Autodesk® Showcase 2009 Hardware Qualification
Last Updated: August, 2008

Recommended Hardware Configurations

Minimum
Performance may be limited in scenes with large numbers of objects.

  • 2.4 GHz Intel or equivalent AMD CPU
  • 2 GB RAM
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS or Quadro FX series graphics card with 512MB graphics memory
  • 7,200 RPM Hard drive with 100GB free

Recommended

  • 4CPU or 4 cores 2.8 GHZ Intel CPU or equivalent AMD CPU
  • 4 GB RAM
  • NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 (768MB graphics memory) or better
  • 7,200 RPM Hard drive with 200GB free

Laptops
Laptops are limited to those systems meet the following requirements. Use of laptops should be limited to Showcase scenes of low to medium complexity.

  • 2GB RAM
  • NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics (see below) with 512 MB Graphics memory or better
  • Minimum 162.65 graphics driver
  • 7,200 RPM Hard drive with 100GB free
Operating System Requirements

Operating Systems

  • Windows® Vista Business, Enterprise or Ultimate 32-bit or 64-bit with Service Pack 1
  • Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 3
  • Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2

Autodesk Showcase runs as a 32-bit application on 64-bit operating system

Using more than 2GB system memory on Windows
Autodesk Showcase 2009 supports the /3GB switch with supported versions of Microsoft Windows. This switch allows Showcase to address 1 GB of additional virtual address space above 2 GB. On 64-bit editions of Windows, Autodesk Showcase can utilize up to 4GB of address space with no modification to the system.

Apple Boot Camp
Autodesk Showcase is not qualified to run under Boot Camp.

IPv6 Compliance
Showcase 2009 SP1 is dual-stack IPv6 compliant. IPv6 networks can be used to transmit data to other Showcase sessions and communication with necessary shared components through TCP-IP. Please refer to the Showcase documentation for more information. Autodesk Showcase versions prior to 2009 SP1 are not IP-v6 compliant.

Windows Firewall and other software firewalls
Showcase communicates to component applications, like DirectConnect through TCP-IP. This communication can be interrupted by Windows Firewall and other software firewalls. Users can either unblock the program via the Windows Firewall Security Alert dialog, or add it as an Exception in the Exceptions Tab in the Windows Firewall dialog box. For more information, please see the Microsoft Update. Similar configurations are necessary for other third party firewall software.

Graphics Hardware Requirements

Unsupported

Showcase will not run on the following graphics configurations:

  • ATI graphics
  • Intel integrated graphics
  • NVIDIA Quadro NVS-series graphics
  • Graphics cards with 128MB graphics memory or less

Supported With Limitations

Showcase will run on the following graphics hardware, but users may experience performance and stability issues:
These cards not recommended for presentation or working with complex scenes,
Graphics cards with less than 512MB are not recommended.

  • Mobile NVIDIA graphics
    • QuadroFX 360M
    • QuadroFX 570M
  • GeForce 7900 and higher

GeForce cards may exhibit more performance and stability issues than comparable Quadro FX graphics (see notes below)

Supported

Showcase is fully qualified on the following graphics hardware:

    • Quadro FX 3700
    • Quadro FX 4500
    • Quadro FX 4500 X2
    • Quadro FX 4700
    • Quadro FX 4700 X2
    • Quadro FX 4600
    • Quadro FX 5500
    • Quadro FX 5600
    • Quadro Plex 1
    • Mobile NVIDIA graphics:
      • QuadroFX 1600M
      • QuadroFX 3600M
      • QuadroFX 2500
    • GeForce 8800 GTS

GeForce Graphics Hardware
Although it is likely that many GeForce based graphics cards will provide acceptable levels of performance and quality, it is suggested that you choose from NVIDIA's workstation cards such as the Quadro FX family which are better suited to high-end 3D applications such as Showcase.
Please refer to the following white paper prepared by NVIDIA Corporation.: Nvidia GeForce vs Quadro White Paper [PDF]

SLI
Showcase does not offer an appreciable performance improvement when run in SLI mode.

Graphics Drivers

Autodesk Showcase is supported with NVIDIA graphics drivers 169.39 and later.
Drivers are available for download at www.nvidia.com.

Driver settings
AliasStudio preset, Anti-Aliasing should be set to "Use advanced 3D image settings"

Mobile / laptop graphics drivers
Laptops manufactured by Dell, HP and Lenovo typically require special versions of graphics drivers. These drivers are often lower versions than the drivers available from NVIDIA. As of the date of publishing, the latest driver version from Dell, HP and Lenovo are qualified for use with Showcase. For graphics drivers for these laptops please visit the manufacturers’ website.

Important Notes

Autodesk DirectConnect
Autodesk DirectConenct is required to import wire files from Autodesk AliasStudio, Inventor and third-party CAD applications. See the DirectConnect documentation for a list of supported data formats and licensing requirements.

Wacom Tablets
Wacom tablets are not supported

Game controller / joystick support
Logitech Rumblepad 2 is supported. Other game controller or HID devices may also work but are currently unsupported.