DVMinsight is an ASP for numerous radiologists and large teleradilogy groups. The following is the current list of recommendations for veterinary radiologists using the DVMinsight platform.
Operating system: DVMinsight software currently runs on the Windows platform. As such, windows Vista, XP, or Windows 7 are recommended. Most new computers use Windows Vista and offer a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it is released later this year. For Mac users, the DVMinsight software will work well running on Mac Paralells or any other dual boot software. Be sure to have at least 4GB of ram with any dual boot installation.
CPU: Core 2 Duo 2.2 ghz or faster, or I7 2.0 ghz or faster, AMD Phenom X4 or AMD Phenom II X2, X4, or X6.
RAM: 2GB minimum. 4GB if you intend to do voice recognition and efilm and other programs at the same time. Please keep in mind that the 32 bit version of Vista and Windows 7 only support 3GB of ram. The 64 bit versions support up to 128GB. Most higher end I7 and Phenom II AM3 systems start with 4GB minimum, and often are sold with 6 or 12GB.
HD: For install you only need 120GB for everything, but in reality, larger drives are often faster because of density or cache increases. Most systems come with 300GB plus
CD/DVD: DVD at a minimum.
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 8600 with 512MB or ram, or higher. Avoid 9400 or 8400 versions, they’re underpowered. ATI Radeon HD series. Remember, that the more monitors you wish to run at once, the better the connection needs to be. Most high end video cards are “dual link DVI” this allows them to run on larger, higher resolution monitors.
Monitors: Look for an LCD with 500cd/m2 brightness, and at least 10000:1 mechanical contrast rates. These do excellent grayscale while providing good color. Remember, those 3d reconstructions are often in color, and your support program might be as well. Having a “grey only” monitor set up can be problematic. I personally recommend Samsungs, but you may find Dell and Apple make monitors that perform as well
Antivirus: Don’t use anything called, “Suite” A suite of programs is designed to take care of everything that can possibly happen and lock your computer down like Fort Knox, and they mainly do that by eating up 25% or more of your CPU’s horsepower. They also interfere with other systems they don’t need to be part of and have a tendency to “break” as many systems as they save. Instead look at a good antivirus/antimalware program like Eset’s NOD32. (www.nod32.com) which is VERY low CPU impact.
Firewall: It’s built in, but most people are already behind a NAT/Router/Firewall device. This “double” protection means you don’t need a massive firewall on your computer eating up CPU time. The windows one works just as well. If you’re the cellular surfer type and you plug directly into your laptop you might want to look at something more robust, but remember, the deeper the software works, the more likely it’ll cause you problems.
