PC Specs?

[CahabaData]

What I've been able to find so far is quite scanty in just saying that Windows 10 (and other OS, etc) but not RAM nor Processing specs.

I presume from the nature of what Power BI Desktop is to do that one should get as much RAM/Processing as the budget will allow - - and go for the x64 install.

Any practical advice beyond this assumption?

[wonga · Accepted solution]

@CahabaData That's pretty much all that you need to know. The more complex your queries and the data that you will be working with are, the more resources you will need for optimal performance. Definitely go for 64 bit install as the 32 bit one will limit you to using 2GB of RAM.

From my experience, RAM is more important than CPU when working in Power BI as there is a lot of in-memory processing when loading data. CPU comes into play when making measures and things like that I think.

[wonga · Accepted solution]

@CahabaData That's pretty much all that you need to know. The more complex your queries and the data that you will be working with are, the more resources you will need for optimal performance. Definitely go for 64 bit install as the 32 bit one will limit you to using 2GB of RAM.

From my experience, RAM is more important than CPU when working in Power BI as there is a lot of in-memory processing when loading data. CPU comes into play when making measures and things like that I think.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Ya, not sure I would over think this.  64-bit for sure, and a fast processor, and lots of ram.   If you were trying to eeck out every last bit of perf, ... I would say you care more about raw cpu speed (ghz) than number of cores, and that you will enjoy fast ram speeds (DDR4) and a large L3 cache.  If you want to drop a grand... Intel Core i7-5960X would probably rock. 🙂

[CahabaData]

Thanks both.  So I'm floundering a little bit with the forum itself.  I accidentally posted the same post twice ....(because I was brand new and had not registered so thought the first one didn't post...)

A good reply on that had a link to a prior Q & A about hardware specs.  I replied in thanks, marked it as solution...     and now I can't find that post !!  Its probably around here somewhere just not sure where.....

It suggested for serious Power BI to go i7, 32RAM and solid state disk...  so that's pretty hard core but I can understand if you're serious about this product then that's probably the horse to ride.  I've got a good 8G RAM machine to use for awhile until I ramp up my know-how on this product set......

[Anonymous]

I use a 4 year old low budget laptop... and I use Power Pivot / Power BI daily for consulting.  Any modern hardware is going to be totally fine.   SSD are awesome, but no super uber benefit to power bi.

[CahabaData]

yeah the poster noted that the primary benefit of SSD was during the initial load - and one presumes involving mega record count. 

I know I can do without that at least for awhile.....  SSD is the inevitable future for all hardward but is still a big premium for today....