Computer-system requirements

MBF Bioscience software uses an innovative image-handling approach that drastically increases the speed at which images load and can be manipulated, compared to other methods. Our software makes the most of your computer hardware to fuel this increased speed, so the more computing power you have, the better your Stereo Investigator Whole Slide Edition software can perform.

For assistance in identifying a computer system that balances your research goals with your budget realities, we encourage you to contact our technical sales staff for a consultation.

Beyond the minimum system requirements specified below, the computing power that you need is entirely dependent on the size of your image files and the complexity of your analyses—it’s complicated and the needs of each researcher are unique. Following are general recommendations.

Recommended system

This configuration is recommended and will take full advantage of our approach to image handling:

  • 64-bit Windows 10 operating system
  • 8-core processor (16 threads)
  • Solid state drive(s)
  • 64 GB of system memory
  • Graphics card with 8 GB texture memory or more: This is required for the 3D environment, but is optional for working only in 2D. Graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD have been tested with MBF Bioscience software.

Minimum system requirements (not recommended)

This configuration meets the minimum requirements needed to run Stereo Investigator Whole Slide Edition software. It may not be sufficient to handle larger images or more advanced operations.

  • 64-bit Windows 10 operating system
  • 4 core processor (8 threads)
  • 16 GB memory
  • Graphics card with 2 GB texture memory or more: This is the minimum needed for the 3D environment, but is adequate for working only in 2D.

Computer-hardware upgrade priorities

To upgrade your system for better performance with MBF Bioscience software, we suggest that you prioritize computer hardware upgrades as follows:

  1. Increase system memory to a total of 64 GB.
  2. Replace hard disk drives (HDDs) with solid-state drives (SSDs), preferably non-volatile memory express (NVMe) drives.
  3. Increase system memory to a total of 96–128 GB.

  4. If you're working with solids/3D images, upgrade graphics card (GPU) to one with 8-12 GB texture memory.

  5. Upgrade to a processor with 14+ cores (28+ threads).

  6. Increase system memory to a total of 128-256 GB.

  7. Upgrade to a processor with to 28+ cores (56+ threads).

  8. Increase system memory to a total of 256–512 GB.