Hardware and Software Requirements

Please take note of the hardware and software requirements for ProRaster Scientific, ProRaster Premium, and ProRaster Essential. ProRaster requires –

CPU:       x64 or ARM64 compatible CPU

• Intel Haswell architecture or later
• AMD Excavator architecture or later
• ARM64 architecture (Qualcomm Snapdragon, Apple M-series)
• Support for AVX2 on x64 CPUs
• Support for Neon on ARM CPUs

GPU:       Integrated graphics or better
NPU:       Not required
RAM:      8GB minimum
LCD:        1440×900 minimum

RGE recommends –

CPU:       Quad-core or better
RAM:      16GB minimum
LCD:        Dual monitor

All tiers of ProRaster can be run on modest hardware. To improve your experience, upgrade to a modern multi-core CPU, install 16GB of RAM or more, use high-performance SSDs for data storage, and use a dual high-resolution monitor display.

ProRaster Scientific, with extensions for raster processing, multispectral imagery, and huge point cloud processing and gridding, will consume as much computing power as you can provide. To improve your experience, upgrade to an 8+ core CPU, install 32GB RAM or more, use high-performance SSDs for data storage, and use a dual high-resolution monitor display.

All tiers of ProRaster use SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) instructions. On x64 CPUs (Intel and AMD) you will need support for AVX2 and on ARM CPUs you will need support for Neon. Intel CPUs have supported AVX2 since the Haswell architecture was introduced in 2013 and on AMD processors since the Excavator architecture in 2015 (but a Ryzen or later architecture is recommended). There is a question mark hanging over Intel 12^th generation Alder Lake CPUs as it is possible the E-cores do not support AVX2. ARM CPUs have supported Neon since 2013, after the ARMv8-A instruction set was introduced.

ProRaster allows you to open external 2D and 3D map windows. Large display surfaces provide more immersive opportunities for data discovery. I recommend 27-inch monitors at 2560×1440 resolution. Note that very high-resolution monitors do not automatically improve image quality because you will generally set the “System > Display > Scale” setting in Windows to a value larger than 100%.

ProRaster uses the GPU to render imagery, but you do not need a discrete graphics card. A CPU with an integrated GPU is perfectly adequate. If you render 3D Maps, then a discrete graphics card may provide better performance and the ability to display more detailed surfaces and imagery. Make sure the application is using the discrete graphics card by editing the Windows graphics settings for the app.

ProRaster uses multithreading to improve performance when rendering and when processing. It is best to use a quad-core CPU or better. ProRaster will cache raster data in memory to improve rendering performance. It is best to have 16 or 32 GB or RAM for advanced rendering. The Multispectral Satellite products that you build in ProRaster Scientific will benefit from more CPU cores and higher performance CPU’s and as much RAM as you can muster. For advanced Multispectral Satellite processing I recommend 32GB or RAM or more.

If your primary “C” drive is a spinning hard disk, then it is time to upgrade! ProRaster works better if your data is stored on a high-performance SSD, and you ought to buy the largest one you can afford. If you build Multispectral Satellite products with ProRaster Scientific, then you may need to look at high performance external SSD options.

Virtual gridding of point clouds is an operation that will benefit from high-performance hardware. You will require sufficient storage on a high-performance SSD to store the MRP files. You will benefit from a high-performance multicore CPU when gridding.

ProRaster is supported on Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows on Arm. RGE recommends using Windows 11. 

ProRaster is currently supported on Windows 10 version 1809 or later, but this is subject to change without notice. 

ProRaster is supported on Microsoft Windows 11 on Arm. If you have a CoPilot+ PC with a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU then you will be running Windows on Arm. If you have an Apple PC with any M-series CPU you may be running Windows on Arm using the Parallels Desktop application. 

On an ARM64 based CPU, software can be delivered using three build configurations. These are- 

• ARM64

This is the native language of the ARM CPU and provides the highest performance and stability.

• x64

This is the native language of x64/x86 CPUs from Intel and AMD. x64 code is not compatible with ARM64 and Microsoft supplies an emulator called Prism in Windows on Arm that translates x64 code to ARM64 prior to execution. Performance may be impacted and stability may be degraded.

• ARM64EC

This “Enhanced Compatibility” mode combines both native ARM64 code (although slightly modified) with x64 code emulation. For applications that cannot be built in ARM64 configuration, it provides a “best of both worlds” solution. 

All tiers of ProRaster are currently delivered to devices running Windows on Arm in ARM64EC configuration. 

RGE is aware of stability issues that are specific to Windows on Arm. These are related to the OpenGL graphics drivers that are used in Windows on Arm and may vary by system and vendor. If you see failures when rendering contours or point clouds, it is likely due to sub-standard OpenGL graphics drivers. An option has been provided in ProRaster to force all rendering to use the OpenGL drivers without multithreading. Please see the “Configuring Options” section in this document for more information. 

ProRaster has not been tested on Apple PCs with an M-series CPU. The same issues that face users of Windows on Arm are expected to be faced by Apple users.