{"id":985,"date":"2019-01-14T14:57:06","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T14:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/?p=985"},"modified":"2023-09-07T15:54:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T14:54:01","slug":"blender-opengl-compatibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/blender-opengl-compatibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Blender, OpenGL 3.3 and graphics card compatibility"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a1c8696893df\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a1c8696893df\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/blender-opengl-compatibility\/#opengl-33-graphic-cards-processors\" >OpenGL 3.3 graphic cards &#038; processors<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/blender-opengl-compatibility\/#where-to-buy-opengl-33-graphics-cards\" >Where to buy OpenGL 3.3 graphics cards<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/blender-opengl-compatibility\/#conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/blender-opengl-compatibility\/#blender-291-support\" >Blender 2.91 Support<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>In first part of\u00a0&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/will-blender-run\/\">Will Blender run on older computers<\/a>&#8221; the minimum requirements necessary to run\u00a0Blender were discussed, namely the\u00a0need for graphics hardware supporting\u00a0and\/or compatibility with\u00a0<b>OpenGL 3.3<\/b> or higher (largely as related to Windows OS computers), itself published c.2010.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: It should be noted that Blender does cater to &#8216;legacy hardware&#8217; to a\u00a0degree in providing support for components and systems that are almost a decade old (based on OpenGL version supported), a very long time in technological terms.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In this second part of the discussion on running Blender on older computers we take a look at upgrading incompatible computers and hardware\u00a0cheaply and where it can generally be acquired. Understandably what may be easily affordable and acquirable hardware for one person\u00a0may not be for another.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"opengl-33-graphic-cards-processors\"><\/span>OpenGL 3.3 graphic cards &#038; processors<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The following graphics cards and chips specifically support OpenGL 3.0\/3.1\/3.2\/3.3 and should be considered the <b>absolute minimum<\/b> (note: actually support may be subject to driver availability, OpenGL 3.3 and system hardware support);<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110705002649\/https:\/\/developer.nvidia.com\/opengl-driver\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nVidia<\/a> desktop (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Quadro FX 370, 570, 1700, 3700, 4600, 4700&#215;2, 4800, 5600, 5800, Quadro VX200, Quadro CX<\/li>\n<li>GeForce 8000 series or higher; Geforce G100, GT120, 130, 220, GTS 150, GTS 250, GT310, 320, 330, 340, GeForce GTX 260 and higher, any ION based products.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>nVidia Notebook<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Quadro FX 360M, 370M, 570M, 770M, 1600M, 1700M, 2700M, 2800M, 3600M, 3700M, 3800M<\/li>\n<li>GeForce 8000 series or higher<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amd.com\/en\/support\/kb\/release-notes\/rn-rad-win-legacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ATI<\/a> desktop\/notebook (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_AMD_graphics_processing_units\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>ATI Radeon HD\/Mobility\u00a0Radeon 2000, 3000, 4000 series graphics cards\/on-board chips.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intel.co.uk\/content\/www\/uk\/en\/support\/articles\/000007136\/graphics-drivers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Intel<\/a> desktop\/notebook (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_Intel_graphics_processing_units\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>HD Graphics 4000<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Obviously upgrading notebooks (generally not upgradable),\u00a0mobile workstations (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/smforum\/index.php?topic=981.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">upgradeable through MXM Type A or B modules\/boards<\/a>)\u00a0and all forms of desktop PCs will differ depending on system capability, upgradeability and hardware availability, and may also require other component upgrades for proper functionality, larger power supplies for example.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"where-to-buy-opengl-33-graphics-cards\"><\/span>Where to buy OpenGL 3.3 graphics cards<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><b>Marketplaces<\/b>: To buy old graphics cards the best place to start\u00a0is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebay.com\/\">eBay<\/a>\u00a0(localised as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ebay.pl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ebay.pl<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebay.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ebay.ca<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebay.es\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ebay.es<\/a>\u00a0etc.) and\/or other online marketplaces like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/marketplace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook Marketplace<\/a>\u00a0or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.craigslist.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Craigslist<\/a>,\u00a0where\u00a0used computer hardware is sold\u00a0\u2013 when buying\u00a0it\u2019s best to use \u2018trusted\u2019 (re)sellers where possible as purchases made through them are usually protected to some degree (where service is offered).<\/p>\n<p><b>Forums\/Social Media<\/b>: Still online, look through forums, social media groups or other places where members might post about old hardware they want shot of, in many cases this can be picked up free (collect in person) or for cost of postage.<\/p>\n<p><b>Local Newspapers<\/b>: If internet access, distance etc. are an issue, look through the \u2018want\u2019 ads of the local newspaper for people\u00a0similarly wanting to get rid of old graphics cards. Costs again may be as little as pick-up-in-person or covering postage.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In all instances, whilst older graphics hardware may be difficult to find, when it is it can generally be picked up for comparatively little ($10 USD), desktop graphics cards being the easiest to find, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/smforum\/index.php?topic=981.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MXM boards less so<\/a>. The only users that will have significant issues are notebook users whose systems may need to be replaced entirely for compatibility with Blender 2.8. With that said used notebooks can be acquired for considerably less than new, providing a short-term solution to any inability to run Blender 2.8 on such systems.<\/p>\n<p><center>&bull; &bull; &bull;<\/center><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"blender-291-support\"><\/span>Blender 2.91 Support<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>With the release of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blender.org\/download\/requirements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blender 2.91 the minimum requirements<\/a> have been updated, supplemental to the previous OpenGL 3.3 necessity, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/will-blender-run\/#blender-2-91-support\">else the program terminates abruptly<\/a>. Going forward the minimum requirements for <b>nVidia<\/b> are <b>GeForce 400<\/b> series based cards; for <b>AMD<\/b> the minimums are <b>HD 7000<\/b> series cards &#8211; the requirement applies to &#8216;consumer&#8217; and &#8216;professional&#8217; graphics cards. For <b>Intel<\/b> the minimum is now <b>HD Graphics 4200<\/b>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: these new minimum requirements mean graphics cards and systems that fully support OpenGL 3.3 may no longer work because their hardware uses older, obsolete architectures in their chipsets. As this is a hardware related issue it&#8217;s unlikely to be solved through driver updates.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,237],"tags":[748,749,440,434,439,437,436,438,747,435],"class_list":["post-985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blender","category-misc3d","tag-amd","tag-ati","tag-compatibility","tag-graphics-card","tag-laptop","tag-mobile-workstation","tag-mxm-module","tag-notebook","tag-nvidia","tag-opengl-3-3"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=985"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5183,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions\/5183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}