For optimal performance of the Ergosoft RIP, we recommend the following or a comparable configuration. Please note that this is supposed to be a high end setup, not minimum requirements. The Ergosoft RIP can be run just fine on less powerful computers.
Operating System
Ergosoft supports the following operating systems:
- Windows 10 64 Bit.
- Windows 11 64 Bit
Other operating systems may still work, but users are doing so at their own risk as Ergosoft will not provide technical assistance for non supported operating systems. Please note that virtualized systems are not supported by Ergosoft.
Processor
Raster performance of the Ergosoft RipEngine mainly depends on the processor. To achieve high raster speeds, it is recommended to have a high tact frequency on the individual processor cores rather than a large number of cores, as the RipEngine process profits most from a high performing individual core.
It is possible to configure the RipEngine so it uses multiple cores, and certain processes such as dithering are automatically distributed onto the available cores, but the speed gain of using multiple processors is not comparable with the performance of a single powerful core.
When using multiple RipEngines simultaneously, there should be one additional core available for each RipEngine to make running several RipEngines parallel to each other as efficient as possible.
The Hyper Threading function of newer processors should be disabled if possible, as it barely decreases RIP-time and can in some cases even increase it.
Intel Core i7 (or i5) or AMD Ryzen 7 (or 5) with 8 physical cores and highest frequency possible.
With 12th or 13th generation Intel Processors it is not recommended to use the so called E-Cores/Efficient Cores for rastering as they are known to slow down raster time due to how they are used by the operating system. Use of E-Cores for rastering can be configured in Application Defaults > User Prefences > Miscellaneous under "Deactivate Intel E-Cores". By default this is activated so E-Cores are not used. Ergosoft recommends to leave it this way.
RAM
RAM is mainly used to buffer files and has an influence on raster speed, even though it’s not as significant as the processor (If RAM becomes full during the raster process, the excess data needs to be stored on the drive, which can severely slow down rastering).
Since rastering often generates large amounts of data, it is recommended to use 18GB RAM or more on 64Bit operating systems (32Bit systems support only up to 4GB).
When using several RipEngines at the same time, the amount of RAM should be increased accordingly.
Harddisks
Read and write times of the available harddisks also influence the performance of the RipEngine and are used to store data during operation, therefore access times of the harddisks in use as well as available space should be taken into consideration.
ErgoSoft recommends a system with two or more solid state drives (SSD).
The first drive contains the operating system as well as the Ergosoft RIP, the second is used to store temporary raster data and spool data while the third houses the image files that are to be printed.
A setup like this has the advantage that it minimizes how much the disks are simultaneously written to and read from at the same time, which increases speed as well as stability of the different processes.
Network/Ports
If it’s clear before purchasing the RIP system which printers and ports will be used with the RIP, it should of course be made sure that the respective ports are available on the computer.
We generally also recommend using a Gigabit network card*. Even though most TCP/IP printers still use a 100 MBit/s network connection, a fast network card is definitely an asset, especially if e.g. the image files are imported from the network.
*Note that for some connection types like Mimaki TCP/IP a Gigabit Ethernet is mandatory.
Summary
We recommend the following system configuration or higher for Ideal performance of the Ergosoft RIP:
- Operating System: Windows 10 64 Bit, Windows 11 64 Bit *
- Processor: Intel Core i7 (or i5) with 8 physical cores and highest frequency possible
- RAM: 18 GB RAM or higher
- Harddisks: 2 or more drives as Program/Spool/Image Disks; size min. 1 TB or according to requirement
- Network/Ports: Gigabit or 10 Gigabit network card
- Network Cables: Cat 6 / 6a / 7 / 8 network cables recommended. Proper overall company network wiring including suitable switches and their locations are expected preconditions.
- Graphic Card: A regular, recent GPU is recommended; no gamer graphic card is needed. GPU acceleration is used for job display in JobComposer. Using additional monitors or 4K monitors may require an additional graphic card to speed up the job display.
- Display: Display Resolution of 1700x900 or higher