You are currently reviewing an older revision of this page.
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.
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.
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
Communitvation Protocols
Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)
Virtualized Environments
Citrix XenApp 5.0 64-bit on Windows Server 2008Citrix XenApp 6.0 64-bit on Windows Server 2008 R2 (from SELECT Series 3)Citrix XenApp 7.6 64-bit (from SELECT Series 4)
Citrix XenApp 7.15 64-bit (from SELECT Series 4)
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 localizedDHTML 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.
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.
CPU
last updated: August 2012
Intel® Xeon® E3 & E5 & E7
Intel® Xeon® E5-2667 v3 (20M Cache, 3.20 GHzIntel® Core™ i7Intel® Core™ i5Intel® Core™ i5
Intel® Xeon® E7Intel® Core™ i7
Intel® Xeon® E5-2690 v3 (30M Cache, 2.60 GHz)
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
FX370FX470FX570K410*
K420*K610*
K620*Quadro 400Quadro 600Quadro K610M*
FX1500FX3700FX1800
K620*K2000*
K2200*K4000*
K4200*Quadro 2000*Quadro 4000*Quadro K1100M*
FX3700FX4500FX4600FX4700FX5500FX5600K2000*
K4200*K5000*
K5200*K6000*Quadro 2000*Quadro 4000*Quadro 5000*Quadro 6000*Quadro K2100M*Quadro K3100M*Quadro K4100M*Quadro K5100M*
V3600V3700V3750V3800V3900
W2100*
V5600V5700V5900 *V7300V7600V3900
W4100*
W5000*
W5100*
V7600V7350V8600V8650V8700V3800 *V3900 *V4800 *V5800 *V5900 *V7800 *V7900 *V8800 *V9800 *
W4100*W5000*
W5100*W7000*W8000*W9000*HD 4000 Series
Intel® HD Graphics 3000Intel® HD Graphics P3000Intel® HD Graphics P4000Intel® HD Graphics P4600Intel® HD Graphics 4000Intel® HD Graphics 4400Intel® HD Graphics 4600Intel® HD Graphics 5000Intel® HD Graphics IrisTM Pro 5200
Intel® IrisTM Pro Graphics P6300Intel® IrisTM Pro Graphics P580 Intel® HD Graphics P530
* = Certified to work with Windows 7 and MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 2).
Product TechNotes and FAQs
MicroStation Desktop FAQs
MicroStation Graphics Benchmark (link to be added soon)
MicroStation ReadMe
Intel Workstations
ATI FirePro™ Professional Graphics Product comparison
French Deutsch Español