One very frequently asked question goes like this: "I am going to buy a new workstation, which will mainly be used for running ZEMAX. What is the optimum specification?"

Well, there's no optimum, in the sense that bigger and better hardware always traces rays faster. But there are sensible choices you can make to spend your budget wisely. This article looks at the three most important areas:

• Choice of processor(s)
• Amount of RAM
• Choice of graphics card

We also answer some of the more frequently asked computer-specific questions.