PC-3000. Best PC configuration for ACE Lab products in 2024

Recently, users have been asking about the most comfortable hardware configuration for using PC-3000 Flash, PC-3000 Express or PC-3000 UDMA-E. A lot of engineers are still working on computers with Core i5 2400 and 4GB of RAM, but this configuration is outdated and if you want to recover huge NAND Flash cases with 64-512Gb capacity, or working with complicated RAID configuration, you should get faster Personal Computer. We decided to compile a short list of configurations of different price categories, which should be enough for any complicated case.

 

Intel CPU based on latest architectures like Haswell, Skylake, Coffee Lake provide a high performance. At the same time in 2017 new generation of AMD CPU has been released. New AMD ZEN micro-architecture become very powerful and it allows to work even with the most complicated cases like Flash, HDD and RAID recovery. We strongly recommend to pay attention to Ryzen CPUs – they become much better than previous generation – AMD FX which were not so good

Ryzen 2 from 2019 become a real surprise for all – AMD boost the performance for 20-25% in compare with Ryzen 2017! That’s why ACELab also recommend to pay attention on Ryzen 2d GEN 3xxx family and 3d GEN 5xxx – it’s a really great 7nm CPU.

Finally, we can compare the models of CPU like:

  • Intel Celeron (2 cores / 2 thread) = AMD Athlon (2 cores / 4 thread) LOW-END
  • Intel Pentium (2 cores / 4 thread) = AMD Ryzen 3  (4 cores / 4 thread)  LOW-MID
  • Intel Core i3 (4 cores / 8 thread) = AMD Ryzen 5  (4 cores / 8 thread) MIDDLE-END
  • Intel Core i5 (6 cores / 12 thread) = AMD Ryzen 5 (6 cores / 12 thread) PERFOMANCE
  • Intel Core i7 (16 cores / 24 thread) = AMD Ryzen 7  (8 cores / 16 thread) HIGH-END
  • Intel Core i9 (20 cores /32 thread) = AMD Ryzen 9  (16 cores / 32 thread) I SAW YOU IN MY DREAM

A few words about Intel Xeon CPU. If you have a lot of money, you can use it. Usually, Xeon CPU has a lot of physical cores and logical threats, but at the same time, their frequency is usually lower than in Core i5 or i7 models. It means that final speed in common PC-3000 tasks would be lower on Xeon with 2.2GHz 16 cores, than in Core i5 with 3.5GHZ 4 cores. That’s why we always recommend buying a common desktop configuration and do not spend too much money on server configurations.

PLEASE NOTE that PC-3000 does not officially support workstations \ servers hardware and software parts (Like Intel Xeon, Windows Server and etc). Problems in software stability might raise randomly, so you will use such configurations at your own risk!

And of course about Windows OS – right now PC-3000 software supports the following OS:

  • Windows XP (32 bit) supported but not recommended
  • Windows Vista (32/64 bit) supported but not recommended
  • Windows 7 (32/64 bit)
  • Windows 8 (32/64 bit)
  • Windows 8.1 (32/64 bit)
  • Windows 10 (32/64 bit)
  • Windows 11 (64 bit) – not officially supported but working

But anyway, the best decision would be any of this Windows OS not lower than OS Windows 7.

Please pay attention to Secure Boot settings in your UEFI/BIOS settings. Secure Boot must be switched off for a correct PC-3000 functionality.

Also, it’s recommended to use English language packs because we are not testing the software in other Windows language packs. Correct work of all announced features is 100% guaranteed in the English language only.


Low-Middle configuration on AMD ~300$ (MINIMAL RECOMMENDED)

  • AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 4.2 GHz (6-cores\12-threads);
  • Motherboard on AMD B450 chipset and AM4 socket;
  • 1 module of 16Gb RAM DDR4 3200MHz;
  • 1Tb HDD;
  • Power Supply – 550 Watt;
  • Windows 10 64-bit with turn-off UAC;

Middle-range configuration on Intel ~400$ (NORMAL)

  • Intel Core i5-12400 4.8 GHz (6-cores\12-threads);
  • Motherboard with LGA-1700 socket;
  • 1 module of 16Gb RAM DDR5;
  • SSD for OS and HDD for data storing and task imaging;
  • Power Supply – 600 Watt;
  • Windows 10 64-bit with turn-off UAC;

Middle-range configuration on AMD ~400$ (NORMAL)

  • AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz (6-cores\12-threads);
  • Motherboard with AM5 socket;
  • 1 module of 16Gb RAM DDR5;
  • SSD for OS and HDD for data storing and task imaging;
  • Power Supply – 600 Watt;
  • Windows 10 64-bit with turn-off UAC;

Performance-range configuration on Intel ~700$ (FAST)

  • Intel Core i7-13700 5.2 GHz (16-cores\24-threads);
  • Motherboard with LGA-1700 socket;
  • 1 module of 32GB DDR5;
  • SSD for OS and HDD for data storing and task imaging;
  • Power Supply – 600Watt;
  • Windows 10 64-bit with turn-off UAC;

Performance-range configuration on AMD ~700$ (FAST)

  • AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 4.8 GHz (8-cores\16-threats);
  • Motherboard with AM5 socket;
  • 1 module of 32Gb RAM
  • SSD for OS and HDD for data storing and task imaging;
  • Power Supply – 850Watt;
  • Windows 10 64-bit with turn-off UAC;

High-range configuration on Intel ~1000$ (ON THE FLY)

