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Hardware and Operating System Requirements
Flow Science supports FLOW-3D on most popular x86 32-bit and 64-bit platforms, including Windows and Linux.
For larger simulations, we recommend 64-bit systems, which enable users to set up and run simulations exceeding the traditional limits of 32-bit memory. Users' simulation capacity will be limited only by the amount of installed memory on their computers. For example, with Windows 64-bit running on 4 GB of installed memory, a user can run a simulation with up to 10 million cells (depending on the number of physical models activated).Supported Operating Systems
| Platform | Operating System |
X86/x86-32 (Intel Pentium/Xeon, |
All editions of 32-bit Windows XP; Server; Vista and 7 |
X86/x86-32 (Intel Pentium/Xeon, |
32-bit Linux RedHat Enterprise 3.0+ above, SUSE 9.0 and above |
X86/x86-64 (Intel Pentium/Xeon/Core, AMD Athlon/Opteron) |
All editions of 64-bit Windows XP Pro; Server; and Windows Vista and 7 |
X86/x86-64 (Intel Pentium/Xeon/Core, AMD Athlon/Opteron) |
64-bit Linux RedHat Enterprise 3.0 and above & SUSE 9 |
FLOW-3D/MP Requirements
For those interested in running the distributed-memory version of FLOW-3D, you can find more information about hardware and operating systems on the FLOW-3D/MP page.
Graphics Support
FLOW-3D supports Open GL graphics cards. Most graphics card with OpenGL 2.0 support will work well with FLOW-3D. Look for graphics cards that specifically list OpenGL support for the operating system you're intending to use. Gaming graphics cards such as ATI's Radeon X-series and Nvidia's Geforce Series 6, 7, and 8 will perform well even for very large simulations. Workstation graphic cards such as ATI's FireGL and Nividia's Quadro cards will also work but usually cost more than gaming cards.
Both AGP and PCI-Express interfaces perform well. Onboard graphics such as Intel's 945GM Express Graphics can be expected to display graphics reasonably well for simulations up to a few million cells. For larger simulations, a dedicated graphics card with 512 MB of memory is recommended.
Please contact Flow Science support at support@flow3d.com for graphics card recommendations.
License Server Software
FLOW-3D uses FLEXlm for license management. If you choose to employ the FLEXlm floating manager on a Windows network, your network server must be running Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or 7 and you must use a hardware key (dongle).
Memory and Processor Speed
A minimum of 1 GB of RAM and Pentium 4-class or above processor is recommended. The actual memory required for any particular problem will depend on the size of the mesh and the physical models that are enabled.
The most important hardware factor in improving the performance of FLOW-3D is the processor since it handles both number crunching and graphics. The core i7 and Xeon 5500-series processors from Intel® offer the highest performance available to FLOW-3D users. Multi-core processors are available with up to 4 cores per processor.
Please contact Flow Science support at support@flow3d.com for more information.
Operating System
Both Windows and Linux are available in 32 and 64 bit versions.
If the available memory on your hardware is 2GB or less, there is no benefit to running
a 64-bit operating system. If your hardware has 3GB of memory (or more), running
a 64-bit operating system will allow large (>6 million cells) simulations to be run. On
32-bit operating systems (Linux and Windows), simulations will be limited to roughly
3 to 4 million cells regardless of how much memory is available. On 64-bit operating
systems, the size of the simulation is only limited by the available memory on the computer.
There is no noticeable difference in simulation time on Windows vs. Linux. Users should choose whichever operating system they are comfortable with.
Developer Tools
Users who wish to customize any of the routines that Flow Science distributes as part of the standard installation will need a license for the Intel Fortran compiler, version 9.1. If the user is running on Windows operating system, he will also need a license for Visual Studio 2005 or have the Microsoft Platform SDK installed.