Intel® Rendering Toolkit System Requirements

Introduction

The Intel® Rendering Toolkit (Render Kit) contains a set of rendering and ray-tracing libraries that are designed to help you transform detailed or raw datasets into rich, realistic visuals. The libraries are optimized for the continuum of visualization needs. For the release notes and issues associated with the toolkit, please refer to the Release Notes page.

Intel® Rendering Toolkit includes the following components:

• Raytracing Libraries
  • Intel® Embree
  • Intel® Open Image Denoise (OIDN)
  • Intel® Open Volume Kernel Library (Intel® Open VKL)
  • Intel® OSPRay
  • Intel® Open Path Guiding Library (Intel® Open PGL)
• Development Showcase Application
  • Intel® OSPRay Studio
• Kernel Optimizing Compiler
  • Intel® Implicit SPMD Program Compiler (Intel® ISPC)
    • ISPCRT runtime
• Rendering Toolkit Utilities (rkUtil)
  • rkUtil superbuild CMake script
• Internal 3D math and tasking library
  • Intel® rkCommon library

Components distributed elsewhere:

• Rendering Framework Plugin
  • Intel® OSPRay interactive rendering plugin for HD Hydra
• OpenGL*-compatible software rasterizer (Mesa Gallium)
  • Intel® OpenSWR

Version History

Intel Rendering Toolkit 2024.1

The system requirement details below indicate a baseline of supported host and target systems. Older operating systems or other devices maybe compatible on a component by component basis. Intel® Open PGL is the only component without GPU support.

Supported Operating Systems

NOTE: The following distributions are supported by most components. These OS distributions are tested by Intel or known to work; other distributions may or may not work and are not recommended. If you have questions, access the Intel Community Forums when you need assistance.  If you have Commercial Support, create a support ticket.

Linux* CPU Host

• Ubuntu* LTS 22.04, 20.04
• Rocky* Linux 9
• Red Hat* Enterprise Linux* (RHEL*) 8, 9
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server* (SLES) 15 SP3, SP4, SP5
• Fedora* 38, 39
• Debian* 11
• Amazon 2022
• WSL 2

Linux* discrete GPU (X^e-HPG or X^e-HPC architectures and higher)

• Ubuntu* LTS 22.04
  • Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics, Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series
• Red Hat* Enterprise Linux* (RHEL*) 8.6
  • Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series
• Red Hat* Enterprise Linux* (RHEL*) 9.2
  • Intel® Data Center GPU MAX Series, Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server* (SLES) 15 SP5
  • Intel® Data Center GPU MAX Series

Updates to OS and driver support for discrete GPU are occurring rapidly. Please see https://dgpu-docs.intel.com/ for OS support updates. To target discrete GPU, a compatible discrete GPU device is currently required both at client program build-time and at run-time.

Windows* CPU

• Windows* 10, 11
• Windows* Server 2019, 2022
• Using Microsoft’s Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) in Windows 10 and Windows 11, you can install the native Linux distribution of Intel toolkits and libraries on Windows for CPU and GPU workflows: Details.

Windows* GPU

• Windows* 10, 11
  • Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics
  • Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series
  • Intel® processor graphics Gen12, Intel® Iris Xe MAX(codename DG1) devices are functional with Intel® Open Image Denoise.
• Windows* Server 2019, 2022
  • Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series Only
• Using Microsoft’s Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) in Windows 10 and Windows 11, you can install the native Linux distribution of Intel toolkits and libraries on Windows for CPU and GPU workflows: Details.

Windows Intel® Graphics Driver

To install the driver follow the directions in the article appropriate for your device

• Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics (DG2)
• Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series (ATS-M)
  • Contact your OEM representative for access to the Intel Registration Center.
• Intel® processor graphics Gen12, Intel® Iris Xe MAX(codename DG1) devices are functional with Intel® Open Image Denoise.

macOS* CPU Only

• Intel® 64 based systems:
  • macOS* 13.0
• Apple* M1 based systems:
  • Not part of toolkit distribution. Please use the github respositories for guidance on Apple* M1 builds.

Supported Target Hardware Platforms

The following platforms are supported by most software components.

