The Hardware Recommendations

Processor:

Starting from: Core Ultra 5 or comparable AMD systems
Recommendation for quick Raytracing Raytracing is a mathematical method that copies the natural vision. With Raytracing is a trick used: the reversal of the light rays from the virtual eye in the virtual room, so that only those light rays, that actually would reach the eye in the selected position, are calculated.: Intel Core Ultra 9 or comparable ADM Ryzen

Required PC working memory and graphics card for the CARAT design program:

Required PC working memory and graphics card for the CARAT design program with CARAT emotion Level 2 (3D-surfaces + animations)

The use of CARAT emotion Level 2 increases the power consumption of the graphics card. Notebooks should therefore only be operated with the power supply unit connected.

Product information about CARAT emotion: See also: CARAT emotion

By use of 1 monitor with Full HD resolution:

Starting from 32 GB PC working memory (RAM)
Starting from 16 GB graphics card memory (GPU RAM)
Full support of OpenGL (from Version 3.3 or higher)
Current driver version
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 or comparable

By use of 1 monitor with UHD (4K) resolution:

Starting from 32 GB PC working memory (RAM)
Starting from 16 GB graphics card memory (GPU RAM)
Full support of OpenGL (from Version 3.3 or higher)
Current driver version
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 or comparable

By use of 2 monitors with Full HD resolution:

Starting from 64 GB PC working memory (RAM)
Starting from 20 GB graphics card memory (GPU RAM)
Full support of OpenGL (from Version 3.3 or higher)
Current driver version
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 or comparable

Use of 2 monitors 1 x UHD (4K) +1 x Full HD resolution:

Starting from 64 GB PC working memory (RAM)
Starting from 20 GB graphics card memory (GPU RAM)
Full support of OpenGL (from Version 3.3 or higher)
Current driver version
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 or comparable

By use of 2 monitors with UHD (4K) resolution:

Starting from 64 GB PC working memory (RAM)
Starting from 20 GB graphics card memory (GPU RAM)
Full support of OpenGL (from Version 3.3 or higher)
Current driver version
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 or comparable

The result depends not only on the hardware used (graphics card, monitors) but also on the CARAT design. The more decorative articles are displayed, the better the hardware required. The current programming always aims to display the best quality. If the hardware is weak, the display may stutter. Please also note that laptops, notebooks, ultra books and mini PCs are usually approx. 20-30% slower than desktop PCs, with seemingly identical configuration.

Please note that the most current graphic driver for the operating system An operating system is the software which enables the use of a computer. It administrates operating resources like memory, input and output devices and controls the execution of programs. listed below, must be installed to guarantee a smooth operations with CARAT.

Onboard-graphic chips An onboard-Graphics chip is directly integrated in the motherboard of a computer. It has no own graphic memory. or graphic cards only offer limited 3D-graphic support, and should therefore not be used, especially for the CARAT-Perspective!

Because of the diversity of today's graphics cards and the still very unclear and often confusing labelling of individual graphics card types, it is not possible for us to generally release certain series of graphics cards for the use with CARAT. This is because there are sometimes considerable differences in performance Performance, in the context of computing and software, is a term meaning the effectiveness at usage of resources and the quality of output from programs. despite the fact that the type designations are almost identical. Please note that the flawless functioning of a graphics card can only be ensured when also all other components (motherboard, processor, random access memory The random access memory (also main memory) of a computer is where data objects such as programs and the associated data needing to be processed in the microprocessor are stored and can be retrieved at a later time (unchanged)., hard drive A hard drive (hard disk drive = HDD) is a ferromagnetic storage medium in computer technology, to which binary data is written on the surface of a rotating platter. The hard magnetic coating of the platter is magnetized with the relevant information as the platter rotates., power supply unit, drivers) work properly together.

If you have problems with the 3D displays in CARAT and CARAT emotion, we recommend that you check your User defined Windows graphics settings. Make sure that the Energy saving mode option The word option (from Latin: optio = free will) used in computing means a choice. In CARAT it is normally used with a list box. has Not been activated for CARAT and CARAT emotion. In addition Addition (in Latin: addere) is one of four basic operations in arithmetic. In primary school and in common language it is the expression used for the adding of two or more numbers., incorrect settings in the Manufacturer's own 3D settings of your graphics card can also play a role. Make sure that the Integrated graphics option has NOT been selected as the preferred graphics processor. You can find detailed instructions on how to set up your graphics card correctly for 3D displays on the graphics card Manufacturer's help pages on the internet or contact your EDP Electronic Data Processing (EDP) is the comprehensive term for the collection and processing of data through electronic machines. technician.

Non suitable graphics cards:

For the use with CARAT we generally would recommend the use of graphics cards from the consumer sector. Besides the bigger and partly less expensive assortment, is in this sector a very good graphics driver support offered, because of the shorter cycles of software Software denotes all nonphysical functional components of a computer, which contains at least one microprocessor. This primarily includes computer programs, as well as data used with computer programs. updates An update designates a new version of a base software program, which fixes faults or contains small improvements.. Furthermore uses CARAT the possibilities of Pixel- and Vertex-Shader for the calculation of perspectives, with which especially the consumer cards series are relatively well equipped. We would however, advice against the use of the graphics cards listed following, because these graphics cards are usually developed for highly specialised CAD The term CAD stand for Computer Aided Design. All detailed articles from a particular manufacturer, as well as the neutral catalogues in CARAT, are generated with CAD.-applications and updates of the graphics driver are clearly significantly less frequent.

