Platform Support

Creo, Creo Elements/Direct and CoCreate Hardware/Platform Support Policy

Introduction

The hardware configuration information supplied by PTC is intended to help customers work with their hardware partners to establish suitable workstation configurations for running PTC software. The specific hardware configuration for a platform is heavily dependent on the size of models, the number of models in a working session, other applications running concurrently, the size of archive files created, and the trade-off between response time and cost.

In particular, main memory sizes greater than the minimum system requirements specified may be desirable for higher performance processors or for larger parts and assemblies. Swap space sizes greater than the minimum system requirements may be required for larger assemblies. These issues should be resolved between the customer and hardware partner.

Certified hardware

PTC certifies complete configurations (processor, graphics, operating system, etc.) provided by PTC's enterprise platform partners. We do not certify graphics cards by themselves. A certified configuration is one that PTC has thoroughly tested, specifically for the current release.

Supported hardware

To provide our customers with the benefits available in the latest technology, PTC continually enhances and improves our software. A configuration receives “Supported” status if it has been tested and certified with the previous software release. PTC expects that the current release will run without issue on this configuration, although it has not been specifically tested

PTC respects customer financial commitments; therefore starting with Creo 4, hardware configurations will now be able to retain “Supported” status on three subsequent releases after the release for which it was initially certified.  (EXAMPLE: A configuration certified for Creo 3.0 will continue to be supported on Creo 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0)

Graphics drivers for Certified/Supported hardware

Due to new (graphics) functionalities being continually implemented with our products it is imperative that the latest PTC-Certified/Supported graphics drivers are utilized by customers. This ensures the highest software performance and reliability possible as well as provides customers with the maximum advantage of current hardware technology.

PTC recognizes that customers can benefit from using latest graphics driver and performance optimizations and improvements made by PTC’s Graphics Hardware Partners. With new workstations being continuously certified by PTC, the most current graphics drivers used in the certification process can now be re-applied to previously certified configurations, as long as the configuration belongs to the same combination of workstation and graphics hardware families.

Graphics Drivers

Customers must obtain PTC-Certified/Supported drivers from their workstation manufacturer. In the event where listed graphics driver is no longer available from your workstation manufacturer, PTC recommends installing the latest available driver for the graphics card (still obtained from the workstation manufacturer). When more than one driver is listed for a specific graphics card, PTC recommends you install the most recent driver.

Technical Support

PTC encourages customers to run the latest release of PTC software on fully-certified configurations. However, PTC Technical Support will provide assistance to customers using hardware that is neither certified nor supported according to the above definitions. Technical Support will use certified hardware that is in-house and that is similar to the hardware being used at the customer site. The following guidelines will be followed when assisting customers:

1. Verify the customer's hardware using the most recent version of the PTC Platform Support Hardware Notes, for the version of PTC software being used.
2. If the hardware configuration is neither certified nor supported, inform the customer and continue to assist with the issue.
3. Use any and all known troubleshooting techniques to attempt to resolve the issue.
4. If the issue cannot be resolved, attempt to replicate the issue in-house using certified hardware that is similar to the customer’s hardware with the same version of PTC software.
5. If the problem can be replicated on a certified configuration, file Software Performance Report (SPR) and assist the customer with a viable solution or workaround.
6. If the issue seems to be directly related to the uncertified hardware configuration and the issue cannot be replicated on certified hardware, inform the customer that s/he should contact their hardware partner for assistance.

Desktop Virtualization Environment Support

PTC provides Customer support on the use of certified Creo products inside virtual desktop environments only on fully certified or supported configurations. A fully certified or supported configuration consists of the server model, virtualization technology, host and guest operation systems, graphics card and graphics card driver and the client hardware/software. PTC does not certify or support virtualization technologies independently from the configurations in which they are certified or supported. Please refer to the official PTC Platform Support web page for specific certified/supported configurations.

Operating System Support

The operating system information in this document, together with any listed patches, are requirements, rather than guidelines. In most cases, PTC supports more than one operating system for a specific platform with each release. This support may or may not include the most recently released OS version.

PTC encourages customers to migrate to the most current PTC-supported OS version at their convenience to be able to take advantage of the most recent OS functionality supporting our products. As PTC adds support for subsequent versions of an OS, we will discontinue support of older OS versions with successive product releases.

On the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems, customers may and are encouraged to install Security Patches and Operating System Updates as issued and provided by Microsoft Corporation. These are not expected to interfere or impede function nor should be considered obligatory for normal functionality of PTC products.

Customers should refer to Hardware Support documentation regularly for updated information and contact PTC Product Management before making critical deployment decisions.