Hardware
EthoVision XT has been tested with the workstations listed below. If you order a complete solution from Noldus Information Technology, you will obtain one of these computers or its successor, with EthoVision XT installed and ready to use. See also Ordering a PC from another supplier
Dell Precision 3680 Tower workstation (desktop)
▪Processor: Intel Core i7-14700, 20 CPU cores, 3.4 GHz.
▪Hard disks: M.2 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD.
▪Graphics card: NVIDIA T1000, 8 GB GDDR6.
▪PCIe slots (full-height): 1x Gen5 PCIe x16, 1x Gen3 PCIe x4, 1x Gen4 PCIe x4 (open-ended)
▪Operating system: Windows 11 Pro.
Dell Precision PCs are recommended when tracking subjects with the Deep learning method. See Deep learning: Requirements
Dell Precision 3591 workstation (laptop)
▪Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H vPro Essentials, 16 cores, up to 4.8 GHz
▪Internal memory: 16 GB DDR5.
▪Hard-disks: M.2 2280 1 TB PCIe NVMe SSD.
▪Graphics card: NVIDIA RTX 1000, 6 GB GDDR6.
▪Operating system: Windows 11 Pro.
Ordering a PC from another supplier
If you choose to order a PC from a supplier other than Noldus or its distributors, you can use the above specifications as a guideline.
Use a professional workstation
We recommend that you use a professional workstation. It is possible to buy consumer-range computers with a high processor speed and plenty of memory, but in order to remain competitive regarding price, the manufacturers often economize on the underlying system architecture. That means those computers are suitable for home use, but not for running professional scientific software. You should select a computer which is intended for professional use or labeled by the manufacturer as a workstation.
Desktop or laptop?
▪If you plan to purchase a desktop computer, always choose a tower mid-size or full tower size. Do not use mini or small form factor desktops. When in doubt, ask your Noldus representative.
▪If you plan to use a laptop or a desktop with an unpowered network interface board (also known as network interface card, NIC), you need a Power over Ethernet Injector to power a GigE camera.
▪If you plan to use analog cameras (e.g. for PhenoTyper 1), you need a desktop computer with at least one PCI slot.
▪The Ethernet interface board should support data transfer of 1 Gb/s (one port).
▪If you plan to use a laptop, please consider the following:
▪Only one camera is supported, either GigE (Basler acA1300-60gm) or USB 3.0 acA1920-155um). We recommend to use a laptop with an RJ45 Ethernet port. Some laptops have a USB-C port for internet. In that case you need a USB-C to Ethernet adapter but not all of them work properly when connecting a digital camera. Test a few adapters if needed.
▪If you need internet, use Wi-Fi or a second USB-Ethernet adapter.
▪There may be restrictions in terms of maximum resolution and/or maximum recording time. Check carefully what has been tested. See Cameras supported by EthoVision XT
▪Always acquire data with the laptop being plugged in. In Windows, click Settings, then type power. Click Power, sleep and battery settings. Next, click Screen and sleep. Next to When plugged in, put my device to sleep after select Never.
We strongly recommend to use a computer with Intel x64-compatible processors, Intel Xeon or i7 CPU. In Intel processors the acceleration required by the IPP (Integrated Performance Primitives) software is guaranteed. That may not be the case for other manufacturers which offer high-quality and fast processors.
IPP is an extensive library of ready-to-use, domain-specific functions. It is used by EthoVision XT during image processing and data acquisition. IPP therefore affects performance of video-tracking. Processors from other manufacturers are compatible with EthoVision XT, but tracking could be significantly slower. Consider this when you plan to purchase a computer to acquire large amount of data from high-resolution video, or analyze video with Behavior Recognition or Deep learning.
▪Other processors such as AMD may well work with the IPP although Noldus does not support them. Always test your computer thoroughly before running the actual experiments.
▪EthoVision XT won’t work on Qualcomm / ARM chips.
Important factors to keep in mind
▪The more animals and arenas you track, the more processor load you require.
▪Nose-tail tracking requires more processor load than tracking the center-point only.
▪The optimal sample rate depends on the species you track. Mice, e.g., require a higher sample rate than rats. See Sample rate for more information about the optimal sample rate.
▪A larger image requires more computer resources for tracking, so a larger image does not necessarily lead to better tracking.