NOTE: Intel® 64 hardware platforms must support at least Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.2. Full software optimization is implemented for Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions 512. See ark.intel.com to search device capabilities.

• Intel® 64 or compatible
  • Intel Atom® processors
  • Intel® Core™ processor family
  • Intel® Xeon® processor family
  • Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor family
• ARM
  • Apple* M1 (See github standalone releases)
  • Not part of toolkit distribution. Please use the github respositories for guidance on Apple* M1 builds.
• Intel® GPU with X^e-HPG or X^e-HPC architectures and higher (Intel Embree, Intel OIDN, Intel OSPRay, Intel Open VKL)
  • Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics
  • Intel® Data Center GPU MAX Series
  • Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series
• Intel® GPU with X^e-LP architectures, or Intel® Graphics Gen12 and higher (Intel OIDN library only)
• NVIDIA* GPUs with Volta, Turing, Ampere, Ada Lovelace, and Hopper architectures (Intel OIDN only)
• AMD* GPUs with RDNA2 (Navi 21 only) and RDNA3 (Navi 3x) architectures (Intel OIDN only)

Software Requirements

Prerequisites by Component

Intel® Embree Prerequisites

• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (2021.12 installed automatically with toolkit)
• Discrete GPU support: Intel® oneAPI DPC++/C++ Compiler and Runtimes 2024.1 found in the Base Kit (explained in toolkit configuration instructions)
• Optional CPU: Intel® Implicit SPMD Program Compiler (Intel® ISPC) version 1.23 or higher (included)

Intel® Open VKL Prerequisites

• Optional: OpenGL* to run the example viewer
• Intel rkcommon library version 1.13.0 or higher (included)
• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (2021.12 installed automatically from toolkit)
• Discrete GPU support: Intel® oneAPI DPC++/C++ Compiler and Runtimes 2024.1 found in the Base Kit (explained in toolkit configuration instructions)
• Intel Embree version 4.3.1 or higher (included)
• Intel ISPC Runtime version 1.23.0 and its dependencies (included)

Intel® Open Image Denoise PRerequisites

• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (2021.12 installed automatically from toolkit)

Intel® OSPRay Prerequisites

• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (2021.12 installed automatically from toolkit)
• Intel Embree version 4.3.1 or higher (included)
• Intel rkcommon library version 1.13.0 (included)
• Intel Open VKL version 2.0.1 (included)
• Intel Open Image Denoise version 2.2.0 (included)
• Optional: OpenGL* to run the example viewer
• Linux* Only: Intel ISPC Runtime version 1.23.0 and its dependencies (included)

Intel® OpenPGL Prerequisites

• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (2021.12 installed automatically from toolkit)
• Intel Embree version 4.3.1 or higher (included)

Intel® OSPRay Studio

• Intel® OSPRay 3.1.0 and its dependencies (included)
• OpenGL* for Windowed mode (non-batch mode)
  • GLFW on non-Windows* OS platforms
• Optional: OpenImageIO* 2.x, OpenEXR* (IlmBase) for extended texture support
• Optional: Python 3.9.7 for python binding support

Intel® Rendering Toolkit rkCommon library

• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (2021.12 installed automatically from toolkit)

Intel® Implicit SPMD Program Compiler (Intel® ISPC)

• None

Intel® Rendering Toolkit rkUtil superbuild script

• CMake* 3.12 or higher
• Internet connection for the script
  • Brings in popular core prerequisites as needed
  • Brings in most optional prerequisites as needed

Intel® OpenSWR Prerequisites

NOTE: Intel OpenSWR is available as part of the Mesa* OpenGL* open source community project at www.mesa3d.org. Please see Mesa owned guidance for build and deployment information.

• Intel OpenSWR is built as a gallium driver within Mesa* 3D Graphics Library. For Intel OpenSWR build prerequisites and instructions, refer to the Intel OpenSWR website. The meson based build path is typically preferred.

