New to Mastercam and looking to buy a computer? All your questions answered here.

You can find a link to the chart shown in the video here...
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0:00 Intro
0:48 Operating System
2:08 CPU / Processor
3:54 Ram / Memory
4:45 GPU / Video Card
6:20 Monitor
7:30 Storage / HDD SDD

OS. Mastercam is limited to running on Windows. New versions of Mastercam will run on Windows 7 or newer. Mastercam says at a minimum you should be using the Pro versions. I would agree but, what is the difference between HOME and PRO. Well, roughly 100 bucks if we’re talking cost. The HOME version will run Mastercam just as well as the PRO version. There is no performance gain, but you do gain some security with Bitlocker and WIP, which in todays world, any level of improved security is a good idea. So, to sum up this option, if you are a business, I would say go with PRO. If you are a student, HOME should be fine. Keep in mind, you can always upgrade from HOME to PRO if you find the need.

Processor. At minimum Mastercam suggests 64 bit and 2.4 gigahertz of speed. Slower processors than stated will run Mastercam, your experience may not be ideal though. Typically, this is something you’ll only need to watch for on laptops, most newer desktops should surpass this 2.4ghz easily. Mastercams recommended CPU is an Intel i7 or Xeon and 3.2ghz or faster. Many benchmarking tests have been done over the years and what has been consistent with them all when dealing with Mastercam is the higher the CPU speed, aka the ghz, the faster Mastercam runs. AMDs new Ryzen chips have very good performance. Many users are reporting great results with these chips, similar performance to that of an Intel but at a reduced cost.

Memory aka RAM. Put simply, more is better. Yes, Mastercam will run with less than 8gb but again, your experience may not be ideal. If you are working with complex assemblies or even complex toolpaths, the recommended 32GB may not be enough. RAM is also easily upgraded on existing systems. So, for RAM, if you’re doing simple wireframe geometry and 2D toolpaths, you get away with less, anything complex, know that the more RAM you have the better Mastercam will perform.

Videocards. At a minimum Mastercam recommends a card that supports OpenGL 3.2 and OpenCL 1.2 and has at least 1GB of memory. OpenCL 3.2 was released in 2009 whereas OpenCL 1.2s release was in 2011. So, you should be confident that most modern videocards will easily meet this requirement. On the recommended side, an Nvidia Quadro or AMD Firepro with 4GB or more are listed. Again, the more complex your work is the more benefit you will get from a more expensive video card. Many have had great success using mid to high end gaming cards instead. Gaming cards are much cheaper than their work station equivalents, so you could purchase a high end game card or a mid range work station card for roughly the same price. The main take away for graphics cards though is…you really should have one. Running on the CPUs graphics, often referred to as onboard graphics, is not ideal. Yes, Mastercam will run. You can even disable some graphic settings to help it run a bit better when not using a video card, but your results may not be great.

Monitors. As pointless as you may think a minimum requirement of 1920*1080 may be, it kinda does matter. 1920x1080 is almost standard across the board so for most desktop monitors, this won’t be a problem. But on laptops, you may be stuck with something smaller like 1366x768 resolution. This won’t stop Mastercam from running but you may find some of the menu icons squished and aspect ratios a little wonky. If you have a choice, pick the 1920x1080. And as the recommended section points out, the more monitors the better! The only limit to how many monitors you can run is the video card you are running. Most will handle 2 without issue, if you want more be sure to check the number of outputs on the videocard.

Storage. Minimum, yes, you need enough space to install Mastercam and its supporting files. The cheapest performance boost you can make to your system would be an SSD drive. SSD stands for Solid State Drive, these are basically computer chips that store the information and they are blazingly fast! SSD costs have dropped dramatically over the past 5 years. What used to be 1-2 dollars per GB of storage is now 10-20 cents per GB. There is even faster storage than your typical SSD and that’s M.2 NVME SSDs. The M.2 are pretty much the same storage type as SSDs, they just connect using a different port which allows for higher speeds. For a comparison, your typical HDD will transfer data at 160 MB/s, SSD 600 MB/s, and M.2 3500 MB/s. The M.2 is roughly the same price as a SSD, the limiting factor will be if you computer has a connection port for it.

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