The choice of graphics card is not so critical. Modern games are far more demanding of the graphics card than ZEMAX is! However, some simple rules can be applied:

• Avoid "integrated" graphics, where the graphics chip is on the motherboard. These generally use system memory and tend not to have the most stable drivers. A stand-alone card with dedicated memory is usually the better choice.
• ZEMAX uses OpenGL to provide the Shaded Model layout, which is important for presentation-quality graphics. Check that your graphics card comes with an OpenGL driver.

And that's it! Other factors like sound cards, network cards etc have little or no impact on ZEMAX.

In summary, we recommend multiple processors, and multiple 64-bit processors for future expandability. As much memory as you need! This is hard to generalize about. Unless you are using large CAD objects, or POP, then 512MB should be sufficient, 1 GB plenty.We recommend stand-alone graphics cards from a reputable manufacturer such as nVidia or ATi.