ArcGIS 10 coming, is your computer ready?
With the probable release date of ArcGIS 10 announced (June 21 to Partners, June 28 to everyone on maintenance and, I assume, new purchases) you may be wondering if your computer has what it takes to handle the latest and greatest. Well, ESRI (or should it be esri now…I should check on that) has provided us with a list of supported operating systems and hardware recommendations to help us plan our end of year budget spend downs and first of the budget year hardware refreshes. The upshot is if you have a computer running Windows XP or above with the latest service pack, and that was built in the last 10 years, you should be golden. Minimum CPU is a 2.2 Ghz and minimum memory is 2 GB.
As with previous versions you can run ArcGIS 10 on a multicore/multiprocessor machine but most of the application and extensions are not written to be multithreaded. This does not mean that your use or ArcGIS will not take advantage of multiple cores since each geoprocess service runs as a new thread, if you have multiple ArcMap windows open each will be a separate thread, if you are running ArcMap and ArcScene you will have two threads…in other words you should have at least a fast dual-core machine especially if you have ArcMap open, a browser (with 73 tabs open), a twitter app, music player, and email. With quadcore i7 processors you get multiple cores that also offers a boost mode which can take unused cycles from other cores to boost speed for a thread that needs extra oomph. If you are looking at an everyday GIS use machine I would definitely look at an i7 if you are buying Intel.
64-bit OSes all have a check mark with ArcGIS 10 so that you can break the 4GB system memory barrier now which is especially important if you are handling large datasets or running complex models. The less often you have to swap memory to the hard drive on these, the faster your models will run, data will draw, map will refresh…you get the idea. Keep in mind that ArcGIS 10 is still a 32-bit app and can only access 2GB per process, but if you have multiple processes going you should be good to go if you have your PC stuffed full of the 192GB of RAM that Win7 64 can handle.
If you are running ArcGlobe or ArcGIS Explorer, you don’t have to have a top of the line ready for the latest FPS graphics card, but it definitely helps to have a solid, modern graphics card. I have always had the bust luck with nVidia, but ATI and Matrox chipsets have also served me well. Don’t break the bank on the graphics card unless you are doing other 3D work or using another geospatial app that can use the GPU horsepower. You can get a 2d/3d graphics card that is very powerful for $50…those $500 cards are for people who know that they need them, not for those who wonder if they need them.
Hard drives are a non-issue now-a-days since most PC’s come with sizable drives, but keep in mind that back-ups are important. If you run data from your local drive make sure to have a big drive and an external big enough to back everything up to. If you are running from a server, make sure your network is fast enough to handle your throughput (just go ahead and buy the gigabit switch, your computer probably has a gigabit ethernet port. If you are on a laptop, make sure you back-up often or/and use a cloud sync service like DropBox, ZumoDrive, Carbonite, etc. And after all of that, make sure you have multiple copies. 3,2,1…3 copies on at least 2 media with at least 1 offsite. A genius and simple description to something that can make your use of technology much more enjoyable, because there is nothing worse than a ‘Where is my file’ 50 hours into working on a project.
OK the last paragraph is NOT autobiographical, just a tangent, but still something to keep in mind.
Good luck with getting ArcGIS 10 installed and running smoothly if you will be moving to it in the next couple of months.
11 Replies to “ArcGIS 10 coming, is your computer ready?”
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The ESRI ArcGIS 10 website indicates that the software will require a DUAL CORE 2.2 Ghz processor. My work (state government) computer is 2.5 years old and doesn’t meet those requirements. I’m hoping the CPU requirement is an overstatement because our computer replacement program has been dropped due to economic conditions in our state. This may be a problem for a lot of larger institutions. I’m sure our IT division will be thrilled if our 40 or so ArcGIS users request processor upgrades.
I am running ArcGIS 9.3.1 and every time I zoom or change layer attributes my screen goes white and says the program is not responding. Right now my computer set up has no video card and is running video off of the motherboard. Any suggestions for a suitable video card? I know that esri says 512 mb or higher.