  • Intel Core i9-12900 5.1 Ghz (16-cores\24-threats);
  • Motherboard with LGA-1700 socket;
  • 1 module 32GB RAM DDR5;
  • SSD for OS and HDD for data storing and task imaging;
  • Power Supply – 850 Watt;
  • Windows 10 64-bit with turn-off UAC;

High-range configuration on AMD ~1000$ (ON THE FLY)

 

  • AMD Ryzen 9 7950x 5.7 GHz (16-cores\32-threats);
  • Motherboard with AM5 socket;
  • 1 module 32GB RAM DDR5;
  • SSD for OS and HDD for data storing and task imaging;
  • Power Supply – 850Watt;
  • Windows 10 64-bit with turn-off UAC;

What about necessary software? We recommend installing on your PC a couple of useful software products for opening the most popular file types. Sometimes, when you are working with RAW Recovery on your Flash or HDD cases, you will need to open files to check – are they workable or not. Here is the list of recommended software programs, that should be installed on your working machine:

UPDATE 1: Also, don’t forget that MINIMAL resolution of your Display should be 1280×1024, but we recommend using FullHD displays with 1920×1080 resolution. 

UPDATE 2: PC-3000 boards rev.2 require a SATA power supply connection. Check that your PC Power supply unit has SATA power cables. PC-3000 express board should be powered by two such SATA cables.

UPDATE 3: A lot of ACE Lab customers from the Europe and North America region, ask us about the possibility to install PC-3000 Flash or PC-3000 Portable on their MAC computers. These laptops provide good performance, they are quite light-weight, and finally – they are pretty good in all respects, starting from the screen and aluminum case, and ending the quality and speed of the hardware part. In this article, you can read more about PC-3000 installation on Apple MacBook computers.

UPDATE 4: For PC-3000 Portable III we can recommend using a powerful PC based on 6-cores CPU with at least 16GB of RAM.

But also, it’s possible to use a laptop configuration with the following (similar or higher) specs:

  • CPU: with 6 physical cores (Core i7 8750H and above or AMD Ryzen 5 5500U and above). CPU with 4 physical cores (Core i5/Ryzen 3) are also acceptable;
  • RAM: 16GB;
  • Display: Full HD 1920×1080 resolution;
  • USB 3.0 interface is required! PC-3000 Portable III doesn’t work with USB 2.0!
  • Windows 10 PRO as the main OS.

 

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12 Responses to PC-3000. Best PC configuration for ACE Lab products in 2024

  1. itpsac says:

    Very important tip for a good data recovery job! Thanks AceLab team

  2. arun_gjl says:

    normally people build their systems prior to purchase the udma/express so this information should be share before that. As i purchase asus board and xeon cpu which is not being strongly recommended.So this information may be used as pre requisition.

    • ACELab team says:

      There are nothing bad in Asus and Xeon – I’m pretty sure you will work with them as good as you will work with MSI and i7. Just sometimes, just in some cases – might be issues, but chances are not too high. We just provide recommendations, but if you want – you can work in Win 2000 and Pentium 4 – PC-3000 will works on it too 🙂

  3. premcomp says:

    Motherboard on Intel Z170 chipset with LGA-1151 socket This mother board is not available please tell me the alternet mother board.

  4. pcaw says:

    Hello,

    CPU/Processor : Intel Xeon E3-1240 v6 (3.7GHz, 4-core \ 8-threads)
    Motherboard : Socket LGA 1151 and the Intel C236 PCH Chipset

    With Windows 10 OS installation and the above CPU/Motherboard, would PC-3000 be compatible ? Any known issues?

    • ACELab team says:

      Hello! We do not recommend to use server hardware and CPU + Chipset configurations based on server equipment – there might be some issues due operating and we can’t warranty that everything will works 100% stable. That’s why we warn about it in the beginning of this article.

      Anyway, most likely that everything will works fine. But again, we must warn you about some possible issues.

  5. O.S says:

    Hi
    My PC Configuration are:

    Mother Board ASUS P5P-43 TD Pro

    CPU Cor 2 Quad Q9650 3000GHz Bus 1333 Cash 12MB

    RAM: 14 GB Zepelin 1600 Ghz

    Hard Disks: WD 500GB 4 pieces + WD 2TB 1 Peace.

    Graphic Card: Asus GTX 650 OC 1GB up to 2.5 GB

    Powe Supply: KCAS 800 Watt.

    Is that PC appropriate to install my PC-3000 UDMA ?

    • ACELab team says:

      Hello. Yes, it’s acceptable, but in future we recommend you to upgrade your PC on modern Core i5 or Ryzen 5.

      Q9650 – it’s a CPU from 2008, 12 years for PC config – too much 🙂

  6. Lukas says:

    hi would you add specification for Flash and and Mobile please?

  7. Fraser says:

    I notice that you do not mention AMD Threadripper. Is there any issues using this processor or would it not make sense to use it for the same reasons the Xeon processor doesn’t make sense?

    Another thing that may be worth mentioning,…. I outfitted one of my PC3000 express workstations with a RAID0 array which I use as a target for my image files which gives a noticeable increase in performance when using all 4 channels at once.

    • ACELab team says:

      AMD Threadripper is also a good choice. But better to save money and buy AMD Ryzen 9 5900X which has 12 physical cores which is going to be more than enough for any type of PC-3000 Tasks.

      AS for the RAID arrays and NAS storages – it’s up to you. PC-3000 support them all, but we do not recommend to work with the tasks which located on network drives. Better to work on a local storage array in your PC and then – copy solved task on server / network drive.

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