[sims] Minimum System Requirements - Updated!!!

[Rawns]

For anyone interested, it looks as though Capita have finally updated their Minimum System Requirements documentation (Now dated May 2013) but failed to notify anyone about it!

 

It's a Sticky item on SupportNet.

[newpersn]

can you post on here please.

[caffrey]

Same, I'd like to know too.

[Rawns]

Not sure if it is something we're allowed to post up here, it's mosat likely a "Capita customers only" document.

 

@vikpaw @PhilNeal, comment?

Edited May 17, 2013 by Rawns

[matt40k]

You can view it via http://www.sims.co.uk/hardware

[vikpaw]

I shouldn't see why not to post it, the question often gets asked and answered here a lot anyway.

It is missing 2 vital items though : mountains of coffee, and tons of patience.

[SYNACK]

What's with the 'not an integrated one' for Discover GPU, they are aware that the new Intel GPU ones and the AMD Fusion ones are on a par or better than the entry to low mid level GPUs now.

[Arthur]

What's with the 'not an integrated one' for Discover GPU

Can someone explain the logic behind this recommendation? I am also failing to see why a Mobility Radeon 9600 from 2003 would be a better choice for Discover than the HD Graphics 4000 IGP in third-gen Core i3, i5 or i7 CPUs released in 2012?

[synaesthesia]

They're software devs and have little idea about modern hardware. Clearly - even the HD2000 is plenty enough to run Discover, as are most of the amd supplied chipsets these days.

[matt40k]

I think it's more a statement of don't expect that 4 year celeron with onboard graphic to run it ok then don't expect that i5 with onboard hd 4000 to work. IE actually get something half decent. Personally I would have said, you need a Windows 7 Graphics score of 4.4 or higher or something - having said that, how easy would it be to get that sort of information from manufacturers?

[caffrey]

Thanks for that, reading the specs am I right in saying that the workstations have to be windows 7 with a recommended 4GB of ram ?

[vikpaw]

Thanks for that, reading the specs am I right in saying that the workstations have to be windows 7 with a recommended 4GB of ram ?

Yes, but we have that, and its struggling. We're looking at upping to 6 or 8 GB RAM, and 64bit, as Windows 7 is sucking 1.3 GB minimum for the OS and the rest gets chewed up by basic day to day apps.

 

In general regarding the specs - Microsoft set minimum 1GHz (x86) with 512MB RAM to run Windows Server 2008. Recommend 2GHz and 2GB!

The document is a minimum and a catch-all to stop people from expecting the unexpected. We're all experienced enough to know you wouldn't buy the minimum specs. You wouldn't expect Windows to run on some of those specs, so expect SIMS to fall over and die.

 

What would be nice is if they made up some example specs for different school sizes and scenarios, so it didn't have to be so general, and list recommended - not minimum specs.

 

If you put a minimum, some Head or inexperienced advisor is going to cut a corner somewhere and we'll be stuck helping them to achieve the impossible.