masterSERIES

Technical Note
Title:

MasterSeries Hardware Requirements 2013

Date:

10/04/2013

MasterSeries 2013
General Hardware/Software Requirements
MasterSeries 2012 will only run under Windows XP, Vista, 7 & 8. (32/64 bit supported)
Operating System
Processor
RAM Mb
Hard Drive (Excluding
user files)
External Mouse
Free Port for dongle
Screen Resolution
Video Card
Screen Size
Broadband
for
updates, downloads,
notifications, and
technical support.

Minimum
XP
Dual Core 1.72+
2 GB
20 GB free

Purchase of new Hardware

Windows 7
Intel Core i5+
4-8 GB+

3 button wheel mouse

USB
1280+ x 800+
DirectX 9 compatible,
256MB video RAM &
Hardware Acceleration
17 CRT or
15 LCD
1 mbs+

Optical wheel mouse

USB
1600+ x 1080+
Separate DirectX 9 compatible Graphics Card,
512MB+ dedicated Video RAM,
Hardware Acceleration
19+ wide screen LCD

Email and web access

Email, web access

500 GB+ @7200 RPM

2 mbs+

Notes
Operating System
Windows XP, Vista & 7 are all great operating systems for the MasterSeries. Windows XP is due to be
shelved by Microsoft in 2014 with no more updates or patches.
Windows 8 is different. The MasterSeries will install & run on Windows 8 PCs. However, it is a very
alien user interface for most. Whilst it is great for touch screen devices, it does introduce a layer of
complexity for mouse driven systems. Our own Engineers & Clients who have Windows 8 dont like the
initial interface. Thus, we are not recommending it for New Hardware.
64 bit Operating System.
The MasterSeries will not currently take direct advantage of dual processors or 64 bit processors.
However, dual core processors are good and will give you speed improvement in the MasterSeries as
the second processor does all the house keeping, leaving the MasterSeries a whole processor.
64 bit operating systems also allow us to use more than the 2GB limit imposed with 32bit systems. This
is useful in big frames in MasterFrame, Finite Element and Dynamic/ Seismic Analysis.

Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo
Intel Core i3, i5
Intel Core i7
AMD Athlon
Intel Celeron
AMD Sempron

OK
Very, Very Good
Very, Very Good
Good.
Poor. cut down processor, slow at heavy computation
Poor. cut down processor, slow at heavy computation

Note: Processor must have SSE2 Architecture (Processors after 2005 should be OK)
Example
Intel Pentium 4 2.6 GHz & 512MB RAM
Intel Centrino M 740 (1.7 GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 533+ MHz FSB) & 512MB RAM
The Centrino may look slow as it has a clock speed of just 1.7 GHz, but it is, in fact, 50% FASTER than
the Pentium 4 due to the cache, etc.
The newer Intel Core i3+ processors are fast. Think of them as 2 processors so double the clock
speed, e.g. 2.16 = 4.32 GHz (not exactly but a good analogy) Just remember that they need pairs of
RAM chips to use the dual processing.
The bottom line is that all new computers should run the MasterSeries, but you get what you pay for in
terms of speed.

Example Specification System

as used by MasterSeries Help Desk for the last 3 years.
Style:
Processor:
Operating System:
Memory:
Video Card:
Screen:
External Screen:
Hard Drive:
Network
Ports:

DELL Latitude D830 Laptop

Intel Core 2 Duo T7800 (2.6 GHz, 4M L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Windows XP Professional
4GB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 (2x2GB chips)
512MB nVidia Quadro NVS 140M
15.4 WUXGA (1920 X 1200 resolution)
2 No. DELL 24 wide-screen LCDs at 1920 x 1200 resolution
160 GB SATA hard drive
10/100/1000 Gigabit NIC, WiFi 802.11a/g,
4 No. USB 2.0 & VGA

RAM: The amount of RAM required is dependent on the amount of RAM your computer system uses.
If you are networked, have anti-virus software, Outlook and the Microsoft Office loaded, then you will
need to allow for this in your assessment of RAM. Your Video Card may also use your main RAM. Just
remember that most new PCs need pairs of RAM chips to use dual processing and get optimum speed.
Press CTR ALT Delete and select Task Manager. At the bottom of the task manager, you
will have two values of RAM usage, e.g. 291MB / 1695 MB. The first value is the current
RAM usage, and the second is the total RAM available, including virtual memory. The total
Physical memory is given in Control Panel > System.
MasterSeries 2013 is currently a 32 bit application. It can normally only use 2GB of RAM. Your other
applications can use the rest.
MasterFrame and Finite-Element Analysis, are different and need more memory for bigger models to
store data & results. We can access 4GB on a 32 bit PC and 8GB on a 64 bit PC.

HardDrives: Most MasterSeries files are small but FEA, and large frame output files can be large.
As it is hard to upgrade or replace get as large a hard drive as you can afford. Not all hard drives are the
same. It is important to get a high-spin speed as these are faster.
You can increase your analysis speed further by installing a Solid-State Deive (SSD), but they are not
cheap.
VIDEO: MasterSeries 2010 uses Direct X for all 3D graphics and is thus essential. DirectX graphics
is no longer Optional. Not all video cards that claim to be DirectX 9 compatible are good enough. Avoid
video cards that use shared RAM, it eats your RAM and is slower. The MasterSeries needs full
hardware acceleration and at least one light source under HAL.
Video Card Tests
1) go to www.masterseries.co.uk and select User Login. Enter your Username and Password to login. In
Downloads go to Drivers and Diagnostics and download and run the DirectX Test Program.
2) Run C:\Directxtest\MasterSeriesCheck.exe If this runs successfully, then you are ok. If not then
3) Run C:\Directxtest\DXCapsViewer.exe. You should see MaxActiveLights = 2 or more, as shown
below.

4) To test your card go to START > RUN > and type DXDIAG > OK. The following should appear.

Broadband: ALL-new versions, updates and bug fixes to the MasterSeries are posted on our Web
Site www.masterseries.co.uk. ull versions are 2-300 MB in ssize, and pdates are commonly 5 to 30 MB.
We do not issue CDs. CDs available at a cost.
Webinars and Web training rrequiresa good broadband speed.
Note: Certain technical support functions can only be provided via remote assistance software. We
currently use www.fastviewer.co.uk for tech support and www.gotomeeting.com for training.

- not used