How slow are the OS of Rigol and Siglent scopes ?

Thread Starter

DarthVolta

Joined Jan 27, 2015
521
I looking at 1 of the 50 or 100MHz 4ch Siglent or Rigol scopes. And I'm wondering how fast/slow the processor(s) running their OS and gfx are ? What's the loading times, how responsive are they when switching between different channels, zoom levels, windows, functions, etc ?

I have a 3ch Siglent PSU and it's fast enough, no complaints on it's OS speed.
 

tautech

Joined Oct 8, 2019
383
I sell Siglent equipment only into the NZ market and the latest generations of Siglent scopes are snappy and full of features. The 4ch 100 MHz SDS1104X-E is a well featured DSO and has pride of place on my bench except for when I need something with more BW which in all honesty is pretty rare.
They have no noticeable latency when using any of the controls and if you want to port the display to your PC display via LAN and their inbuilt webserver that's almost instantaneous also.
Boot time is 28s with the latest firmware.
Here's an example of the webserver ported to a laptop:

SDS1104X-E is a very popular model all over the world.
Any further questions or particular screenshots you want to see please ask.
 
Last edited:

rsjsouza

Joined Apr 21, 2014
383
I can tell from experience the Rigol models I know are quite responsive to my taste. I had the DS1102E and currently have the DS4014. The major slowdown that people complain is when moving waveforms on the screen (DC level, horizontal trigger point, amplitude...) - it surely is no Keysight on this regard but you really get used to it.

The DS1102E was quite slow when FFT was turned on, but the DS4014 is much faster. The DS4014 is quite good when using math functions as well - the DS1102E was a LOT slower. FFT slows down both models. The latest DS4014 firmware performs serial comms decoding in a very reasonable speed, but if a very large memory buffer is captured, naturally the update rate suffers tremendously - after all 140Mpts max capture is quite demanding for any processing engine.

A few years ago I captured the boot time of these two Rigol oscilloscopes:

DS1102E:

DS4014:
 

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
I looking at 1 of the 50 or 100MHz 4ch Siglent or Rigol scopes. And I'm wondering how fast/slow the processor(s) running their OS and gfx are ? What's the loading times, how responsive are they when switching between different channels, zoom levels, windows, functions, etc ?

I have a 3ch Siglent PSU and it's fast enough, no complaints on it's OS speed.
That just doesn't make any sense, unless you expand on it with examples. They both run up to 4 channels run simultaneously (with different memory depth). Switching is not usually involved. Either is a lot of bang for the buck. I got a Rigol DS1054Z years ago and "undated" it. Today you get the whole package for the same price or less. Same for Siglent. (My other digital scope is a Tek TDS210 dual channel..)

I have to ask, if you can't make LED's flash, why do you need a scope of either's performance?
 

Thread Starter

DarthVolta

Joined Jan 27, 2015
521
I eat LEDs for breakfast thats why


I find the auto ranging on my DMM slow to the point of annoying. My old DSO works fine, and the OS feels fast enough. But it's big/bulky and not worth fixing again. It would drive me up the wall if a modern DSO lags tho, like a cheap under-powered tablet, that's slow at everything.
 
Last edited:

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
The Rigol definitely has "lag" compared to my TDS210 when displaying a waveform. Part of that may be due to memory depth, part to processing. The options on the Rigol far outweigh that inconvenience (if it is one) compared to the TDS210. I would not trade my Rigol for a TDS210. However, I still use he TDS210 for some things. Neither autoranges.

I believe the Siglent may have the same lag. I have not seen a comparison of that specific factor. Since both have been out for quite awhile, there may be a comparison on the Internet.
 

Thread Starter

DarthVolta

Joined Jan 27, 2015
521
To clarify, I'm wondering about the time it takes to change between different settings. Like if you change the volts/div, on an analog scope, it changes super fast. Just like changing channels on an analog TV.

I'm worried these will be like digital TV, where channel surfing has become crazy slow, waiting for the chips to process the command and display it.

Either way a nice new lightweight scope, and with 4ch's, will be an upgrade....but I should hope it doesn't feel like an old under-powered PC.
 

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
You need to try one. In my experience, the time between when I change the voltage scale and the screen changes is imperceptible, but there is surely some lag while the screen is re-drawn. I suspect it is not quite as fast as the best video gamers' video cards can do.
 
Top