Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight 2013 System Requirements 575E1-059808-9931E
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Hardware requirements and supported platforms 1 Supported operating systems, hardware platforms and related information are described. Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight supported platforms The user interface and analysis solvers are supported on Windows platforms.only analysis solvers are supported on Linux platforms. Table 1: Supported Windows platforms Operating System Service Pack Windows 7 (32-bit edition) SP 1 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate Windows 7 (64-bit edition) SP 1 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate Windows XP Professional (32-bit edition) SP 3 Windows XP Professional (64-bit edition) SP 2 Windows Server 2008 (64-bit edition) Table 2: Supported Linux platforms (analysis solvers only) Operating System Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Bits 64 Hardware Platform AMD or Intel x86-based 64-bit processor ATTENTION: Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Synergy - User Interface is not supported on Linux platforms. 1
Hardware requirements Ethernet card 1 DVD-ROM drive 2 Microsoft Mouse-compliant pointing device 3 System specifications for Windows platforms Table 3: Recommended minimum hardware and software specifications for Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight on Windows platforms System component CPU speed Main memory (RAM) Virtual memory/swap space Disk space Web browser Video viewer Recommended 2 GHz or higher 2 GB or higher 2 GB or higher 4 GB or higher free disk space (at least 1.5 GB free disk space for installation) Internet Explorer 7 or later Adobe Flash Player 9 or later Third-party software The help system requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or later. Flash Player 9.0 or later is required for 32-bit browsers. If you are using a 64-bit browser, you may have to Download active-x for 64-bit Windows - for Internet Explorer only. The reports generated by Autodesk Simulation Moldflow products are optimized for use with Internet Explorer 7.0 and Office 97 and later versions (PowerPoint and Word applications only). 1 Autodesk Simulation Moldflow software uses a network to request and obtain licenses. The network hardware is used to allow license servers to be uniquely identifiable, and these constraints require that all machines which will run Autodesk Simulation Moldflow software to have an enabled Ethernet card. 2 A DVD-ROM drive is not required if you are installing from an electronic download. You must have an internet connection to download software. 3 A pointing device is not required for Linux systems. 2 Hardware requirements and supported platforms
System specifications for Linux platforms Table 4: Recommended hardware specifications for Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight - Solvers on Linux platforms System component CPU speed Main memory (RAM) Virtual memory/swap space Disk space Recommended 1 GHz or higher 2 GB or higher 1 GB or higher 4 GB or higher free disk space (at least 600 MB free disk space for installation) NOTE: The more physical memory available, the better Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight will perform, especially when analyzing larger models. If you plan to use the Cool or Warp solvers on large models, or any of the 3D modules extensively, you should consider installing 2 GB of RAM per processor core. Disk space requirements Installation disk space requirements The table below outlines the recommended disk space allocation for installing the Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight applications and optional companion products. Table 5: Installation disk space requirements Software installed Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Synergy - User Interface Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight - Solvers Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Design Link Autodesk Inventor Fusion Installed size on disk (approximate) 430 MB 300 MB 1.85 GB 520 MB NOTE: During the installation process, you will need approximately twice the amount of disk space as specified in the installed size requirement. Hardware requirements and supported platforms 3
Project directory disk space requirements The disk space requirement for an Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight study depends on the specified analysis sequence and the size of the model. A 3D Cool or 3D Warp analysis of a large, complex model could require up to 10 GB of disk space in the project directory. Table 6: Disk space requirements for typical Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight studies Analysis sequence Analysis technology Disk space required in project directory (approximate) Fill+Pack (20,000 element model) Fill+Pack+Cool Fill+Pack+Cool+Warp Fill+Pack (20,000 element model) Fill+Pack (300,000 tetrahedra model) Fill+Pack+Cool Midplane Midplane Midplane Dual Domain 3D 3D 500 MB 700 MB 900 MB 500 MB 1 GB 10 GB 4 Graphics requirements The graphic requirements listed here reflect the minimum required to obtain acceptable simulations. 512 MB DRAM or higher, OpenGL-capable graphics card. Ensure you have installed the latest driver for your card. Please refer to the card manufacturer's website for drivers and instructions. 24-bit color setting at 1280 1024 or higher screen resolution. NOTE: Autodesk does not guarantee the use of any particular graphics card. Autodesk will make every effort to work with card manufacturers to resolve any problems that may arise in the use of our software with a particular card. However, we cannot guarantee that all graphics-related issues can be fixed, as they may lie within the card manufacturer's drivers rather than Autodesk software. Recommended The software makes extensive use of OpenGL and texture mapping; therefore any device offering OpenGL acceleration and texture memory will give improved performance. 4 All 3D Cool analyses have high disk space requirements for the temporary directory. 4 Hardware requirements and supported platforms
GPU card This software takes advantage of GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) to improve analysis time. Through GPU technology, you can benefit from the following: Reduced load on the CPU Shortened analysis time Efficient use of data-parallel computing GPU cards have their own built-in memory and have the ability to resolve complex simulations. The additional built-in processing power in GPUs relieves task-intensive strain on the CPU, enabling your application to run faster. The software leverages the processing power offered by GPU cards. This allows analyses to run at a much greater speed, thus resulting in a faster analysis time. On a very large model, this can reduce the analysis time by a few hours. GPU technology and our parallel solver complement each other. If you use GPU technology in conjunction with a parallel solver, you can achieve even greater speed improvements. By default, the software automatically detects and uses the GPU if one is available on the computer and it is able to deliver a speed enhancement compared to using the CPU. NOTE: Use of GPU technology is supported in 3D Fill+Pack and 3D Flow analyses, Cool (FEM) analyses, and 3D Warp analyses. The GPU options setting is found on the relevant analysis tab of the solver parameters dialog. Compatible graphics card You will benefit from speed enhancements offered by GPU technology only if you have a compatible graphics card installed. To determine if you have a compatible GPU card installed, please check the specifications provided by the card's manufacturer. The minimum required hardware is a card capable of double-precision (64-bit floating point precision) computations: NVIDIA GPU card AMD GPU card These cards utilize CUDA technology. Cards which meet these requirements will have a CUDA Compute Capability of 1.3 or higher. These cards utilize OpenCL technology. For optimal performance when using a GPU card, it is important that the latest drivers are installed. Hardware requirements and supported platforms 5
