InSite Elevation Pro System Requirements
Elevation Pro provides incredible takeoff speed.
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The office hosts some of the highest paid and most knowledgeable employees. The feedback has been consistent that Elevation Pro is twice as fast as anything else on the market.
Will your hardware provide the best ROI? Elevation Pro’s power and speed comes from leveraging the latest CAD/Gaming level computers. Anything less will limit productivity. An underpowered computer is not unlike a jobsite machine without enough horsepower or hydraulics to run an attachment leading to unsatisfactory performance.
More horsepower equals more productivity. What will you do with the extra time?
System Requirements
- Operating System: Latest production desktop version of 64-bit Microsoft Windows 10 or Windows 11. Windows Server and Windows Insider Dev/Beta channels are not supported. Select the system icon in the Windows control panel to check your system specifications.
- NOTE: Virtual Machines are not supported. Reference Can I run InSite Elevation Pro in a Virtual Machine (VMWare Desktop/Fusion, Parallels Desktop, Azure Virtual Desktop, VirtualBox etc.) in SYSTEM FAQ below for details.
- CPU Processor: Modern Intel Core i7/i9 (11th generation or newer) or AMD Ryzen 7/9 equivalent. These specific processors have a large number of cores and high clock speeds to support your dedicated GPU (see Dedicated GPU/Video Card in SYSTEM FAQ below for details).
- RAM/Memory: 16+ GB minimum/32 GB highly recommended. Working with large projects and/or importing complex documents (PDF, DWG, etc) will require more RAM for the best possible performance/stability.
- Dedicated GPU/Video Card: 2GB+ DirectX 12 compliant
- Data Storage: All jobs should be stored on a drive physically located in the computer (ie. C-drive). We strongly recommend a Solid State Drive (SSD). Reference Where should my data files be stored for best performance? in SYSTEM FAQ below.
- Mouse: MS-Mouse compliant. Touchpads do not provide suitable precision.
- Two Monitors Recommended: Multiple monitors allow for increased productivity.
- Internet Connection: A reliable internet connection is required for product activation.
Elevation Pro 101 Training Requirements
We recommend users find a quiet, distraction free workspace for optimal learning.
Screen Sharing
InSite’s technicians employ GoToAssist screen sharing technology provided by LogMeIn. This technology allows technicians to troubleshoot computer issues, provide training and help on application issues and job reviews.
Security
Customers that employ security practices that prevent use of screen sharing limit our ability to help them in a prompt time frame. Learn more about GoToAssist security and configuration.
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InSite Elevation Pro is currently installed locally with cloud-based licensing which can be checked out for up to 30 days. Details about the licensing are here.
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We do not support running InSite Elevation Pro or SiteWork on a VM.
InSite is an engineering application and is hardware and graphics intensive. It requires 3D graphics and computational power similar to those found in high end gaming systems.
Running VM software on top of a host operating system means InSite will have only indirect access to storage, memory, and in almost all cases no GPU support from the physical device. This is significantly less performant than a direct installation configured as referenced in the InSite Elevation Pro System Requirements above.
Azure Virtual Desktop specifically introduces additional overhead from remote desktop latency which radically impacts display performance (e.g. zooming, panning, coordinated cursor, etc).
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The solid-state drive (SSD drive) on your PC is where performance starts.
The SSD drive on today’s high-performance computers provides the high-speed conduit (500 Mb/s+) to provide access to very large PDF and CAD files. When diagnosing Elevation Pro performance issues on customers’ environments, we often see weak data transfer from remote file locations as the culprit.
Some environments may have a traditional file server mapped to a data drive on the PC. Our user creates a new takeoff, and then imports the CAD or PDF file using this mapping. This means the data is now required to come across a wired ethernet connection at significantly reduced speeds compared to the local SSD drive which hinders performance. A wireless connection can be even worse.
A quick test in a degraded performance situation is to move the my_project.insite file and the PDF and CAD files to the local folder (My documents) on the local hard drive for a speed test which is usually successful.
The downside of manually moving data locally is that often the original intent of a local server is to allow file sharing across a team with scheduled backups on the server.
A better solution, especially with today’s remote work environments is to use cloud sharing. Products like Dropbox, ShareFile, etc. provide synched documents across multiple computer’s high speed SSD hard drives. A change on the local file replicates the file to the cloud and updates the other machines with the latest changes. These tools are very cost effective and provide access to the files offline and robust cloud-based backups across duplicate servers. You must configure the data to be synchronized locally.
Finally, another benefit of cloud storage is the availability of data on phones/tablets, etc. Sharing PDFs, KMZ files and other documents to remote devices is part of the popularity of these cloud platforms.
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To see how to configure your graphics card for fast performance and sharper images you can:
- Watch a short video
- Or follow the steps on this page