Is an all in one PC a good idea for operating multiple machines? I’m only running one 4 year old PC (that was once a HTPC) which is giving me issues when running more than two printers at once. It’s got a dedicated GPU but it takes forever to render gcode compared to my gaming PC at home.
Below is what I’m considering, plenty of USBs and a neat design…granted the integrated graphics worries me. This would ideally be usable by the public to teach how to use the software and browse thingiverse. I’m also curious how 8.1 integrates drivers and an app for printing in the OS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883265522
One thing is it is only a 2.6GHz, most all new stuff is over 3.
What host software are you going to use?
I don’t see why that AIO shouldn’t be able to handle multiple printers, but then again, a four year old one shouldn’t struggle, either. GPUs have reached a level of performance where you really don’t have to worry about whether you get an AMD, Nvidia or Intel solution as long as you don’t intend to run the latest games at full details. RepRap hosts are nowhere near as taxing.
And why not set up a Raspi with Octoprint for each printer? It’s basically bulletproof now and it’ll also run cheaper than getting an AOI. Plus, you’d get all the awesome remote monitoring features of Octoprint. On the downside, you’d have to use your regular PC to slice.
Repeteir Host and Slic3r.
Oh yea, I’m waiting till Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals. Maybe we should have a temp section for the best tech deals related to 3D printing & modeling.
@Wayne_Friedt clock speed has very little to do with processor performance. This i3 would kick the arse of much higher clocked AMDs