Documentation/4.6/SlicerApplication/HardwareConfiguration

For the latest Slicer documentation, visit the read-the-docs.

Recommended Hardware Configuration

• Computers running 3D Slicer need enough memory and graphics capabilities to hold both the original data and the processing results in their memory.
• Memory: more than 4GB (8 or more is recommended).
• Display: a minimum resolution of 1024 by 768 (1280 by 1024 or better is recommended).
• Dedicated graphics hardware and memory (1GB is recommended).
• Many computations in Slicer are multi-threaded and will benefit from multi core, multi CPU configurations.
• Interface device: a three button mouse with scroll wheel is recommended. For other devices, see this guide.
• Internet connection to access online documentation of modules and tutorials

Recommended OS versions

• Windows 7 64bit

• Mac OS X Lion
  • On Mac OS X Maverick - Make sure to install this update: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1754

• Linux: recent versions of popular distributions should work. Ubuntu and Fedora are the most widely used distribution among the developers.

32 bit versus 64 bit

Note that many clinical research tasks, such as processing of large CT or MR volumetric datasets, require more memory than can be accommodated with a 32 bit program. We advise the use of the 64 bit versions of the Slicer wherever feasible.

Examples of Working Configurations

Feb 2012

The entries below are hardware/OS combinations which will work with the downloaded executable for the current Slicer 4 release. This are just examples of working configurations.

• Apple: 15-inch MacBook Pro, 2.3 Ghz Intel Core i7, 8GB Memory, AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1024MB, Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3
• Windows: Generic Desktop, 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB Memory, AMD Radeon HD 5700, Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
• Linux: Dell Precision m4500, Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 16GB Memory, NVIDIA® Quadro® FX 880M, Ubuntu 10.10