Development Environment

All supported platforms

• CPU
  • C++17 or higher compiler is recommended.
    • C++11 or higher compiler for client applications. C++14 or higher for superbuild, for building OSPRay Studio, and preferred for using typical third party libraries.
    • For compatibility with the Intel® oneAPI DPC++ C/C++ Compiler use C++17 or higher (available with GCC-7 or higher).
  • C99 or higher compiler.
• GPU
  • Intel® oneAPI DPC++/C++ Compiler and Runtimes 2024.1 found in the Base Kit (explained in toolkit configuration instructions)

Microsoft Visual Studio*

• Microsoft Visual Studio* 2019 or higher is recommended (Desktop development with C++)

Windows Space Requirements by Component

NOTE: Components additionally require space of automatically included prerequisite components, such as Intel® Threading Building Blocks (Intel® oneTBB)

Intel Rendering Toolkit 2024.0

The system requirement details below indicate a baseline of supported host and target systems. Older operating systems or other devices maybe compatible on a component by component basis. Intel® Open PGL is the only component without GPU support (as of 2024.0).

Supported Operating Systems

NOTE: The following distributions are supported by most components. These OS distributions are tested by Intel or known to work; other distributions may or may not work and are not recommended. If you have questions, access the Intel Community Forums when you need assistance.  If you have Commercial Support, create a support ticket.

Linux* CPU Host

• Ubuntu* LTS 22.04, 20.04
• Rocky* Linux 9
• Red Hat* Enterprise Linux* (RHEL*) 8, 9
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server* (SLES) 15 SP3, SP4, SP5
• Fedora* 37, 38
• Debian* 11
• Amazon 2022
• WSL 2

Linux* discrete GPU (X^e-HPG or X^e-HPC architectures and higher)

• Ubuntu* LTS 22.04
  • Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics, Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series
• Red Hat* Enterprise Linux* (RHEL*) 8.6
  • Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series
• Red Hat* Enterprise Linux* (RHEL*) 9.2
  • Intel® Data Center GPU MAX Series, Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server* (SLES) 15 SP5
  • Intel® Data Center GPU MAX Series

Updates to OS and driver support for discrete GPU are occurring rapidly. Please see https://dgpu-docs.intel.com/ for OS support updates. To target discrete GPU, a compatible discrete GPU device is currently required both at client program build-time and at run-time.

Windows* CPU

• Windows* 10, 11
• Windows* Server 2019, 2022
• Using Microsoft’s Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) in Windows 10 and Windows 11, you can install the native Linux distribution of Intel toolkits and libraries on Windows for CPU and GPU workflows: Details.

Windows* GPU

• Windows* 10, 11
  • Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics
  • Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series
  • Intel® processor graphics Gen12, Intel® Iris Xe MAX(codename DG1) devices are functional with Intel® Open Image Denoise.
• Windows* Server 2019, 2022
  • Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series Only
• Using Microsoft’s Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) in Windows 10 and Windows 11, you can install the native Linux distribution of Intel toolkits and libraries on Windows for CPU and GPU workflows: Details.

Windows Intel® Graphics Driver

To install the driver follow the directions in the article appropriate for your device

• Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics (DG2)
• Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series (ATS-M)
  • Contact your OEM representative for access to the Intel Registration Center.
• Intel® processor graphics Gen12, Intel® Iris Xe MAX(codename DG1) devices are functional with Intel® Open Image Denoise.

macOS* CPU Only

• Intel® 64 based systems:
  • macOS* 13.0
• Apple* M1 based systems:
  • Not part of toolkit distribution. Please use the github respositories for guidance on Apple* M1 builds.

Supported Target Hardware Platforms

The following platforms are supported by most software components.

NOTE: Intel® 64 hardware platforms must support at least Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.2. Full software optimization is implemented for Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions 512. See ark.intel.com to search device capabilities.

• Intel® 64 or compatible
  • Intel Atom® processors
  • Intel® Core™ processor family
  • Intel® Xeon® processor family
  • Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor family
• ARM
  • Apple* M1 (See github standalone releases)
• X^e-HPG or X^e-HPC architectures and higher (Intel Embree, Intel OIDN, Intel OSPRay, Intel Open VKL)
  • Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics
  • Intel® Data Center GPU MAX Series
  • Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series
• X^e-LP architectures, or Intel® Graphics Gen12 and higher (Intel OIDN library only)
• NVIDIA* GPUs with Volta, Turing, Ampere, Ada Lovelace, and Hopper architectures (Intel OIDN only)
• AMD* GPUs with RDNA2 (Navi 21 only) and RDNA3 (Navi 3x) architectures (Intel OIDN only)
• Apple* M1 based systems:
  • Not part of toolkit distribution. Please use the github respositories for guidance on Apple* M1 builds.

