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Hello Shun, I’ve had some issues with graphics with only 8G of RAM.  After you account for the OS and anything else running on the machine, 8G can put pressure on available memory. Dell, Apple, etc. have stock configurations for laptops with 16G RAM and a 4-6 core processor, e.g., Intel i7 chip.  I would avoid laptops with slow internal spinning drives, e.g., 5200 RPM.  When you are reading/writing files in a long chain of processing commands, the time for disk I/O can become a bottleneck.  Having as SSD for storage should speed up read/write times.  Then if you have the funds, higher end machines can be configured with 24-32G RAM and more cores (Intel i9 chip).  But in the high end laptops, the processor performance can be throttled down because of the need to dissipate heat (and the fan comes on). Throttling performance from heat should not be an issue in a desktop machine since the chassis contains several fans, i.e., 1 for the CPU, and 1 or 2 more fans, to pull/push air from the front/back of the machine.  With a desktop machine you can more easily upgrade the hardware.  You  will have extra memory slots so you could start with 16G RAM.  You can get SSD storage/cards that plug into the PCIe slots on the motherboard or directly into the motherboard.   And motherboards often support different models of Intel processors you can choose from with more/less cores.

A “server class” desktop or rack mounted machine can bump things up to 64G RAM, Xeon class Intel CPU's with 16-24 cores and multiple SSDs and/or very fast disk drives.  These are often bought or financed by companies or universities for their staff and IT infrastructure. I would start with 16G RAM, 4-6 core Intel i7 (~3 GHz per core) and fast disk storage (SSD or 7200 RPM disk drives) for the files that will be read/written.  Then maybe expand as your needs and budget allows.

- R.

On Feb 6, 2020, at 18:05, Yao, Shun <syao@bwh.harvard.edu> wrote:Dear experts in Free Surfer community,  I am a new fan of Free Surfer. However, I run several times recon-all on my sMRI data and always got errors. After discussing with my friend, we speculated that the PC hardly had enough power to run Free Surfer. Now, my PI agree to buy a new workstation. I am wondering any update recommended specs for a Linux workstation? https://surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/fswiki/SystemRequirements%C2%A0I will run recon-all on a set of 7-T MRI data (0.75mm isotropic).Thank you very much for your help. Best,Shun  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------SHUN YAO, M.D., Ph.D.Research FellowSkull Base and Pituitary Tumor LaboratoryDepartment of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s HospitalHarvard Medical SchoolBoston, MA 02115, U.S.Tel:  857-777-8213  |  E-Mail: syao@bwh.harvard.edu   _______________________________________________Freesurfer mailing listFreesurfer@nmr.mgh.harvard.eduhttps://mail.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/freesurfer