Support
Supported OS, CPU, memory, GPU and storage for running Ansys Lumerical, Zemax OpticStudio and Ansys Speos, set out product by product. Use it to check the environment before purchase or when specifying a PC or workstation.
Supported environments may change with Ansys releases and service packs. Please also check the latest official Ansys information at the time of deployment.
Choose by product
Photonics analysis including FDTD. Depending on the scale of the analysis, memory and GPU configuration are the key points.
Ray tracing and optimization. CPU performance and display graphics are the key points.
Illumination and visibility analysis. Checking the certified NVIDIA GPU and driver is the key point.
On this page, content based on official Ansys documentation is marked as Official Ansys requirements or Official Ansys recommendations, and practical guidance from LightBridge is marked as Recommended by LightBridge. LightBridge recommendations are not Ansys minimum requirements or certification conditions.
Product 01
The compute resources Lumerical needs vary considerably with the scale of the analysis. In FDTD in particular, the analysis region and mesh density set the memory required directly, so securing enough memory capacity and memory bandwidth often does more for performance than increasing the CPU core count.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| CPUOfficial Ansys requirements | 64-bit x86-64 Intel / AMD processor
ARM processors are not supported by Lumerical. |
| How to think about the CPU configurationRecommended by LightBridge | In Lumerical, memory bandwidth affects computational performance as much as core count. Choosing a high-core-count CPU may not give the expected gain if memory bandwidth is insufficient.
The official Ansys hardware guide likewise explains that FDTD performance is limited by the data transfer rate between CPU and RAM, so adding cores does not always make it faster. |
| Supported OS (Windows)Official Ansys requirements |
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| Supported OS (Linux)Official Ansys requirements |
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| Memory (base environment)Official Ansys requirements | 8 GB or more
The minimum memory required to install Ansys products. Ansys recommends 16 to 32 GB. |
| Memory (recommended)Recommended by LightBridge | 32 GB or more. For large FDTD analyses, take 128 GB or more as a guide.
The memory required varies considerably with the analysis region, mesh density, monitors and material models. In FDTD, secure enough memory for the analysis model to fit in RAM. |
| GPU compute (FDTD)Official Ansys requirements | FDTD supports GPU compute using NVIDIA GPUs.
GPU compute applies to the FDTD solver. Meshing and some script processing run on the CPU. See the official Ansys information for the list of supported GPUs. |
| Graphics (UI display)Official Ansys requirements | The Modern Viewport in Lumerical Multiphysics and Lumerical FDTD requires a graphics environment compliant with OpenGL 3.2 or higher, or DirectX 11.
Support may be limited in environments where a suitable graphics driver is unavailable, such as virtual machines and remote desktop. |
| Storage (installation)Official Ansys requirements |
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| Storage (working space)Recommended by LightBridge | For large FDTD analyses, secure enough fast SSD capacity for analysis data and result files. Depending on use, 1 TB or more is recommended.
This is a practical workstation recommendation, not a software installation requirement. |
| Distributed computingOfficial Ansys requirements | Solvers supporting distributed computing:
FDTD also supports single-GPU, multi-GPU and multi-node GPU configurations. Supported MPI implementations and job schedulers are maintained in the official Ansys material for each release. |
| LicenseOfficial Ansys requirements | Ansys License Manager / Ansys Licensing is used. To use a network license, the client PC needs a TCP/IP connection to the license server.
