	Product:	MicroStation
	Version:	V8i
	Environment:	N\A
	Area:	Hardware / Input Devices
	Subarea:	N/A

NOTE: This is accurate as of the date it was published. Advancements in technology may supersede what is identified below. Please refer to this article's history for changes and updates.

Overview

This document outlines hardware recommendations for MicroStation V8i versions from SELECT Series 1 up to SELECT Series 4. The info apply to all V8i versions, if not explicitly mentioned otherwise.

This document includes installation requirements, minimum hardware requirements and recommended requirements for various 2D and 3D workflows.

Installation Requirements

CD drive or access to the Internet required for product installation. The minimum system configuration for installation:

Operating System

Windows 10 Windows (from SELECT Series 4)
Windows 10 (64-bit) (from SELECT Series 4)
Windows 8.1 (from SELECT Series 4)
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) (from SELECT Series 4)
Windows 8 (from SELECT Series 3)
Windows 8 (64-bit) (from SELECT Series 3)
Windows 7
Windows 7 (64-bit)
Windows Vista, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions (up to SELECT Series 3)
Windows Vista (64-bit) (up to SELECT Series 3)
Windows XP SP2 or later, Home, Professional, and Media Center editions (up to SELECT Series 3)
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition (up to SELECT Series 3)
Windows XP Professional (64-bit) (up to SELECT Series 3)
Windows Server 2003, SP1 or later (up to SELECT Series 3)
Windows Server 2003 (64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 SP2, Standard and Enterprise editions (64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Standard and Enterprise editions (64-bit)
Windows Server 2012 (64 Bit) (from SELECT Series 4)
Windows Server 2012 R2 (64 Bit) (from SELECT Series 4)

Microsoft Internet Explorer v6.0 or later with 128-bit cipher strength

Communication Protocols

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4)
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)

Software Prerequisites

The Prerequisites for Bentley Desktop Applications are automatically downloaded and installed to your workstation while you install MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3). The Prerequisites for Bentley Desktop Applications needs to be installed on your system once, and only needs to be reinstalled if you are installing a later version of MicroStation that requires an updated prerequisite pack.
The Prerequisites for Bentley Desktop Applications is also available via the Software Downloads link in CONNECTION Center (up to SELECT Series 3).
The contents of the Prerequisites for Bentley Desktop Applications include:

Windows Installer Version 3.1v2 (up to SELECT Series 3)
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (up to SELECT Series 3)
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 (from SELECT Series 4)
Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML) 6 SP 1 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications core
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications localized
DHTML Editing Control for Applications (with Windows Vista compatibility)
DirectX 9c (up to SELECT Series 3)

Microsoft Internet Explorer V6.0 or later (up to SELECT Series 3) and v8.0 (from SELECT Series 4) or later with 128-bit cipher strength is also required. It is not part of the Prerequisites for Bentley Desktop Applications.

Copyrights in all components are owned by Microsoft Corporation or one of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or licensors.

Supported Databases

The database versions supported by MicroStation are subject to updating after the product release. You can refer to MicroStation database support in Bentley Communities for the latest information.

Minimum Profile

The minimum recommended workstation profile for running MicroStation V8i is:

Processor	Intel® or AMD® processor 2.0 GHz or greater.
Memory	512 MB minimum, 2 GB recommended. More memory almost always improves performance, particularly when working with larger models. MicroStation does support more than 2GB of physical RAM on systems running Windows operating systems that support this -- see this article for more information regarding this.
Hard Disk	up to SELECT Series 3: 900 MB free disk space (which includes the 400 MB install footprint for a complete installation) from SELECT Series 4: 8 GB free disk space (which includes the 6.5 GB install footprint for a complete installation)
Video	Graphics card supported by DirectX 9.0c (up to SELECT Series 3). See the graphics card manufacturer for latest information on DirectX drivers. 256 MB of dedicated video RAM or higher is recommended. If insufficient video RAM or no graphics card supported by DirectX can be found, MicroStation attempts to use software emulation. For optimal performance, graphics display color depth should be set to 24-bit or higher. When using a color depth setting of 16-bit, some inconsistencies will be noted.

