# New system, requirements

**URL:** <https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/new-system-requirements/3818>\
**Category:** Hardware\
**Created:** [April 15, 2021, 7:54am UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/new-system-requirements/3818 "2021-04-15T07:54:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sherbst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sherbst](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/u/sherbst)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 7:54am UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/new-system-requirements/3818/1 "2021-04-15T07:54:56Z")

</div>

Hi,  
I am a bit lost with the recommendations for PTB-suitable hardware (laptops).  
After reading through  
[http://psychtoolbox.org/requirements.html#graphics-hardware-requirements](http://psychtoolbox.org/requirements.html#graphics-hardware-requirements)  
and  
[http://psychtoolbox.org/graphics-requirements](http://psychtoolbox.org/graphics-requirements)  
(with somewhat contradictory statements about Nvidia Graphics cards),  
I am tempted to buy this comparably cheap (~500€) system, for operation under Ubuntu 18:

Dell Inspiron 15 3000  
Processeur mobile AMD Ryzen™ 5 3450U  
AMD Radeon™ Vega 8 Graphics  
8GB, 4GBx2, DDR4, 2400MHz

Do you see any reason not to, for instance get more RAM?  
We need excellent visual and auditory timing, and synchronization of both.

Thank you!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mariokleiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@mariokleiner](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/u/mariokleiner)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 2:09pm UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/new-system-requirements/3818/2 "2021-04-28T14:09:46Z")

</div>

> [@sherbst](#):
>
> Hi,  
> I am a bit lost with the recommendations for PTB-suitable hardware (laptops).  
> After reading through  
> [Psychtoolbox-3 - System Requirements](http://psychtoolbox.org/requirements.html#graphics-hardware-requirements)

That’s the right one. The message is simple: Avoid NVidia if you can, choose AMD if possible, or Intel onboard gfx for less demanding stuff on Linux. On Windows, Intel is a dumpster fire.

> [@](#):
>
> and  
> [http://psychtoolbox.org/graphics-requirements](http://psychtoolbox.org/graphics-requirements)  
> (with somewhat contradictory statements about Nvidia Graphics cards),

That’s a completely outdated page from ancient times. It is not linked at all from our Webpage, and should be inaccessible, so it is unclear how you stumbled over that one.

> [@](#):
>
> I am tempted to buy this comparably cheap (~500€) system, for operation under Ubuntu 18:
> 
> Dell Inspiron 15 3000  
> Processeur mobile AMD Ryzen™ 5 3450U  
> AMD Radeon™ Vega 8 Graphics  
> 8GB, 4GBx2, DDR4, 2400MHz
> 
> Do you see any reason not to, for instance get more RAM?  
> We need excellent visual and auditory timing, and synchronization of both.

See almost the same question asked and answered only a few days earlier. Probably fine, in general, with graphics and timing on Linux, but no guarantees. I wouldn’t choose Ubuntu 18.04 any more for a fresh install, 20.04.2 LTS is the most recent stable Ubuntu release. My PC has AMD Ryzen onboard graphics and runs perfectly under Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS atm. Most of my modern machines only have 8GB, and my main laptop and RaspberryPi run PTB fine under Linux with 4GB, and even 1GB.

Any potentially more detailed advice only comes with priority support, as does more timely advice.

-mario