# Minimum PC to run Preform 1.5 **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [June 26, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/minimum-pc-to-run-preform-1-5/1192 "2014-06-26T23:14:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AndrewHudson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@AndrewHudson](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/AndrewHudson)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/minimum-pc-to-run-preform-1-5/1192/1 "2014-06-26T23:14:27Z")
My older PCs (Win XP) no longer run Preform (after version 1.3). I’m open to upgrading  my shop computer to something with an up-to-date graphics card. Any light that can be shed on this would be appreciated. If users (or Formlabs ) have experience running Preform v1.5 on  PCs that don’t cost a whole pile of money, I’d love to hear about it. Anyone running a Core II Duo and Win 7? This won’t be my workstation, just a terminal for processing Preform files. ---
**Author:** ![sam\_formlabs](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/forum.formlabs.com/sam_formlabs/32/1597_2.png) [@sam\_formlabs](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/sam_formlabs)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/minimum-pc-to-run-preform-1-5/1192/2 "2014-07-10T14:39:35Z")
We’ve updated the minimal specifications to be a little more detailed – you do need to be running PreForm with Windows XP SP3 (at least). Some older video cards can also cause problems. An inexpensive, modern PC should be suitable for loading a file – though perhaps not ideal for editing, calculating supports, and all the rest of the heavy lifting that PreForm does. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewHudson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@AndrewHudson](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/AndrewHudson)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/minimum-pc-to-run-preform-1-5/1192/3 "2014-07-10T15:24:23Z")
I’ve got SP3 running on multiple PCs, so It looks like the “older video card” issue is causing trouble. It would be great to gain some insight from other users and/or the various computers at Formlabs. If I get an old Core 2 Duo machine, will that run reasonably well? ---
**Author:** ![sam\_formlabs](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/forum.formlabs.com/sam_formlabs/32/1597_2.png) [@sam\_formlabs](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/sam_formlabs)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/minimum-pc-to-run-preform-1-5/1192/4 "2014-07-10T19:20:44Z")
You can take a look at more complete specs here, but you need a card that at least support [OpenGL 2.1](http://formlabs.com/products/form-1-plus/tech-specs/#preform). Some online sleuthing may show whether yours does or does not. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewHudson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@AndrewHudson](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/AndrewHudson)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/minimum-pc-to-run-preform-1-5/1192/5 "2014-07-10T23:39:09Z")
I’ve got an Nvidia Quadro 1600M video card in my laptop running XP sp3. The video card is supposed to run Opengl 2.1 (see here: [http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO\_42274.html](http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_42274.html)). The computer runs SolidWorks just fine up to release 12, which dropped XP, so it’s done it’s share of heavy lifting. I hope the new graphics routines in versions 1.4 and 1.5 do something that justifies the expense of new computers.