OrcaFlex Hardware Requirements

OrcaFlex can be installed and run on any PC compatible computer that has:

• Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7. Both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows are supported.
• If you are using small fonts (96dpi) the screen resolution must be at least 1024×768. If you are using large fonts (120dpi) the screen resolution must be at least 1280×1024.

However, OrcaFlex is a powerful package and to get the best results we would recommend:

• A powerful processor with fast floating point and memory performance. This is the most important factor since OrcaFlex is a computation-intensive program and simulation run times can be long for complex models.
• At least 2GB of memory. This is less important than processor performance but some aspects of OrcaFlex do perform better when more memory is available, especially on multi-core systems. If you have a multi-core system with a 64 bit version of Windows then you may benefit from fitting even more memory.
• A multi-core system to take advantage of OrcaFlex's multi-threading capabilities.
• As much disk space as you require to store simulation files. Simulation files vary in size, but can be 100's of megabytes each for complex models.
• A screen resolution of 1280×1024 or greater with 32 bit colour.
• DirectX 9 compatible graphics card with at least 256MB memory.
• Microsoft Excel (Excel 2000, or later) in order to use the OrcaFlex automation facilities.

Although OrcaFlex is a 32 bit program, the 64 bit versions of Windows run 32 bit programs very efficiently and have certain advantages over 32 bit versions of Windows. Most notably the 64 bit versions of Windows are able to make use of larger amounts of memory. This can benefit OrcaFlex, and indeed other programs. In addition we have found the 64 bit versions of Windows to be more effective at multi-threaded calculations. For these reasons we currently recommend 64 bit Vista/7 as the best platforms for running OrcaFlex.

More information on hardware choice for OrcaFlex can be found on our OrcaFlex benchmarking and hardware recommendations page.