ANSYS, CFX, FLUENT, AUTODYN, HFSS, and MAXWELL are all supported on Windows 7 64bit. This platform gives the analysis community great computing capacity while delivered at commodity pricing. A multicore 64 bit processor system can address large amounts of RAM and allow large file sizes. A suggested analysis system may be something like:

- Dual Six Core or Eight Core Processors
- Windows 7 64bit
- 1 GB (or higher) graphics card (DRD has had good experience with NVIDIA cards).
- 12-48 GB of RAM
- DVD R/W Drive
- Four 100+ GB hard drives in a RAID 0 configuration. The fastest performance will come from SSD drives. However, SAS and SATA drives can be obtained at a lower cost and still provide very good performance when placed in a RAID 0 array.
- A high end RAID controller. Avoid entry-level raid controllers to maximize performance.
- 17" or larger flat panel display

For structural problems the ANSYS HPC product is needed for parallel processing with greater than 2 processors whether the processors reside on the same computer or over a network. A computer with a single quad core is considered as four processors. A dual sixcore machine would be considered a 12 processor computer. Please consult with your DRD sales representative for the appropriate ANSYS HPC licensing for the best price/performance ratio on these multicore platforms.

For fluid problems, the ANSYS HPC product is needed for parallel processing with more than 1 processor. Please consult with your DRD sales representative for details.

ANSYS software is generally downloaded via the web but may be shipped and installed via DVDs so a DVD drive is necessary. Often the data you would like archived will exceed the capacity of a CD so writing to DVDs or Double Layer DVD is important as well.

An ANSYS EKM system is recommended for storage, searching, and retrieval of previous ANSYS models.