DW Spectrum Client Hardware Requirements

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Affected Roles: Administrator, Power Users

Related DW Software: DW Spectrum Professional

Software Version: DW Spectrum Client 6.1

Last Edit: January 30, 2026

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Recommended Hardware Specifications for DW Spectrum Client

The DW Spectrum Professional program can be installed on most modern computers with a 64-bit architecture. However, while DW Spectrum is a relatively lightweight application, it does require a varying amount of hardware resources, depending on the scale of your DW Spectrum Site (servers, cameras, etc.) and the intensity that the software is used.

This article will outline the recommended hardware specifications required for computer systems running the DW Spectrum desktop client.

Related Articles

• DW Spectrum - Maximum Site Size
• DW Spectrum - IP Storage Calculator
• DW Spectrum - Previous Build List

**NOTE: 32-bit operating systems, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 10.15, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008|R2, and Windows Server 2012|R2 are no longer supported by DW Spectrum. Additionally, the desktop client will not function when using Macintosh OS X 10.11, 10.12, 10.14, or 10.15.

**NOTE: It is highly recommended to use a separate computer from the device that is hosting the DW Spectrum Server application when viewing, rather than run both programs full-time on the same device. This will help to keep the server device’s CPU from being overused and to mitigate processing issues.

Prerequisites

To use the DW Spectrum Client, a computer must meet the following prerequisites:

• A supported 64-bit Operating System
  • Windows 10, 11 Pro/Enterprise
  • Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022
  • Ubuntu LTS 20.04 “Focal Fossa”, 22.04 “Jammy Jellyfish”, 24.04 “Noble Numbat”
    • Ubuntu LTS 18.04 is no longer supported upon the release of DW Spectrum Version 6.1
  • MacOS 12 “Monterey”, 13 “Ventura”, 14 “Sonoma”, 15 “Sequoia”
•  OpenGL 2.1 Support or better
• An Intel or AMD CPU

Hardware Recommendations

The following specifications and prerequisites will ensure a smooth user experience when using the DW Spectrum Client with up to 64 devices in a layout.

Single Monitor Workstation

Dual Monitor Workstation

Quad Monitor Workstation

**NOTE 1: DW Spectrum Client uses only the CPU for video decoding and can display up to 64 items on the viewing grid. The GPU is used for de-warping on the fly, drawing animations, controls, and rendering UI elements in the client.

**NOTE 2: We assume that only one instance of DW Spectrum Client will run on a single monitor system. If you intend to run two instances of the program on a single monitor, use the recommended specs of the “Dual Monitor Workstation”. For three or four instances of DW Spectrum Client, use the recommended specs for the “Quad Monitor Station”.

**NOTE 3: Please take notice that de-warping a fisheye camera will set the resolution to “High”. As a result, the specifications mentioned above may not apply and are dependent on the cameras settings (e.g. resolution, framerate, etc.). It is better to take the suggestions mentioned below in the decoding capabilities paragraph.

Decoding Capabilities

Although it is difficult to offer static, recommended specifications about decoding capabilities of a system due to the multiple variables of a stream, the following camera settings were taken into consideration:

• Resolution of 1920 x 1080 or lower
• Framerate of 15 fps or fewer
• Bandwidth of 2 Mbps or less
• Group of Pictures (GOP) of 15 (IBBBBPBBBBPBBBBI)
• H.264 compression method

The following Monitor resolution was taken into consideration when creating the stream recommendations below:

• Resolution of 1920 x 1080 or lower

Up to 8 High-Resolution Streams

Up to 16 High-Resolution Streams

Up to 32 High-Resolution Streams

**NOTE: Please take into consideration that most monitors have a native resolution of 1920x1080. There is no benefit of displaying more than 1 Full HD camera in High Resolution on such a screen. The same applies to displaying more than 4 Full HD cameras on a 4K screen or more than 16 Full HD cameras on an 8K screen.

Hardware Decoding

Hardware decoding is a powerful feature available in the DW Spectrum Client, designed to leverage your system’s GPU for improved hardware performance. Supported on both Windows and Ubuntu operating systems, hardware decoding can be utilized with NVIDIA GPUs on both platforms, and with Intel GPUs on Windows systems.

Enabling hardware acceleration allows the Desktop Client to offload video decoding tasks from the CPU to the GPU, freeing up processing power for other operations. This is especially beneficial for systems with lower-end hardware or those needing to handle high-resolution video streams, such as 16MP or 32MP cameras. By offloading these tasks, hardware decoding enhances overall system performance and enables smoother video playback even on resource-limited machines.

Why No Minimum Hardware Requirements?

Although DW Spectrum Client is a lightweight application that can run on an Atom Powered Intel Computer stick, there are too many variables and use cases to determine viable minimum requirements. 

A user who only reviews footage based on events/notifications and exports only small sections of footage would have very different requirements than a professional operator that interacts with many cameras/resources at the same time.

What About ARM-based Devices?

ARM is gaining popularity. For example, Microsoft uses ARM in some of their Surface device and Apple is currently offering Macbooks and iMacs with their own ARM-based chipsets.

Digital Watchdog ARM-based Desktop Client installation packages for Linux powered devices are reserved only for experimental builds and are unavailable to the public.

Do You Have Different Requirements?

Every project has its unique needs, but the recommendations above will fulfill the needs of most projects. If you have special requirements like displaying many high-resolution streams, using more than four monitors for a video wall, or other project-specific requirements, please reach out to your local DW Spectrum reseller to discuss these requirements and possible solutions.

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For More Information or Technical Support

DW Technical Support: https://www.digital-watchdog.com/contact-tech-support/

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Rev: 06/25 Copyright © DW. All rights reserved.