Houdini 21.0 System Requirements

Operating System - 64-bit only

Linux (64bit): 

• Ubuntu 20.04+ LTS
  
• Debian 12.0+
  
• RHEL 8+  
  
• Fedora 32+
• CentOS 8+ 
  
• Linux Mint 20.3+ 
  
• Pop!_OS 20.04 LTS
  
• Rocky 8+ 
• AlmaLinux 8+

The default downloads for H21 are QT6.

If you continue to encounter Qt errors on startup, then check that you have installed the Qt required packages found here:
Qt for X11 Requirements

gcc 9.3.1 is required for HDK plugin development.

>> VFX Reference Platform Houdini 21.0 targets the CY2025 specification of the VFX Reference Platform. 

Note: 32-bit operating systems are not supported

Licensing and other parts of Houdini also have these requirements.

Important: Pre-release versions of operating systems are not supported. This includes Insider Preview, alpha, betas, etc.

All platforms require administrator privileges to install.

Memory

• 16 GB required
• 32 GB or higher recommended and 64GB strongly recommended for fluid simulations
  

Processor

• Starting with Houdini 21, the minimum x86-64 architecture level for Linux and Windows is now v3. This enables us to use many more features that are provided in modern processors such as AVX, AVX2 and hardware-based half-precision floating point support. Unfortunately in order to take advantage of newer features, we need to drop support for some older processors. Therefore, starting with Houdini 21, Houdini will no longer be compatible with processors that don't support x86-64-v3, e.g. Intel processors older than Haswell from 2013 or AMD processors older than Excavator from 2015. macOS x86-64 builds will continue to be built for v2.
  
  You can verify if your processor is supported by checking to see if it supports AVX and AVX2 instructions.
  
  Linux users can utilize the following command to verify support:
  

  grep '^flags' /proc/cpuinfo | sort -u | grep -c avx2 && echo "Supported"

  
  Windows users can utilize tools such as CPU-Z to verify support: https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html [www.cpuid.com]

Disk Space

• 5.0 GB required for installation
  

Input Devices

• 3 Button mouse required
• Scroll wheel used where present
• Wacom tablet recommended for Houdini's brush-based tools
  

Graphics Cards

A GL4.0 compliant graphics card is required. GL3.3 cards will have missing features and lower GL versions will not run Houdini 21.0 at all.

12GB VRAM or more is required. Less than this can result in display errors such as blank windows and corrupted displays, especially on high DPI displays (4K, 5K) or multiple monitors.

Graphics card must support OpenCL version 1.2. 

The OptiX Denoiser requires a Kepler or later NVIDIA GPU (K, P, M, V prefixes).

Karma XPU currently only supports CPU and NVidia Optix devices.

It is VERY important that you install the latest driver for your graphics card using the proprietary drivers direct from the card manufacturer, not the open source versions. Failing to do so may result in display issues and/or slow performance: 

Windows

- NVIDIA RTX & GeForce GPUs: 576.52  Production/Studio Driver or higher 

 - AMD: 25.Q3 or higher

 - Intel 30.0.100.9955 or higher.

Linux

- NVIDIA RTX & GeForce GPUs: 576.52 Production/Studio Driver or higher 

 - AMD: 25.Q3 or higher

 - Intel 30.0.100.9955 or higher.

macOS

- Apple Silicon

NOTE: Intel cards are NOT supported on macOS.

GPU Acceleration

• On certain graphics cards, Houdini can use the GPU to dramatically increase the performance and speed of your Vellum and Pyro FX simulations.
• In order to take advantage of this capability, you'll need a GPU capable of supporting OpenCL. Refer to the Supported Graphics Cards page.
• The amount of VRAM your GPU has access to will limit the size of simulation that you can run on it. 16GB + is ideal for larger simulations.
• GPU acceleration currently does NOT make use of multiple OpenCL devices (i.e. two or more graphics cards) but this may change at a future date. An exception to this is Karma XPU, which can make use of multiple NVidia GPUs.
  

Monitor

• Minimum resolution:  1920 x 1080 or higher is recommended.
  
• 12GB VRAM or higher required for dual displays or single displays greater than 1920x1200.
• Color depth of 32-bit (“true color”) required.
  
• We recommend you either select sRGB as your color profile or calibrate your monitor to gamma 2.2.
  

3rd Party Licences

Remote Desktop with Houdini

• Remote desktop solutions such as Teradici, VNC, Teamviewer, AnyDesk and Windows Remote Desktop may be considered. Note that performance may vary and only NVIDIA RTX and AMD Radeon Pro cards are known to work best with Microsoft's Remote Desktop.

Other

• Network support required for offline simulation, batch processing and rendering
• Internet browser required for connection to www.sidefx.com (Online licensing and Houdini Forum)
• Houdini may or may not work under Wayland. All of our test machines are configured to use X.