Step-by-step instructions for installation and license setup are available in theCustomer Knowledge Basefor eligible customers. |
Product 02
OpticStudio runs on a single workstation, with ray tracing and optimization executed on the CPU. The GPU is used mainly for 3D display, so the balance between CPU performance, memory capacity and display graphics is what matters when specifying a machine.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| CPUOfficial Ansys requirements | 64-bit Intel or AMD processor
CPU performance matters for ray tracing and optimization. Much of the processing is multi-core capable, and the official Ansys guide explains that optimization generally sees gains up to around 8 to 32 cores, though the effect depends on the analysis. More cores do not always mean better efficiency. |
| Supported OSOfficial Ansys requirements |
These are the platforms listed for Zemax OpticStudio in the 2026 R1 Platform Support by Application / Product. OpticStudio has no native Linux support. |
| MemoryOfficial Ansys recommendation |
The capacity needed varies with the complexity of the optical system, CAD data and the number of cores used. 2 GB per core is not an absolute requirement. |
| Graphics / GPUOfficial Ansys recommendation | An NVIDIA or AMD GPU supporting DirectX 12 or higher is recommended
In OpticStudio the main ray tracing and optimization processing runs on the CPU. The GPU is used mainly for display and visualization such as the 3D Shaded Model. |
| Storage (installation)Official Ansys requirements |
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| Storage (working space)Recommended by LightBridge | Allowing for working files, temporary files and the Windows page file, we recommend tens of GB of additional free space in practice. |
| LicenseOfficial Ansys requirements | Ansys License Manager / Ansys Licensing is used. To use a network license, the client PC needs a TCP/IP connection to the license server.
Step-by-step instructions for installation and license setup are available in theCustomer Knowledge Basefor eligible customers. |
Product 03
Speos itself runs on Windows, and GPU Compute requires an Ansys-certified NVIDIA GPU and driver. GPU simulation on a Linux cluster is handled by a separate product, Speos HPC.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| CPUOfficial Ansys requirements | 64-bit Intel / AMD processor |
| CPU (practical guide)Recommended by LightBridge |
This is practical guidance from LightBridge. The current official Ansys documentation does not specify a required CPU model or minimum core count for Speos. |
| Supported OS (Speos)Official Ansys requirements |
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| Memory (base environment)Official Ansys requirements | 8 GB or more
The minimum memory required to install Ansys products. Ansys recommends 16 to 32 GB. |
| Memory (recommended)Recommended by LightBridge | 32 GB or more
The capacity needed varies with model size, the number of sources and the analysis involved. |
| GPU (Windows)Official Ansys requirements |
Ansys certifies a specific NVIDIA driver for Speos with each release. A newer driver does not automatically have official support, so check the official information for the release you are deploying. The official Ansys graphics card information also states that 4 GB or more of discrete video memory is required, with 16 GB recommended. |
| Storage (installation)Official Ansys requirements |
These are installation sizes per component. Do not treat their sum as a single minimum requirement. |
| Storage (working space)Recommended by LightBridge | Secure enough free space for simulation results and source and material data, separately from the installation size. |
| LicenseOfficial Ansys requirements | Ansys License Manager / Ansys Licensing is used. To use a network license, the client PC needs a TCP/IP connection to the license server.
Step-by-step instructions for installation and license setup are available in theCustomer Knowledge Basefor eligible customers. |
Speos HPC is the product for running GPU simulations on a Linux cluster. Check its supported platforms and GPU requirements separately from Speos itself.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Supported OS (Linux)Official Ansys requirements |
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| GPUOfficial Ansys requirements |
GPU simulation in Speos HPC requires libnvoptix.so for NVIDIA OptiX. Install the NVIDIA driver in full so that no library is missing. |
| HPCOfficial Ansys requirements | Speos HPC supports GPU simulation on a Linux cluster. |
For cluster configuration and troubleshooting driver installation, see the official Ansys documentation and the Customer Knowledge Base.
Points to consider when specifying hardware
Even within Ansys Optics, what governs performance differs by product and by analysis. Here are the points to look at when considering a configuration.
The premise is that the analysis model fits in RAM. Core count alone does not decide performance.
Ray tracing and optimization run on the CPU. The GPU determines how smoothly the display runs.
To use GPU Compute, a certified GPU and driver combination is required.
Official information
Supported OS versions, certified GPUs and drivers, and MPI and HPC support all change with releases and service packs. Rather than duplicating volatile compatibility information here, we recommend going directly to the official information Ansys maintains.
Related support
We can advise on checking your environment before deploying Ansys Optics products, and on PC and workstation configuration for the scale of analysis you have in mind.