NVIDIA Quadro
AMD FirePro
All onboard-graphics chips

Downward compatibility for older and less powerful hardware:

Downward compatibility for Intel Core i3 and i5 processors, NVIDIA 1060 and 2070 graphics cards, and HDD hard drives is provided but has not been tested and is not recommended and CARAT Support cannot offer any support for it.

Compatibility with processors and graphics cards of Other manufacturers, like AMD for example, is provided, but has not been tested and is not recommended and CARAT Support cannot offer any support for it.

VR Glasses

Ordering module 3O with our sales department and the activation of it by them is necessary for the use of CARAT virtualreality.
See also: CARAT virtualreality

The current CARAT versions support the open interface OpenVR. The following VR Glasses have been tested with CARAT version V2023.14.0.0 by our technical department. Because of the open interface OpenVR, it is possible that also other VR glasses are suitable, these are however not tested by CARAT.

See also: Information about EDP-Systems

Glasses models	Price range
Pico neo 3 link	Medium class
HP Reverb G2	Medium class
HTC VIVE pro	Premium class

Please note the respective hardware advise and installation instructions of the manufacturer under:
https://www.picoxr.com
https://support.hp.com
www.vive.com

The installation of STEAM VR from the STEAM Store is additionally necessary:
https://store.steampowered.com/

Tip: You will also find elaborate tutorials about the use and installation VR glasses on video portals on the internet.

Monitors for kitchen design:

1920 x 1080 Pixel Pixel or picture element identifies both, the smallest unit of digital raster graphics and the display of these graphics on a monitor with raster activation. (Full HD 1K) with a screen diagonal starting from 19" (Inch The inch became more and more out of use with the implementation of the metric system, only in the English language area (and with non-metric threads) is the inch still in use, which is in 1956 defined as international or English Inch on exactly 25,4 mm. The unit symbol for the inch is „in“ or the inch character ("), which is the same as the second symbol.)
2560 x 1440 Pixel (QHD 2K) with a screen diagonal starting from 27" (Inch)
3840 x 2160 Pixel (UHD 4K) with a screen diagonal starting from 32" (Inch)
Recommendation: 2560 x 1440 Pixel (QHD 2K) with a screen diagonal starting from 27" (Inch)

We currently advise against using 8K UHD (7680 × 4320) due to the enormous demands it places on the graphics card.

Monitors for customer presentations:

Gaming TVs are recommended for large Customer presentation screens (40/50/60 inches) that display CARAT 3D perspectives and CARAT emotion. These screens are specially optimised for use with PC systems and guarantee a first-class visual experience with high image sharpness, precise colour reproduction and smooth display.

The higher the resolution and refresh rate (50–120 Hz) and the more monitors are used, the more powerful the PC, especially the graphics card, must be to ensure smooth display.

Data medium:

Recommendation:
- Minimum: 500 GB SSD with approval for database systems
- Recommendation: SSD 2 TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe
For an average CARAT Design Program Installation, you should reckon with a space requirement of at least 100 GB on your hard drive.

Operating system:

Windows 11 (Pro, Enterprise)

Preconditions are current service packs as well as updates. CARAT has been developed with Microsoft products, to be operated on Microsoft server A server is a central computer in a designated network structure, from which the resources of the central computer can be accessed by multiple workstations (clients). and client A computer is denoted as a client, if it is configured as a workstation in a network, using the resources of a central computer (Server). operating systems, and is optimised for these systems. Program functions are coordinated to and tested on Microsoft application interfaces, as well as for functionality with current Windows versions, based on the operating system.

Network:

Minimum: Transfer rate 1000 Mbit/s With Mbit/s (also data rate, capacity or bandwidth) one describes the quantity of data which can be sent through a transmission line per second.
Recommendation: Transfer rate 2500 Mbit/s

Client operating systems:

Windows 11 (Pro, Enterprise)

Server operating systems:

Windows Server 2025
Windows Server 2022
Windows Server 2019

Info about Terminal Server and NAS/NDAS systems...

Since, the performance of graphic applications in CARAT are sharply reduced by using a Terminal server and a NAS/NDAS system can have access problems in networking, we would not recommend the use of these systems in connection with CARAT.

Information on Different Operating Systems and E-mail E-mail (electronic mail) is a letter like message transmitted electronically over a computer network. Clients…

CARAT has not been tested on other operating systems, for example Linux-Server, nor with alternative e-mail clients. If problems arise with such systems, at this time our support will be limited to a description of the CARAT functionality. The necessary steps for solving your problem must then be taken by your responsible system administrator.

E-mail-clients:

Outlook 32 Bit-Desktop version

Web-clients can currently not be supported.

Internet:

DSL Over DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) private users and companies can send and receive data at very high transmission rates. DSL uses the existing phone lines. connection or wired internet

Printer:

Colour printer starting from 2400 x 1200 Dpi The relative resolution is the quantity of picture basic elements (pixels or dots) per unit of length (dpi = dots per inch); this is also called point or pixel density. With inch is the international inch of 2,54 cm meant.
Black and White printer starting from 600 Dpi

Data transfer:

USB flash drive A USB flash drive (USB = Universal-Serial-Bus) is a data storage appliance that can be attached via the USB port of a computer and is usually no larger than a small lighter. or similar removable medium A portable data storage device, often non-specific called a storage medium, serves to save data and/or information.

Data backup:

On RDX-drive, hard drive, tape drive A tape drive, also know as a streamer, is an external data storage device used for storing additional and rare data, e.g. for data backup., NAS-drive or similar

The Hardware Recommendations

CARAT Kitchen design

The PC hardware configuration for desktop PCs

Hardware-Offer

A short overview of the current hardware-configuration in detail (recommendation)