NOTE: The automatic Windows Update function may not install the most recent version of the drivers. Supported operating systems GPU technology is available on all Windows operating systems supported by Autodesk Simulation Moldflow products, for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. GPU card limitations Certain constraints apply when using GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) technology. Analysis types Multiple GPUs Maximum model size Computer stops responding Use of GPU technology is limited to certain types of analyses. At present, 3D Fill+Pack, 3D Flow, Cool (FEM) and 3D Warp analyses support GPU technology. Some graphics cards have multiple GPUs. At present, Autodesk Simulation Moldflow software does not support multiple GPUs. If your card has multiple GPUs, the analysis will select the fastest GPU among the available GPUs with adequate memory to perform the analysis. The analysis you run is restricted by the size of the available memory on the GPU. For example, if your GPU card memory size is not large enough to run the full model, then the analysis will use the GPU for smaller time steps when the model is partially filled. The analysis size is determined by the number of elements a model has. The more elements there are, the bigger the model size. Approximately one tetrahedral element equates to 1 KB of memory, so a model with 1 million elements will require 1 GB of device memory on the GPU card to run the model completely on the GPU. When running computation-intensive tasks on a GPU card, the card will be diverted from other tasks such as redrawing the Windows desktop or refreshing other applications. This can be especially noticeable when running multiple jobs simultaneously or when running a very large analysis. CAUTION: In extreme circumstances, Microsoft Windows may determine that the card has reached a locked up state and trigger a reset of the graphics drivers. If this happens, it is possible that the system will stop responding. Details on this behavior are available from Microsoft here. 6 Hardware requirements and supported platforms
Windows Remote Desktop Launching and running a job in Windows 7 GPU card drivers Windows Remote Desktop does not support direct access to GPU resources. If an analysis which is set to use GPU resources is launched through a Remote Desktop command line (for example, using the runstudy command), it will not be able to utilize the GPU card on the remote machine. There is a limitation for Windows 7 users when using GPU technology. There must be at least one user logged into the server for a GPU card to be accessed. If you launch a job locally on a Windows 7 machine, or if you remotely launch a job through Job Manager where the remote server is a Windows 7 machine, ensure that a user is logged into the server for the duration of the analysis. Ensure that you are using the latest driver for any installed card. You may need to download and install the latest driver manually. NOTE: The automatic Windows Update function may not install the most recent version of the driver. 2 GB memory limit on 32-bit Windows systems Windows 32-bit operating systems have a 2 GB memory limit per process; however there are some guidelines to help you avoid errors due to this memory limit. A large number of open studies in a project may exceed the memory limit. Close any open studies that are not being used at a given time. Consider splitting one project with a large number of studies into two or more projects with a smaller number of studies in each. Even a small number of large studies open in a project may exceed the memory limit. It is recommended to open only one study per project. Post-processing large result files may exceed the memory limit. In particular, 3D results require greater amounts of memory. Consider using the Optimize memory for results display options in the results preferences (Application menu > Options > Results tab) to minimize the amount of memory required to display results. Running a Fill+Pack analysis on a model with a large number of elements may exceed the memory limit. Try remeshing the model using a coarser mesh to reduce the number of elements. Hardware requirements and supported platforms 7
NOTE: Note that using a coarse mesh may affect analysis accuracy, in particular for 3D models. For a 3D model only, turn off the AMG matrix solver. Change the AMG matrix solver selection option setting to Off in the Solver Parameters dialog. This option is set to Auto by default. Running a Cool analysis on a model with a large number of elements may exceed the memory limit. Review the mesh density in the part and on cooling circuits, and remesh using a coarser mesh if possible. Running a 3D Warp analysis may exceed the memory limit. If the model contains more than 800,000 elements, change the Use AMG matrix solver option to No on the Warp Settings page of the Process Settings Wizard. This option is on by default. Turning this option off enables the legacy (SSORCG) matrix solver. The AMG matrix solver is faster but requires more memory compared to the legacy solver. Enable mesh aggregation to reduce memory requirement for analyses of thin-wall parts. Make sure the Use mesh aggregation and 2nd-order tetrahedral elements option is selected on the Warp Settings page of the Process Settings Wizard. This option is on by default. NOTE: If the part geometry is thick or solid (true 3D geometry), using mesh aggregation is not recommended. Turning off the mesh aggregation option causes the original mesh to be used for the analysis. This increases analysis time and memory requirement but improves accuracy for true 3D parts. The maximum model size on which a 3D Warp analysis can be run on a 32-bit operating system is up to 1.5 million elements (using legacy solver and mesh aggregation options). Free resources (memory, swap space) on the machine running the analysis. Add more resources (memory, swap space) on the machine running the analysis. If you have tried the above options but still exceed the 2GB memory limit, consider changing to a computer with a 64-bit Windows operating system. 8 Hardware requirements and supported platforms