System requirements
SIMetrix and SIMetrix/SIMPLIS run Microsoft Windows platforms. All products support Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Virtual Machines and Emulators
Important: we only offer full support when running SIMetrix on supported operating systems running directly on physical hardware. This excludes running SIMetrix in virtual machines or under emulation on non-supported operating systems. This doesn't mean you can't run SIMetrix on such systems or that we won't support such systems at all. It does mean that we will only be able to help with problems that can be reproduced on a supported OS.
In particular, we can not help with problems with dongles if SIMetrix is running in a virtual machine or under emulation.
Operating System – 32-bit Windows Versions
SIMetrix and SIMetrix/SIMPLIS 32-bit version will install and run on the following Windows platforms:
- Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise
- Windows 7 Home Premium/Professional/Enterprise/Ultimate
- Windows Vista Home/Home Premium/Business/Enterprise/Ultimate
- Windows XP Home and Professional with Service Pack 3
- The 32-bit version will also run on any of the 64-bit Windows operating systems listed below.
Operating System – 64-bit Windows Versions
SIMetrix 64-bit version will install and run on the following Windows platforms:
- Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise
- Windows 7 Home Premium/Professional/Enterprise/Ultimate, x64 Edition
- Windows Vista Home/Home Premium/Business/Enterprise/Ultimate, x64 Edition
- Windows XP Professional, x64 Edition with Service Pack 2
Hardware
SIMetrix and SIMetrix/SIMPLIS will operate correctly if:
- The system is running one of supported operating systems listed above, AND
- The system meets the minimum hardware requirement for that operating system,AND
- The system's CPU supports the SSE2 instruction set. Any system less than about 8 years old is likely to meet this requirement.
SIMetrix and SIMetrix/SIMPLIS are CPU-intensive applications and will benefit from the most powerful processors and largest memories.
Multicore support
SIMetrix Pro and SIMetrix/SIMPLIS Pro are able to use up to 4 physical cores, while SIMetrix Elite, and SIMetrix/SIMPLIS Elite can exploit 16 physical cores.
Please, however, be aware of the following:- Some processors increase the apparent number of CPUs by using a technology called "Hyperthreading". SIMetrix and SIMetrix/SIMPLIS do not directly use hyperthreaded (also known as "logical") CPUs
- The greatest benefit from multiple cores is achieved when running Monte Carlo analyses and other multiple analysis modes. This applies to both SIMetrix and SIMPLIS simulators. For this application, typical performance benefit of about 75% of the core count can be achieved. So for 4 cores a Monte Carlo run may execute about 3 times faster. The SIMetrix simulator can also exploit multiple cores to gain a speedup for single runs, but the performance benefit achieved is much more modest and typically there is little benefit in having more than about 4 cores
System requirements for older versions
All 32-bit Windows versions of SIMetrix back to version 1.0 will run on the 32-bit Windows operating systems listed above. With Windows Vista and Windows 7, there may be some minor lost functionality due to the new security restrictions. In some cases special install procedures are required. If you have an older version of SIMetrix and wish to use it with a 32 bit edition of Windows 7 or Vista, please contact us for advice.
There can be problems with older versions running on 64-bit systems. In particular versions 5.3 or earlier using portable licenses (i.e. with a USB security key) will not work with any 64 bit system.