these matters can probably tell you more.

Dom

[romperstomper]

For 2007, I think 2GB is the max usable memory for formulas and pivots, but obviously you want more than that in your system.
Otherwise, I'd say an i5 is probably the best bang for your buck at the moment. Most of the rest will be down to structure - investing in a copy of FastExcel might not be a bad idea.
Personally, I like having my PC chug along - gives me time to do this while I'm waiting...

[Blake 7]

Personally, I like having my PC chug along - gives me time to do this while I'm waiting...

Lol - indeed!!

Thanks guys for you input.

I just found out that i have an intel core 2 duo with 4 gig RAM - Apparently, if I get quad core its 64 bit which would require me to get a microsoft upgrade as well!!! yeyyyyy might buy power pivot too!

As an aside - did anyone see celebrity juice last night? absolutley hilarious!

[Blake 7]

Hi Arthur - whats your opinion on this spec? where abouts in this spec does it mention FSB?

Cheers

Processor One Intel® Xeon® E5606 (Quad Core, 2.13GHz, 8MB Cache, 4.8GT/s Intel® QPI)
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 32-Bit
Memory1 3GB1 DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
Hard Drive 320GB2 SATA hard drive (7200RPM)
Video Card 256 MB ATI FirePro 2260 - 2 DP (2 DP-DVI adapters)Graphics Card
Warranty 3Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day

[Andy Pope]

If you have 64bit why not get Win7-64bit OS?

Note that you can run 32bit office on a 64bit pc. In fact unless you have a very specific need for 64bit office I would go with 32bit. You can not run both on the same OS. You would need to have 2 partitions and OS's or use a Virtual PC.

PowerPivot is a free addin.

[Blake 7]

New PC arrived yesterday!! Dell Precision 490....... its a beast!

I also found this which is interesting.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...ffice.12).aspx