Topic Title

Perhaps I'm not looking in the right places, but what sort-of systems requirements will be needed for Datacad version-12?

What's a minimal legacy-system? I run a Gateway 28gb HD, 600-mHz Athlon with 256 RAM and a 32mb video-card for a 800x600 LCD. It soldiers along on version-11, though it does bog-down somewhat when regen or plotting TTF. I've just about used all the HD capacity...mostly due to program-bloat.

And what's an ideal system for those of use who may choose to order a new PC to run version-12? Especially for those of use in small offices that don't have any in-house technical support.... What should I be considering when buying a new PC specifically to run version-12? I do plan on going to dual screens if I have the funds...

Hello Ted,

V12 only has marginally greater requirements than v11 -- though having said that, I think your machine is probably borderline enough, that you should think about replacing it soon; if only to avoid an emergency replacement. And getting (at least one) nice 20" 1600x1200 LCD monitor would really help your productivity!

The ideal new system would be a dual core CPU with 2GB of RAM, and one or two 256-512MB video cards. A minimum new system would be a single core CPU, 1GB RAM (which really will only work if you have WinXP), and a 128-256MB video card. If you need to upgrade to Vista later, you will want to be able to upgrade to even more, since Vista takes at least 2X as much RAM to run.

The size of the hard drive is up to you, but 160-250GB is just about the smallest that you're likely to find. 320-500GB are average, and 750-1000GB are the biggest hard drives available.

Intel Core 2 Duo is the fastest performance, widely available CPU. They make two basic versions of the Core 2 Duo: one with 2MB of L2 cache/core, and one with 4MB of L2 cache/core. The clockspeed is the other variable, and they all can be overclocked to a very high degree, if you are so inclined. Faster RAM is only marginal in benefit, unless you overclock.

Athlon 64 X2 CPU are also fine. The AMD's have slightly lower power consumption at idle, and they can cost less -- and they are certainly very fast, as well. But if you are doing any heavy duty rendering, video editing, etc., then the Core 2 Duo will be faster.

Here's another thread on the DataCAD Forum where I am trying to keep things up to date:
http://forum.datacad.com/viewtopic.php?t=400