To gauge how well MicroStation might perform on your computer, use the MicroStation Graphics Benchmark (link to be added soon), which is a series of tests designed to validate and score your system, as well as gather other important system information that can impact performance and diagnose potential problems. You can also view results of other users' systems to evaluate and compare your system.

Recommendations for 2D and 3D workflows

	2D Drafting and Detailing	3D Modeling and some Visualization	3D with heavy Visualization usage
CPU last updated: August 2012	Intel® Xeon® E3 & E5 Intel® Core™ i5 Intel® Core™ i3	Intel® Xeon® E3 & E5 & E7 Intel® Xeon® E5-2667 v3 (20M Cache, 3.20 GHz Intel® Core™ i7 Intel® Core™ i5 Intel® Core™ i5	Intel® Xeon® E7 Intel® Core™ i7 Intel® Xeon® E5-2690 v3 (30M Cache, 2.60 GHz)
Physical Memory	2 GB	4 GB 16GB recommended for visualization	8 GB (more can be utilized by Luxology Rendering engine on 64bit Windows 7) 32 GB recommended for visualization
Graphics Memory	256 MB - 1GB	512 MB - 2GB	512 MB - 6 GB
Graphic cards Nvidia (Workstation)	FX370 FX470 FX570 K410* K420* K610* K620* Quadro 400 Quadro 600 Quadro K610M*	FX1500 FX3700 FX1800 K620* K2000* K2200* K4000* K4200* Quadro 2000* Quadro 4000* Quadro K1100M*	FX3700 FX4500 FX4600 FX4700 FX5500 FX5600 K2000* K2200* K4000* K4200* K5000* K5200* K6000* Quadro 2000* Quadro 4000* Quadro 5000* Quadro 6000* Quadro K2100M* Quadro K3100M* Quadro K4100M* Quadro K5100M*
Graphic cards Nvidia GeForce (gaming)	8600 GTS 8600 GT 8500 GT 8400 GS 9500 GT 9600 GSO	8800 Ultra 8800 GTX 8800 GTS 8800 GT 9800 GTX 9800 GT 9600 GT	8800 Ultra 9800 GTX+ 9800 GTX GTX 280 GTX 260
Graphic cards AMD/ATI FireGL (FirePro) Workstation	V3600 V3700 V3750 V3800 V3900 W2100*	V5600 V5700 V5900 * V7300 V7600 V3900 W2100* W4100* W5000* W5100*	V7600 V7350 V8600 V8650 V8700 V3800 * V3900 * V4800 * V5800 * V5900 * V7800 * V7900 * V8800 * V9800 * W4100* W5000* W5100* W7000* W8000* W9000* HD 4000 Series
Graphic cards AMD/ATI Radeon (gaming)	HD 2000 Series	HD 3000 Series	HD 4000 Series
Graphic cards Intel®	Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Intel® HD Graphics P3000 Intel® HD Graphics P4000 Intel® HD Graphics P4600 Intel® HD Graphics 4000 Intel® HD Graphics 4400 Intel® HD Graphics 4600 Intel® HD Graphics 5000 Intel® HD Graphics Iris^TM Pro 5200	Intel® Iris^TM Pro Graphics P6300 Intel® Iris^TM Pro Graphics P580 Intel® HD Graphics P530
Operating System	32bit or 64bit Windows 7 Windows 7 (64bit) for MicroStation V8i SS2	32bit or 64bit Windows 7 (64bit Strongly recommended) for MicroStation V8i SS2	64bit Windows 7 (64bit Strongly recommended) for MicroStation V8i SS2

* = Certified to work with Windows 7 and MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 2).

External Links

MicroStation Graphics Benchmark (link to be added soon)

MicroStation ReadMe

Intel Workstations

ATI FirePro™ Professional Graphics Product comparison

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