Recommended PC Specs?

Question

My boss asked me to research recommended specs for a Power BI workstation. We normally get our workstations through a Dell sales rep, but based on past experience, I don't trust them to recommend the right PC for our needs.

I'm not super familiar with the software, but after doing a bit of research, it seems that I should go for as much RAM as I can get but how important is the processor?

Would I benefit from a Xeon processor or is something like an i5 good enough?

Do I need a dedicated GPU?

Would something like this do the job well or is it overkill?

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/workstations-isv-certified/new-precision-3650-tower-workstation/spd/precision-3650-workstation/s214dpt3650us_vp

Also looking at this because we're a small shop and it's significantly cheaper:

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Optiplex-9020-DisplayPort-Bluetooth/dp/B08BJDFZRF

Thanks.

Posted Jul 13, 2021, 9:24 PM UTC

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borderline75•5 yr. ago

Building reports or mainly new DAX measures on top of an existing data model? 16GB of memory or more will do ya unless you are working with larger models (billions of rows).

Creating a complex data model from scratch? It’s SSAS under the hood so higher end CPUs with more L1/L2 cache will make a noticeable difference when editing the model.

My advice is not to go very high end; you might end up building crap that only runs on high end hardware.

politiguru•5 yr. ago

My computer had some cheap cheap desktops (sub £200), 2 GB RAM (can check the processor sepcs tomorrow) and they consistently crashed on me using datasets of just 100,000 rows.

I have been using a dell xps 13inch with 8gb ram, i7, solid state 500GB hard drive and that has been almost flawless, but obviously on the high end of rpi e and specs. Currently working on a mid range dell laptop with 6GB RAM i5 quad core and that has been sufficient as well.

As a whole PBI is pretty efficient, the RAM is probably the most important thing. It really depends on the size of your datasets and the efficiency of your model, so more detaild on that would help.

BrotherCole94•5 yr. ago

Get something higher spec and your reports will be a breeze to create and look amazing. Good cpu and ram is a must but if you can get a GPU do it. Report loading times will be fast. I just got a Well latitude 2-1 tablet pc and it's working amazing for power no and won't break the bank.

Do not go cheap you will regret it when loading large data sets and large reports.

1986wasaclassic•5 yr. ago

I do my developing usually on a azure server remote desktop. Has like 32gb of ram, and some Epyc (amd equivalent of xeon iirc) processor. Works a charm and is easy to close the session to pause development when I need to use my laptop for more mundane things.

For the last months I've been remoting to a sister company, because of sql over vpn being meh. The laptop they've designated is an old i5 6th gen and it has 8gb of ram. It's not pretty or fast, but does the job and that's handling multiple datasets, sub million records.

Ram is the one thing to focus on that I'd really recommend