GPU
▪Full support for NVIDIA RTX 50 series GPUs and CUDA 13.1. Pascal architecture (GTX 10 series) is no longer supported for deep learning features.
RAM Memory
▪For desktop computers, we recommend a 32 GB RAM memory.
▪For laptops, a 16 GB RAM memory should suffice.
USB 3.0 port
Current PCs have USB 3.x ports standard installed. USB ports are necessary if you use a USB 3.0 camera. See Install USB 3.0 cameras
If you use hardware like the USB-IO box, you need an additional USB port.
Powerful graphics cards need additional power. Ensure that the computer has a Power Supply Unit (PSU) that can provide enough power to the graphics card. Take note of the Suggested PSU of a specific card and make sure the PC can handle that. See also More information on graphics cards (GPUs) and Install a graphics card for Deep learning
Virtualization allows you to run different operating systems on the same computer. However, EthoVision XT was not designed to work on a virtual machine, therefore its use on virtual machines is not supported.
Ethernet interface board
Ethernet interface in desktop computers
In order to use high-quality GigE cameras, your computer must have a 1 Gb Ethernet Interface Adapter (board), also known as Network Interface Card (abbreviated NIC). Depending on the number of Ethernet ports you can connect one to four cameras per board. The following boards have been tested successfully:
▪CT1000 Pro (1 camera)
▪Adlink PCIe-GIE74 (1-4 cameras)
▪Basler GigE Interface Card, 4 port PoE (1-4 cameras)
▪FS X550AT2-2TP (1-16 cameras)
Make sure that the board has the necessary number of ports when you use multiple cameras. See Install an Ethernet board for GigE cameras and Using multiple GigE cameras
Ethernet interface in laptop computers
If you have a laptop, you can connect only one GigE camera. The RJ45 Ethernet port on your laptop will be the dedicated camera port. If you want to connect the laptop to the internet, use a Wi-Fi connection or a USB-Ethernet adapter.
Some laptops have a USB-C port for internet. In that case you need a USB-C to Ethernet adapter. However, not all of those adapters work properly when connecting a digital camera. There may be issues like video signal interruption and frame drops. Test a few adapters if needed.
Power over Ethernet (PoE) injector
If you bought your GigE camera elsewhere and you are not using an Ethernet board powered from the PC, you need a Power over Ethernet (PoE) injector to power the camera. In all cases it must be a Gigabit PoE injector.
USB 3.0 interface boards
See Install the USB 3.0 interface board.
Graphics card for deep learning-based tracking
If you intend to use the Deep learning technique for nose- and tail-base detection, you need a powerful NVIDIA Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). GPUs other than NVIDIA would not work due to lack of compatibility with the NVIDIA TensorRT software component. For suggestions, see Deep learning: Requirements.
important Make sure to install latest driver for your graphics card.
Monitor
Your monitor should be set to at least 24 bit color depth. If you use a dual monitor set-up, both monitors should be at least 24 bit. To check the color depth, search for Display in Windows or open the graphics control panel of your display.
Camera
For a list of the camera models currently supported, see Camera Installation.
If you would like to use another type of camera, please check with your nearest Noldus representative first.
important For correct functioning of cameras, we recommend to turn off automatic updates for device drivers. See Turn off automatic updates for device drivers
Disk space to store video files
If you are tracking from video files, you need sufficient free disk space to store them. You need to be especially aware of the disk space when you let EthoVision XT save videos while you carry out batch acquisition and for long recordings. See Video file size
If your video files are on a DVD or network drive, first copy them to your hard disk drive before loading them in EthoVision XT.
External hard disk drives
▪For tracking. We do not recommend that you do tracking from video files that are stored on an external hard disk. Always store the video files on the hard disk of the EthoVision XT computer.
▪For video playback. Once you have done tracking, you can store the video files on an external hard disk. When you want to review the video in the Integrated Visualization (see Plot integrated data) EthoVision XT asks you to locate the video files if it does not find them in the default experiment location on the hard disk. Select the folder on the external hard disk where the video files are stored. You can also instruct EthoVision XT to look for video files in an alternate folder. See also Preferences for default folders
note Video might sometimes not play smoothly depending on the size of the video file and the speed of data transfer from the external hard disk.
See also
▪Restrictions in EthoVision XT
▪How to prevent Missed samples