@Scott:
I think any video card with at least 512 MB would work for you. You just need to make sure what type of slots you have available (AGP / PCI or PCI express) and get that type of video card. And honestly, 9.3.1 runs fine on a 256 MB video card. For three years I ran dual monitors on a 256 MB card. I just recently upgraded and have a 256 MB card for one display and a 512 MB for another.
If you don’t know what kind of slots you have for additional cards, this site has a cool free download that will show you system specs.
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
Good luck
I have the same problem as Silas and was told it was because I have an integrated graphics card but I suspect it may have something to do with Windows 7. I haven’t been able to resolve the problem and am thinking of upgrading my computer because of this issue – however I’m unsure if an upgrade will fix the problem. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I use GIS software in college. I am about to buy a Thinkpad Edge E420s with i5 Intel processor/ 8 GB RAM/Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics card. Is the given graphics card enough to run the arcGIS 10 or should I opt for a similar specification with switchable AMD Mobility radion 6630 graphics card.. I will be waiting for your expert opinion… tks in advance..
Only some portions of GIS apps tend to be GPU aware, so that your best bang for your $ tends to be increasing CPU (since you already plan to have 8GB of RAM). However if you plan to play around with any 3D software options in the lifespan of the laptop then the switchable or dedicated graphics would be worth the $$. You will generally be doing GIS with the laptop plugged in so the impact on the battery shouldn’t be too much with a switchable option.
Do take a look at the development trends for your preferred GIS on blogs and forums to see how much they plan to take advantage of GPUs over the next couple of versions (generally the life of a laptop). If they are going whole hog on the graphics or multithreading opportunities that GPU offer then that would be another reason to spend the extra $$ now as opposed to having to buy a new laptop if/when your application begins to use the GPU more.
In the end, if you are trying to stick to a budget, buy what meets your needs today…if you have a flexible cost ceiling buy the machine that will meet your needs next year.
Hi, thanks for the post, informative. Question – what are your thoughts on running AGS10 on 64-bit VMs? Anyone had trouble upgrading from 32-bit to 64-bit machines?
hi, good day everybody. I have a nice specs PC with AMD 1055T 6Cores and 4GB Ram, ATI 5570 Video 1GB RAM because i thought arcscene 9 (demo currently using) was multithreaded which made me purchase a 6 core machine 🙁 all 5 cores sits on idle except 1 at 100% load.
I have GIS coursework that needs ArcView 10.0. The coursework need to be submitted in few days time. Is there anyway I can purchased online or download online in short notice. Ido not mind paying for the download of full package of ArcView 10.0 as long as I got my coursework done because this is important for my final task. As an oversea student (now I at my home country) my university (in UK) do not let me download the software from here, my home due to licence issue…so please need ur advice since I am having summer vacation but still need to submit coursework online from home, otherwise I have to return to UK in this short time. Please need your cooperation and expert advice…
Head to esri.com to buy ArcGIS for Desktop Basic (formerly ArcView). You may want to choose the Home use version (http://store.esri.com/esri/showdetl.cfm?SID=2&Product_ID=1315&Category_ID=121)
I can only suggest that you try one of the open source solutions (e.g. QGIS) if you can’t make it to campus, but if you need to use ArcGIS head to your campus where I am sure it is installed in a student use lab.
I am a graduate student who will be using ArcGIS Desktop 10.0 to analyze some large (2-3GB each) image files. Most of the work will be done on a powerful desktop, but I am in the market for a laptop to take my work to conferences. I am looking at a couple of HP ProBooks that have 8GB RAM (I will upgrade to 16GB) and 1GB dedicated GPU, but can either come with an Intel i7 3612QM quad-core (2.1GHz, turbo boost up to 3.1GHz; 6MB cache) or i5 3210M dual-core (2.5GHz, turbo boost up to 3.1GHz; 3MB cache). I’ve heard some anecdotal evidence that dual-core processors are actually better/faster for ArcGIS than quad-cores. Do you know if there is any truth to this?