Software Requirements

Prerequisites by Component

Intel® Embree Prerequisites

• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (2021.11 installed automatically with toolkit)
• Discrete GPU support: Intel® oneAPI DPC++/C++ Compiler and Runtimes 2024.0 found in the Base Kit (explained in toolkit configuration instructions)
• Optional CPU: Intel® Implicit SPMD Program Compiler (Intel® ISPC) version 1.21 or higher (included)

Intel® Open VKL Prerequisites

• Optional: OpenGL* to run the example viewer
• Intel rkcommon library version 1.12.0 or higher (included)
• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (2021.11 installed automatically from toolkit)
• Discrete GPU support: Intel® oneAPI DPC++/C++ Compiler and Runtimes 2024.0 found in the Base Kit (explained in toolkit configuration instructions)
• Intel Embree version 4.3 or higher (included)
• Intel ISPC Runtime version 1.21.0 and its dependencies (included)

Intel® Open Image Denoise PRerequisites

• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (2021.11 installed automatically from toolkit)

Intel® OSPRay Prerequisites

• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (installed automatically from toolkit)
• Intel Embree version 4.3 or higher (included)
• Intel rkcommon library version 1.12.0 (included)
• Intel Open VKL version 2.0.0 (included)
• Intel Open Image Denoise version 2.1 (included)
• Optional: OpenGL* to run the example viewer
• Linux* Only: Intel ISPC Runtime version 1.21.0 and its dependencies (included)

Intel® OpenPGL Prerequisites

• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (2021.11 installed automatically from toolkit)
• Intel Embree version 4.3 or higher (included)

Intel® OSPRay Studio

• Intel® OSPRay 3.0 and its dependencies (included)
• OpenGL* for Windowed mode (non-batch mode)
  • GLFW on non-Windows* OS platforms
• Optional: OpenImageIO* 2.x, OpenEXR* (IlmBase) for extended texture support
• Optional: Python 3.9.7 for python binding support

Intel® Rendering Toolkit rkCommon library

• Intel oneTBB version 2021.9 or higher (2021.11 installed automatically from toolkit)

Intel® Implicit SPMD Program Compiler (Intel® ISPC)

• None

Intel® Rendering Toolkit rkUtil superbuild script

• CMake* 3.25 or higher
• Internet connection for the script
  • Brings in popular core prerequisites as needed
  • Brings in most optional prerequisites as needed

Intel® OpenSWR Prerequisites

NOTE: Intel OpenSWR is available as part of the Mesa* OpenGL* open source community project at www.mesa3d.org. Please see Mesa owned guidance for build and deployment information.

• Intel OpenSWR is built as a gallium driver within Mesa* 3D Graphics Library. For Intel OpenSWR build prerequisites and instructions, refer to the Intel OpenSWR website. The meson based build path is typically preferred.

Development Environment

All supported platforms

• CPU
  • C++17 or higher compiler is recommended.
    • C++11 or higher compiler for client applications. C++14 or higher for superbuild, for building OSPRay Studio, and preferred for using typical third party libraries.
    • For compatibility with the Intel® oneAPI DPC++ C/C++ Compiler use C++17 or higher (available with GCC-7 or higher).
  • C99 or higher compiler.
• GPU
  • Intel® oneAPI DPC++/C++ Compiler and Runtimes 2024.0 found in the Base Kit (explained in toolkit configuration instructions)

Microsoft Visual Studio*

• Microsoft Visual Studio* 2019 or higher is recommended

Windows Space Requirements by Component

NOTE: Components additionally require space of automatically included prerequisite components, such as Intel® Threading Building Blocks (Intel® oneTBB)

Component System Requirements

Previous toolkit Releases

2023.x

• Release Notes
• System Requirements

Get Started

Refer to the Intel® Rendering Toolkit landing page to find the detailed information and experience the toolkit.

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