I am replacing my antiquated computer (with antiquated version of Dragon) with a new PC.  I found a PC that has the right mix of capabilities and price that I am looking for, except for one possible thing.  Before making the purchase, I wanted to get advice from this Forum if I should be concerned about the clock speed of the processor for running Dragon 15

 

The PC has:

 

16 GB Ram
8th Gen Intel® Core i7-8550U Processor 1.8GHz
Level 3 Cache: 8 MB
Clock Rate 1800 - 4000 MHz
Number of Cores / Threads 4 / 8

 

references:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?id=3064

 

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-8550U-vs-Intel-Core-i7-8550U/m320742vsm320742

 

I don't know if I should be concerned about the 1.8GHz clock speed.  The knowbrainer review for Dragon 15 recommends 2.6 GHz i5 or i7 CPU.  (Even the more modest recommendation from Nuance in the knowbrainer review is for 2.2 GHz Intel® dual core CPU).

 

Do I need to be concerned that the 1.8GHz processor will be underpowered for Dragon?  Or do the other processor characteristics (quad core, 8 mb L3 cache, peak clock rate 4000 mhz, 8th Gen) sufficiently compensate.  I know that other processors with faster clock speeds have lower overall performance ratings at web sites that do benchmark reviews (but which do not necessarily reflect Dragon's needs).

 

So how is a non-expert supposed to make an evaluation when buying a PC?

 

Note I am not doing Gaming or anything intensive like that.  I will be using the PC for work, which means the primary applications are MS office, chrome browser, and Dragon (but lots ~30 simultaneously open windows and documents... and lots of low bandwidth background processes running).

You made an excellent choice but note that Dragon 15 actually has lower requirements than previous versions of Dragon. Our general computer recommendation is a 64-bit version of Windows 7 or 10 with 16 Gb of RAM (8 Gb minimum). We have a slight preference for Windows 10. We prefer Intel i7s or i5s (i3 minimum) Skylake (6th generation or higher) processors. Note that Dragon 15 requires less processing power. 

SSD (solid-state hard drives) have recently become much more affordable and recommended over a traditional HDD. If you are planning on using a single drive, we recommend 256 Gb minimum. If you need additional space, we recommend a larger secondary traditional HDD (up to 4 Tb). 

From a Dragon/business point of view, the video card speed is not important unless you plan on gaming.

Processor speed is not important. 

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This processor appears to have a relatively low base clock speed but a very sufficient peak speed. This has probably something to do with energy-saving? I'm pretty sure it works nicely with Dragon 15.

However since Dragon is mostly a single core application I would personally choose a processor with a higher base clock speed. The I7-6700K, for instance has a base clock speed of 4.0 GHz. I'm using this as my main system.

On the other hand I have a second system at home that performs better with Dragon, although it's processor is slower.....

Apparently Dragon performance depends on several things.

 

Rob

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Linus, Rob

 

Thanks for your advice.  I'm going to go ahead and get this PC, despite that it does not have the SSD that Linus suggested and has lower single threaded clock speed than Rob prefers.  Normally, I would have followed your tips and gone for the SSD and faster clock, but the PC I selected had some other features that are important to me (unrelated to Dragon performance), and to get the faster processor, SSD, and other features all in the same PC costs significantly more... just based on how the manufacturers tend to package their features in off-the-shelf systems.

 

As long as the clock speed will not be problematic for Dragon 15, as you indicated, then I should be fine.

 

I recommend looking at TDP, watts, in addition to frequency.  Especially if buying a laptop.

If you can, try to find out how loud the fans run when idle/using Deragon by itself/doing a lot of stuff AND running Dragon.

Not just because fan noise may hurt recognition - but also because fan noise <=> CPU getting hot <=> operating frequency reduction.

If possible, run a program like Core Temp, that will show temperature and frequency. And brick and mortat stores like Best Buy won'y let you install Dragon or Core Temp and run benchmarks. I know, it's hard to evaluate fan noise over the network.  (Although in some demo videos you can hear the fans crank up.)

 

* yes, the difference between base and peak (turbo[*]) clock speed is energy savings - more accurately power/thermal/cooling.  Energy is battery life, power is heat. 

 

Based on my experience recently purchasing a new laptop for Dragon, etc., I suggest looking closely at TDP, i.e. heat emitted by the processor and related cooling / fan noise.

