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Presentation was designed to work well with generic PC hardware.
Hardware requirements really depend on the experiment. Some experiments
may run acceptably even on very old systems. Other experiments may
require a lot of RAM or a current video card. In addition, some hardware
may not work correctly because the drivers for that hardware do not
correctly implement the interfaces Presentation requires.
The following recommendations may be helpful if you are purchasing a
new system to be used primarily with Presentation. These are not minimum
requirements. Also, please read the notes below for each item.
Sample Presentation System
- CPU: 2.78Ghz Pentium 4 or Athlon XP
- Motherboard/brand: See notes below.
- RAM: 1 GB
- Hard Drive: 7200RPM SATA or ATA133
- Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS
- Video Card: GeForce FX 5600 128MB
- Operating System: Windows XP (Vista will probably be supported
in the future, but we recommend XP for now)
CPU
Obviously performance will increase with the speed of the CPU. The
best price to performance ratio is usually at the 3rd or 4th fastest CPU
clock speed available. For instance, if the fastest clock speed for
Pentium 4 is 3.4Ghz, you'll generally get a good price break (of around
$150) by going down to the next highest speed of 3.2Ghz. And if you go
the next level down, you can save another $75 or so. AMD processors are
quite a bit cheaper than Pentiums, and Presentation should work just as
well with them.
Motherboard/brand
The motherboard used will need to match the processor and RAM that
you get. In addition, if you get an SATA hard drive, the motherboard
must support that. We recommend that you have your vendor make those
selections and assemble the components. It is usually a good idea to
also have the vendor install the operating system and drivers. What
vendor you use (Dell, local dealer, etc.) should be chosen based on
cost/support/reliability considerations.
RAM
The amount of memory required for an experiment depends on the size
and number of stimuli that you are using. Having extra memory never
hurts and it is relatively cheap.
Hard Drive
A 7200 RPM SATA or ATA133 drive should suffice. IDE drives usually
come as 5400RPM. 5400RPM may be slow if you plan to play video. A
10,000RPM SCSI hard drive is actually ideal for video, but most
10,000RPM drives have a high pitched whine. If you can afford SCSI, go
with that, but it is quite a bit more expensive than Serial ATA or IDE.
The Seagate Barracuda series of hard drives offer quiet, reliable and
fast performance. The 120GB 7200RPM Seagate Barracuda is a good match
for most people.
Sound Card
The Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS (PCI card) is the first and
only card that we have found to support DirectX Hardware mode in Windows
XP/2000. It also happens to have very low latency and no detectable
jitter. It supports up to 8 channels and has a good signal to noise
ratio. The "Platinum" version of this card has a front panel, which
makes connecting headphones and adjusting volume easier. The "Platinum
Pro" version has an external module for all the inputs and outputs,
which might be useful to some.
The Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Notebook (PCMCIA card) is the
little brother of the PCI card version. It supports DirectX Hardware
mode in Windows XP/2000, but volume ramps each sound (which can be
worked around). It also happens to have very low latency and no
detectable jitter. It supports up to 8 channels and has a good signal to
noise ratio.
Video Card
- Low cost: GeForce GS/LE [current model, ex. 7300] AGP/PCI-Express
(NOT PCI) with 128MB or higher (between $50 and $100)
- High performance: GeForce GT [current model, ex. 7900]
PCI-Express (NOT PCI) with 256MB or higher (between $150 and $350)
Video card technology is advancing at a rapid pace. These rapid
changes mean that you can get a really nice video card fairly
inexpensively as long as you aren't out to get the very latest and
greatest. Radeon (ATI) and GeForce (nVidia) are the two major forces in
the video card market. They both have fans on the card to cool the video
chips. On the very high end cards, these fans can be quite noisy. For
the purposes of running Presentation, a much less expensive and less
noisy card is more than adequate, unless you plan on displaying 3D
scenes with extremely dense meshes. As of this writing, a GeForce GS
7300 with 128MB or 256MB of memory is a good choice for the
cost-conscious. Almost all cards have dual display outputs, which is
good for running an experiment on one screen while watching the status
screen on the other. The equivalent in performance to the GeForce line
is probably one of the Radeon X1300 series cards. The only disadvantage
of going with Radeon over GeForce is that nVidia, the makers of the
GeForce, write their own drivers to support the 3d shutter glasses while
ATI, the makers of the Radeon, do not. This is an advantage only for
people who want to use stereo 3d shutter glasses. If you use the Radeon
with shutter glasses, you have to use 3rd party drivers, which might not
be as optimized and might be buggy.
AGP vs. PCI-Express: There is a new slot type available which
outshines AGP. PCI-Express x16 slots are the best you can get, but you
might have to upgrade your motherboard to get it. PCI-Express is not to
be confused with the outdated PCI slot (the two are not compatible).
Given the choice, you should ALWAYS choose PCI-Express. There is massive
support in the video card market for PCI-Express and it WILL improve
streaming video and 3D performance. PCI-Express cards cost no more than
AGP video cards, but the motherboards might cost a little more.
Remember: before buying a PCI-Express video card, make sure your
motherboard supports it. Also, don't buy a new motherboard/computer
without at least one PCI-Express x16 slot for video.
Operating System
Windows XP will come with most new systems and will be supported by
Microsoft for quite a while to come, unlike Windows 98. On any system,
you should make good use of Presentation's uncertainty features. See the
benchmark feature and the optimizing your OS pages for more information.
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