Rhino compatibility system requirements

Rhino Windows Hardware
1

Hello,

Recently, when I had posted some problems with rhino 7, some people suggested that my laptop isn’t fulfilling the bare minimum requirements for rhino to function properly in my laptop. Can I get some help understanding how exactly my PC is not meeting the requirements so that I know what to look for in the next laptop purchase that I have? Or If it’s something I can do to my current laptop and I don’t have to buy a new one?

Device specifications of my laptop:

Processor: Intel(R) Core™ i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz 1.99 GHz
Installed RAM: 16.0 GB (15.9 GB usable)
System Type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Windows specifications:

Edition: Windows 10 Pro
Version: 22H2

System info:

Rhino 8 SR0 2023-6-13 (Rhino WIP, 8.0.23164.14305, Git hash:master @ 55d904232132c2185f6cc9c36fb69051a9b52a74)
License type: Educational, build 2023-06-13
License details: Cloud Zoo
Expires on: 2023-07-28

Windows 10 (10.0.19045 SR0.0) or greater (Physical RAM: 16Gb)

Computer platform: LAPTOP - Plugged in [98% battery remaining]

Standard graphics configuration.
Primary display and OpenGL: Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 (Intel) Memory: 1GB, Driver date: 8-20-2021 (M-D-Y). OpenGL Ver: 4.6.0 - Build 30.0.100.9865
> Integrated graphics device with 3 adapter port(s)
- Windows Main Display is laptop’s integrated screen or built-in port
Primary OpenGL: Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 (Intel) Memory: 1GB, Driver date: 8-20-2021 (M-D-Y). OpenGL Ver: 4.6.0 - Build 30.0.100.9865
> Integrated (slow!) graphics device with 3 adapter port(s)
- Windows Main Display is laptop’s integrated screen or built-in port

OpenGL Settings
Safe mode: Off
Use accelerated hardware modes: On
Redraw scene when viewports are exposed: On
Graphics level being used: OpenGL 4.6 (primary GPU’s maximum)

Anti-alias mode: 4x
Mip Map Filtering: Linear
Anisotropic Filtering Mode: High

Vendor Name: Intel
Render version: 4.6
Shading Language: 4.60 - Build 30.0.100.9865
Driver Date: 8-20-2021
Driver Version: 30.0.100.9865
Maximum Texture size: 16384 x 16384
Z-Buffer depth: 24 bits
Maximum Viewport size: 16384 x 16384
Total Video Memory: 1 GB

Rhino plugins that do not ship with Rhino

Rhino plugins that ship with Rhino
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\Commands.rhp “Commands” 8.0.23164.14305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\rdk.rhp “Renderer Development Kit”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\RhinoRenderCycles.rhp “Rhino Render” 8.0.23164.14305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\rdk_etoui.rhp “RDK_EtoUI” 8.0.23164.14305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\rdk_ui.rhp “Renderer Development Kit UI”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\NamedSnapshots.rhp “Snapshots”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\RhinoCycles.rhp “RhinoCycles” 8.0.23164.14305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\RhinoCode\RhinoRoslyn.rhp “RhinoRoslyn” 8.0.23164.14305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\RhinoCode\RhinoCodePlugin.rhp “RhinoCodePlugin” 8.0.23164.14305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\RhinoCode\RhinoCPython.rhp “RhinoCPython” 8.0.23164.14305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\Toolbars\Toolbars.rhp “Toolbars” 8.0.23164.14305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\3dxrhino.rhp “3Dconnexion 3D Mouse”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\Displacement.rhp “Displacement”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\SectionTools.rhp “SectionTools”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\WebBrowser.rhp “WebBrowser”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\RhinoScript.rhp “RhinoScript”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 8 WIP\Plug-ins\IdleProcessor.rhp “IdleProcessor”

Rhino’s system requirements found on the website for windows:

Hardware

  • 64-bit Intel or AMD processor (Not ARM)
  • At least 8 GB (RAM) memory is recommended
  • 600 MB disk space
  • OpenGL 4.1 capable video card is recommended
  • At least 4 GB Video card memory is recommended
  • A multi-button mouse with a scroll wheel is recommended
  • SpaceNavigator optional
  • Apple Intel hardware with Boot Camp optional
    (Boot Camp is not supported on Apple Silicon Macs.)

Windows Operating Systems

  • Windows 11
  • Windows 10
2

That’s not a ‘real’ video card. We also recommend 4gb Video RAM per monitor, NVidia cards has been outperforming AMD (due to poor driver support on amd’s part)

1 Like
3
1 Like
4

First and foremost - the graphics card or GPU. Rhino makes very heavy demands on that. Buy a computer with the best (NVidia) card you can afford. I recommend minimum 4-6Gb of GPU RAM, 8 or more is better. It’s unlikely you can do anything to the laptop you have as it doesn’t even have a discrete graphics card - it’s the integrated very limited Intel 620.

Otherwise you have a decent processor and 16GB RAM, that would normally be more or less OK if you didn’t have the problem with the GPU.

1 Like
5

Thank you so much for explaining! I will keep these things in mind.

6

In addition to Helvetosaur’s excellent advice on video cards, I see that your processor, while architecturally sufficient, is rated at only 1.8 Ghz CPU speed. These days that is woefully slow. It would have been adequate for Rhino 4 or 5 and earlier but by today’s standards would be frustratingly slow for Rhino 7 or 8. (Even though it would function OK with an adequate video card.) The computer was undoubtedly built with slower RAM to match.

So in addition to as fast an Nvidia card with a minimum of 6 GB of video memory as you can afford I would suggest as fast a quad core CPU as you can afford with minimum 16GB. Since Rhino runs mostly single threaded a quad core CPU is probably sufficient.

Here is just an example although it has only 4GB video, 256 GB hard drive and 1920 x 1280 display.
Better would be 8GB video, 1TB hard drive and 3200 x 1800 display.

1 Like
7

This makes sense, thank you so much!