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TransModeler SE Traffic Analysis Software

TransModeler SE is a high performance technical software product that is often used to perform demanding computational tasks. Consequently, we recommend using the fastest, modestly priced systems that are available at any particular point in time.

Recommended hardware is described below. Please feel free to check with us before purchasing a new system as new options become available nearly every week.

Operating Systems

Windows 11 and 10.

Processor (CPU)

TransModeler benefits from the fastest processors, and we recommend 6, 8, or 12 and up-core single and dual processor machines with those chips for running large models. TransCAD and TransModeler have key multi-threaded procedures that automatically sense and take advantage of multiple cores and multiple CPUs.

For workstations, we recommend the Intel Coffee Lake and Skylake families of processors (7th-10th generations of Core i7/i9, Xeon E-2100/2200 and Xeon W-2100/2200 series and Xeon Scalable Gold). Core i5 desktop processors are satisfactory, but somewhat slower.

During the past two years, AMD has introduced competitive high-end workstation processors that are worth considering, particularly the latest based on the Zen 2 architecture. The Ryzen Threadrippers are available with up to 64 cores on a single chip. We have had good success with the 32-core version. Availability from major manufacturors is still limited, but the Threadrippers provide very good performance and are often cheaper than the comparable Intel solution. The desktop Ryzen 7 and 9 procesors with 8-16 cores should also work well.

We continue to evaluate new processors as they are introduced.

For routine use, we are mostly purchasing either Dell Precision 3630 workstations or Dell XPS 8930 desktops with a 3.6GHz Core i9-9900K 8-core processor, 64GB of memory, a 1 or 2TB NVMe SSD, nVidia RTX 2060 graphics card with 6GB and 64-bit Windows 10 Professional.

Currently, our fastest computer for TransCAD and TransModeler is a Dell Precision 7920 workstation with two 3.1GHz Xeon Intel Xeon Gold 6254 18-core processors, 256GB of memory, a 1TB NVMe SSD and 64-bit Windows 10 Professional.

A recent AMD-based workstation from Puget Systems runs large TransModeler models well. It has a 3.7GHz Ryzen Threadripper 3970X with 32 cores, 256GB of RAM, a 2TB NVMe SSD and 64-bit Windows 10 Professional.

For notebooks, we recommend the fastest Coffee Lake 4 to 8-core Core i7/i9 processors, since they have significantly longer battery life and can be nearly as fast as a desktop.

Memory

Both TransCAD and TransModeler are highly efficient with respect to memory utilization, a legacy of the past when only limited amounts of memory were useable by DOS and earlier versions of Windows.

For most TransModeler simulations, 8GB will be sufficient. Our largest models may require 10GB.

We do not recommend 32-bit machines. We have phased out 32-bit versions of our products.

Hard Disk/Solid State Disk

500GB or more of storage space is recommended. If you will be working with many large data sets, you will want more storage. It is always wise to backup your important data frequently.

The biggest performance improvement of the past few years has been the widespread availability of SSDs, especially the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, that can be ten or more times faster than the older 7200rpm mechanical drives. We no longer bother with RAID for our workstations. We recommend at least a SATA-based SSD and strongly suggest a NVMe SSD in any new machine.

For replacement SATA SSDs, we like the Samsung 860 EVO and Pros. Add-on NVMe SSDs are also available; we have added them to recent desktops using an Angelbird Wings PX1 PCIe x4 M.2 Adapter with a Samsung 970 EVO SSD. The Angelbird card has been discontinued, but similar cards are available from Aquacomputer and other manufacturers. We have had great success with the Samsung Data Migration Software to clone existing boot drives to a new Samsung SSD.

DVD-ROM

A DVD drive is suggested as TransCAD and TransModeler are sometimes supplied physically on DVD; a download option is also available.

Graphics Adapter

For TransModeler, a good graphics card is critical for the animation of the simulation. TransModeler has full 3D animation that requires hardware-based graphics acceleration. For the best 3D performance we recommend the Pascal (GTX1000) and Turing (RTX2000) consumer (gaming) cards. The nVidia Quadro cards based on the Maxwell, Pascal and Turing processors should also work, but cost significantly more.

The older nVidia (GTX900, GTX700) and recent ATI Radeon graphics cards should also work well. Many older nVidia and ATI Radeon cards will also work, but with lower 3D performance; as should the Intel HD Graphics built into many of their recent processors. A minimum of 128MB of video memory is required, but 1+GB is recommended.

For good 3D animation with TransModeler on a notebook, we recommend a high-end nVidia graphics card. Many older laptops cannot animate complex 3D simulations.

Monitor

This is very dependent on user preferences. A 20” or larger monitor that can display at least 1280x1024 is recommended. We like the 23 or 24” wide-screen panels that can display 1920x1080. We mostly purchase Dell UltraSharp LCD monitors. Dual monitors can be very useful for heavy interactive use. For the higher 4K resolution, we liked the Dell 27” U2718Q. Windows 10 is required for 4K.

Network Adapter

This is site dependent. Gigabit Ethernet is a good choice for new installations.

Printers/Plotters

TransModeler should work with any printers that work well with Microsoft Windows.

Virtual Computing Environments

We do not recommend running large TransModeler simulations in a virtual computing environment (Citrix, VMWare, Windows Terminal Server, etc). Our compute-intensive engineering applications will at times make use of all the resources available to them. This is especially true of CPU, and for TransModeler GPU, resources. While key components are multi-threaded, other portions are not and benefit from the fastest clock speeds available. Typical virtualized servers have no more CPU capacity than high-end engineering workstations, so it is not feasible to replace multiple workstations with a single server, and it makes little financial sense to do so.

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