Similar to other software developers, Agisoft keeps track of the Agisoft system requirements, which you can use to make sure your system's hardware is compatible with their program. Compared to many other companies, Agisoft appears to maintain this list quite current with every product update and even provides some advice regarding when advanced hardware can be useful.

The fastest CPU for Metashape should be Intel's newest flagship, the Core i9 14900K 24 Core, while the i7 14700K would still perform excellently in this capacity; both are quicker than previous series of Intel processors. If you'd rather use AMD CPUs, their Ryzen 7000 Series chips also function well. As of Metashape 1.7.2, it appears that processors with high core counts are not well suited for this application. Each stage in the Metashape workflow uses the CPU in a different way, with some relying just on clock speed and others favoring extra cores. However, standard CPUs like AMD and Intel perform admirably.

The CPU and GPU (video cards) must be used in balance for Metashape, and each is used differently at every stage of the application's operation. The only essential portions of the Metashape workflow that need video cards are the first two significant phases, Align Photos and Build Dense Cloud. However, since those processes can account for 50% or more of the overall processing time, GPU speed is essential. Build Dense Cloud makes effective use of several CPU cores as well; however, performance may suffer if clock speed is decreased too much during the Build Mesh stage. More information about CPU and GPU scaling may be found in the articles to the right of this sentence.

Really, all you need to know is the number of images you plan to work with, their megapixel count (MP), and the application's quality settings that you wish to employ. While the required RAM in Metashape is about linear, you may easily modify it to match the resolution of the photographs you work with, even though their document is centered around 12 MP images. For instance, you will want around half as much RAM as suggested on the table if you take 6 MP photos. Similarly, four times as much RAM would be required if you employed 50MP photos.

Based on three criteria, Agisoft produces an excellent document on memory needs. First number of images, second size of images, and last metashape quality settings. One suggestion we always make is to consider what you will be doing in the future. For example, if you think you will be increasing the resolution of your photographs or the number of photos you work with, then we highly recommend taking that into account when deciding how much RAM you need. If anything, go a little over to ensure that you never run too low on memory. That can have a huge, negative impact on performance!

While practically every stage in the Metashape workflow is influenced by the CPU, several steps are also GPU-accelerated. Most significantly, the performance of your video card affects all of the above: aligning images, creating depth maps, and the mesh, if you're utilizing depth maps as the source. In certain cases, having several video cards can also improve performance, particularly when depth maps are being used extensively.

You will want an NVIDIA graphics card that supports CUDA and has a somewhat larger VRAM capacity if you wish to utilize those capabilities. Here, the GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs are a good choice; the GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12GB and RTX 4080 16GB versions are compatible with our Metashape workstation.

Primary Drive: OS/Software (SSD/NVMe): Includes your operating system and the base Metashape installation. An SSD is highly recommended as it will greatly improve how fast the OS and programs startup, but you can also upgrade to a faster NVMe drive for a small performance benefit. The recommended storage for installation of software is not more than 10 GB.

Since the primary drive will primarily be used to store Windows and software, including all software (except large Game), it doesn't need to be that large for the majority of users; a 500GB-1TB SSD will be enough for Drive C.

Secondary Drive: Project Files (Platter/SSD/NVMe) Having a second storage (either SSD or HHD) for storing assets and effects is a wonderful alternative if you have additional money to spend or keep a lot of them around for use on different projects. Of course, an internal or external hard drive is a more cost-effective option than a high-capacity SSD if you need more mass storage and preservation.