Hardware Recommendations

RAM

Minimum: 64 GB (32 GB DSM/True Ortho)
Recommended: 128GB*
*SURE uses more memory dynamically to improve performance
*MeshConverter might require more for non-lod single file mesh export

CPU

Recommended: Intel Xeon/i9/i7 or AMD Threadripper/Epyc
3.0 GHz or higher clock speed per core

GPU (optional)

Minimum: none
Recommended: recent* Nvidia CUDA graphics card, ideally >20GB**
e.g. RTX8000, RTX3090, Titan RTX, RTX6000, RTX3080, RTX2080Ti

*GPU (CUDA) processing is supported when using:
- GPU with CUDA Compute Capability 5 or higher,
- NVIDIA Driver >= 527.41 for Windows, >=525.60.13 for Linux

**SURE uses more memory dynamically to improve performance

Storage

Distributed Processing:
Minimum: 1TB Compute Node, 24TB Master, NAS for images
Recommended:
Processing Nodes - 1TB SSD,
Master - 32TB HDD RAID5,
Performant NAS devices for Network Image Directory

Single Node Processing:
Recommended: 16 TB SSD RAID5

Operating System

Windows 10 or newer.

Windows Server 2019 or newer.

Linux distributions with glibc version >= 2.35 (e.g. Ubuntu 22.04).

General Remarks

  • SURE will automatically benefit from additional RAM if available, due to processing in larger parts and less data transfer.

  • If your RAM significantly exceeds recommended RAM specifications, manually setting a larger tile size can increase performance. See also Performance Optimization for a table of recommended tile sizes.

  • Additional benefits can be expected from a fast communication between CPU and RAM - use all RAM slots (e.g. 8x16GB instead of 4x32GB) if possible to get maximum throughput on the memory lanes

  • Processing on graphics card is beneficial for hardware setups with an average CPU.

  • Avoid the use of USB and network drives (except for “Network Image Directory”, where we recommend performant NAS devices). These type of drives do not enable caching, which leads to a strong performance loss.

  • Set the Windows energy plan to Ultimate Performance or other maximum settings by the CPU vendor, as this can have a strong impact on performance

  • Disable Antivirus software as file reading and writing can be slowed down - including Windows Defender and its realtime protection

  • Use operating system that can handle memory, e.g. Windows for Workstations and update latest chipset drivers and BIOS - particularly for AMD processors

  • When targeting cost efficiency, we recommend using separate medium-priced hardware instances for each processing Node, rather than highly priced hardware instances with multiple GPUs or grouped CPU kernels.

Please follow our best practices and always use distributed processing. Doing so, ensures the processing nodes stay within the 1TB storage recommendation, permitting the use of less expensive hardware. Also note that Master nodes store all the input data and final results, thus they require larger storage capacity.

RAM Minimum Requirements

Image Resolution

Images

Min. RAM

Recommended RAM

Up to 60 MP

<1000

16 GB

32 GB

Up to 60 MP

>1000

32 GB

64 GB

Up to 60 MP

>5000

64 GB

128 GB

< 400 MP - DSM & True Ortho

<5000

32 GB

64 GB

Unlimited MP - All Products

<10000

64 GB

128 GB

Unlimited MP - All Products

<60000

128 GB

128 GB

Storage Hardware Examples

Single Node Processing

4x 2TB PCIe/M2/NVMe SSD Samsung 970 EVO with 3.5GB/s Software RAID0

Node Storage

1TB Disk space: One SSD connected via PCIe/M2/NVMe with 3.5GB/s transfer speed (e.g. Samsung 970 EVO 1TB SSD)

Master Storage

RAID controller in RAID 0 (or RAID 5) with 6 or 8 SAS spinning drives:

  • Controller: SAS HBA, 8port 12Gb/s, ARECA ARC-1883LP, SAS RAID, PCIe x8,Dual Core ROC, 2GB Cache

  • Case: Desktop JBOD, 8x 12Gb/s SAS HDDs, Areca ARC-4038,4x SFF-8644 & 1x SFF-8088, 220W PSU 

  • Hard drive: 6 or 8 SAS Disks - e.g. 4TB, Seagate Constellation ES.3, 24x7, 6Gb/s, 3.5", 7.200U./min.

NAS for Network Image Directory

Synology SA3400 NAS:

  • 12 x 20TB Seagate Exos X20 ST20000NM002D SAS HDD, RAID 6 or 10

  • 32 GB or more System Memory

  • 1 GigE or faster uplink per node

See Also

Performance Optimization