Android Question Which computer runs/compiles B4X code with the best performance?

[amorosik]

For those who spend a lot of time with Anywhere Software development environments, it is vital to work on computers that are responsive and allow you to make the most of the (little) time available
And therefore it is reasonable to think of a workstation specifically optimized for Anywhere Software environments
Now, it is always very difficult to say if it is the cpu or the hard disk or the motherboard that affects the performance of a system
Precisely because it is a 'system' whose performances are defined by the individual performances of different components
And therefore it is much easier to test the functioning of the same program on different computers
This would allow anyone wishing to optimize their computer for operation with Anywhere Software development systems to know the best components as they have been tested exactly with operation on B4A, B4J, etc ...
My proposal is therefore the creation of an archive with the main components of the computer used (cpu, ram, motherboard, hard-disk, operating system, development environment version), and/or the creation of a small video showing the compilation of a large program and the time taken
Obviously the program to be compiled must be exactly the same
What are you saying?
Which large program could we choose?
What sequence of operations to indicate in order to have test conditions comparable to each other?

 

[Derek Johnson]

If you now replace the hard drive with an SSD hard drive, you will see how fast your laptop will be.

Worked wonders for me!

 

[Didier9]

My recommendation:
1. Latest generation processor
2. Main memory at least 8GB
3. SSD hard drive
4. Graphics card (no onboard)

You can't go wrong with such a configuration.
The time differences when compiling will certainly not be that great.

My PC is 10 years old and still as fast as new.

I agree with 1, 2 and 3. Not sure 4 adds anything to compiling and running B4A or B4J. I have been using DELL laptops exclusively for many years (bought "used" to begin with...) I have 3 in use at the moment. They are ~3 generations behind current (they use SATA drives). All have built in graphics, I7 CPU and have been upgraded to16GB RAM and 500GB Samsung EVO SSD and drive a second display and not once have I thought my computer was too slow. My biggest B4J project has over 7,000 lines of code and takes 5 seconds to build.

 

[Erel]

I agree with 1, 2 and 3. Not sure 4 adds anything to compiling and running B4A or B4J

I agree.

 

[Didier9]

But you already know that the graphics card has to do an enormous amount of work, especially if you want to connect 2 monitors and many windows are open, right?
But if that's enough for you, then I don't mind, it's just my opinion.

PS. I've bought a few hundred PCs (especially DELL workstations) for the engineering department in the last 25 years and have never bought a PC with an on-board graphics card.

If you do CAD work, or video editing, or even more so 3D rendering or play games, yes you need a good graphics card. We have a lot of those here where I work as well. I am sure there are a number of other video intensive applications but I myself apparently don't use any

For the kind of graphics that an IDE uses (mostly windows with text and a few icons), the built-in graphic hardware in modern CPUs does just fine and actually you probably would not see any difference with a high end graphics card, even with multiple monitors. This is the bread and butter of office computing (think Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and integrated graphics are designed to do that well. Since some of them share RAM with the CPU, that's another reason for having lots of RAM.

In my experience, RAM and SSD are your best friends for software development, not just B4X, I use Eclipse and Keil a lot. I was surprised how much of an improvement upgrading from 8GB to 16GB did, particularly since I am using the Chrome browser (a notorious RAM hog) and I always have a bunch of windows open. I rarely, if ever, reboot the laptop that may be on for weeks at a time. Does not slow down. My office machine (an other, newer Dell laptop), which has a better CPU and SSD and is generally faster, but has only 8GB RAM and needs an occasional reboot, doing the same kind of work. So I got into the habit of rebooting it every weekend.

 

[Jack Cole]

If you spend a lot of time programming in b4x and have large projects, a slower system is very painful. My old system took around 120 seconds to compile and package my largest project. With my new(er) system, it takes 20 to 30 seconds at most. Still longer than I would like, but it is usable (much faster when reloading in debug mode). As far as I can tell, the compilation process runs on a single core. So, you will probably want to prioritize performance on single core benchmarks. When I bought my most recent new system (a couple of years ago), the best was the i9-9900K. There are some that are better now. If you don't plan on having large projects using a lot of libraries, you don't need that kind of power. Others have given feedback on SSD's and RAM which is good.

Here are current single core benchmarks.

PassMark CPU Benchmarks - Single Thread Performance

Benchmarks of the single thread performance of CPUs. This chart comparing CPUs single thread performance is made using thousands of PerformanceTest benchmark results and is updated daily.

www.cpubenchmark.net

 

[Gnappo jr]

You reminded me of my first punch card program and the day they all fell to the ground. I remember the pure copper disk of the 10 Mb and 7 kg DIGITAL PDP11, I remember the 1 Mb of ram of the first PC, and the writing on the cabinet: The way is divided in two, there are those who like to program and there are those who love women. With regard to modern PCs, a good SSD is the first thing, .... it allows a great saving of time as it increases concentration with its silence.

 

[MikeSW17]

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be

 

[hoiketoan95]

Intel >=i5 gen 7
SSD >=256GB
RAM >=16GB
VGA: Not need unless game make
Monitor>=23inch

Internet speed is quite important too!

 

[KMatle]

1TB mechanical HD

Get a SSD and your computer is "as new"