 

I am much happier with an MS SurfBook3 (TDP 15W, 1.3/1.5GHz) than I was with a Dell 7591 (TDP 45W, 2.6-4.5GHz)

 

So unhappy that I bought the new SurfBook3 even though the Dell7591 was only a few months old. $$, but my productivity is $$$.  Looking for a family member to pass the Dell on to.

 

Many speech problems seemed to be associated with the Dell's fans running VERY LOUDLY.  Stalls, but also poor recognition.

 

 

---+ DETAILS

 

* Microsoft Surface Book 3

   * Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.3/1.5GHz [*], TDP 15W,

   * GPU: NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 with Max-Q Design

 

I was EXTREMELY UNHAPPY with

 

* Dell Inspiron 7000 (7591),

   * Intel Core i7-10510U 4.9, TDP 45W

   * GPU NVIDIA GeForce MX150,

 

With exactly same version of Dragon (DPG 15.6), far fewer stalls on the SurfBook3 than on the Dell 7591. (I still have stalls on the SurfBook3, but nowhere near as many.)

 

 

Many of the Dell7591 stalls seem to have been associated with the laptop cooling fans running VERY loud.

 

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My MS SB3 is reported as 1.3/1.5GHz.  Intel's website says its CPU is base 1.3GHz, max turbo 3.9GHz. TDP 15W

The Dell is reported by Intel's CPU specs as base 2.6GHz, max turbo 4.5GHz. TDB 45W.

Although come to think of it, the vendor ad says 4.9GHz.  The machine was an aftermarket upgrade from 32GB to 64GB of DRAM - perhaps I did not notice that they may also have overclocked to 4.9GHz?  Overclocking is a red flag - things often get flakey. I fondly remember an, ahem, major game developer telling me he had fouund a major bug in a major new CPU - turns out it was overclocked.  Turbo is in many ways an attempt by CPU vendors to provide reliable overclocking, at least until the chip gets too hot.

I am not sure what 1.3/1.5GHz means, when Intel says the max turbo frequency is 3.9GHz.  Base frequency 1.3GHz, perhaps MS limited the turbo frequency to 1.5GHz, to avoid power/thermal/cooling problems?  (Dammit Jim! I'm a CPU architect, not a marketing specsheet writer.)

 

In any case, obviously my preferred machine has significantly lower frequency specs - and yet I prefer it.

 

TDP / cooling has at least two different aspects of relevance:

 

a) Cooling fan noise

b) Varying CPU frequency might very well mean that an algorithm or model that is good at high frequency is unacceoptably slow at low frequency. I do not know that Dragon does that sort of thing, but many programs do nowadays.

When you have a 3-5x variation in frequency, and if performance was calibrated at high frequency, when you go to a lower frequency ...  Such effects are often not just linear, but quadratic or worse.

 

 

 

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DPG15.6 (also DPI 15.3) + KB, Sennheiser MB Pro 1 UC ML, BTD 800 dongle, Windows 10 Pro, MS Surface Book 3, Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.3/1.5GHz (4 cores, 8 logical, GPU=NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 with Max-Q Design.

sds99,

Just a quick note. If your processor speed is insufficient, Dragon will tell you and won't let you install. Dragon checks your system before allowing the install to proceed.

Chuck

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The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect those of VoiceTeach LLC.

Chuck Runquist
VoiceComputer technical support

Hi, I have the same question with processor clock speed for Dragon 15.3. I'm presently looking to upgrade my laptop for use with Dragon. The laptop I have selected has a processor with a base clock speed of 1.7 GHz (max boost up to 4.1 GHz). Laptop has 32 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 7 pro 4750 U processor 1.7 GHz, 8 cores. The processor performs very well in the benchmark comparisons online against the Intel processors. It is also packaged very well to allow me to get 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD for about 50% less here in the UK than with Intel.
I've noticed the same nuance specification that you reference of a dual core CPU with 2.2 GHz i.e. a clock speed higher than the base clock speed above.
I have disability hence my use of Dragon, however I am intending to get back to work so will be using very similar applications that you reference in your note i.e. MS office, Chrome browser, Dragon.
To assist with my selection it would be very helpful if you could advise your experience.

Andrewla

I purchased the laptop described in the thread, and my Dragon installation went fine.  But I didn't get too far beyond installing the software and giving it a basic test before I was laid off from work.  So I didn't get to put it through its paces to see how well Dragon really ran, especially while other patients were also running.  (My subsequent job provided me with a company-owned laptop, with substantially more powerful processor, so that would not served as a basis for comparison.)

 

Hi guys, thanks a lot for your input, that has helped develop my selection