Frequently Asked Questions

Performance in the Proteus software is generally scaleable according to your machine specification.

Minimum requirements (correct as of January 2024):

3GHz x64 processor.

8GB RAM.

Microsoft Windows 10.

Recommended requirements:

High performance x64 processor with at least 4 cores.

Dedicated ATI or NVIDIA graphics card supporting OpenGL and Direct3D.

16GB or more of RAM.

Microsoft supported 64 bit Windows operating system.

In particular, note that if your graphics card does not satisfy the above requirements the software will run in Windows GDI mode. This means that display of the screen is handled by Windows and not your graphics hardware and therefore that some features of the software will not be available and the performance could be adversely affected. As a general rule, discrete graphics cards such as those from AMD (ATI) and NVIDIA will satisfy these requirements whilst chipset graphics such as those supplied by Intel will not.

By it's very nature, a Proteus VSM simulation involves executing a lot of instructions very quickly and a lot of fast signal switching in the circuit. A modern business grade machine is therefore required to ensure adequate performance.

Post-sales support is available free for the life of the product, initially through your sales partner/distributor but also direct from head office if required. No additional charge applies for telephone support at head office in the UK or our North American office, although with project difficulties we may well require the file(s) causing the problem. As we are the sole authors of the software we are confident that you will find us both helpful and knowledgeable about our subject.

Please be aware that while we will try to help with problems for older versions of the software there is an effective end of life and the level of support available will drop as the software becomes more dated.

A Getting Started Guide can be supplied (at extra cost outside of the UK). E-commerce orders are electronic delivery and the documentation is provided as help files within the downloaded application. Context sensitive help and detailed online help is also included with all the Professional products.

Yes, all upgrades are charged at the price difference between your existing package and that to which you want to upgrade. The sole proviso is that you must be current with the last major release of our software. If this is not the case you will have to pay an upgrade charge to the current version and then the price difference between levels as normal.

Yes. All versions of Proteus PCB Design Professional can produce Gerber photoplot and Excellon drill files which are the industry standard way of doing this. Output is available in both the older Extended Gerber (274X) and in the newer Gerber X2 formats. The PCB design software also includes a Gerber Viewer which enables you to verify that the Gerber artwork is correct before sending it off for manufacture and ODB++ output is also an output option for users of PCB Level 2 and higher.

Yes. Customers with Proteus PCB Design Level 2 or higher have access to the 3D Viewer. You can then both import STEP/IGES component models for viewing in Proteus and export the STEP assembly for import into your MCAD tool of choice.
The IDF wireframe export option and the older STL format are also available.

The term update implies bug fixes and minor enhancements of the software and is usually signified by a change in the minor version number of the software (e.g. 8.3 to 8.3 SP1 etc.). The term upgrade implies new releases of the software that provide improved functionality, new features or support for new operating systems and is signified in by a change in the major version number of the software (for example 8.3 to 8.4).

Updates to the current release of the software are uploaded to the website and are freely available for download to all customers who have a valid Update Service Contract.

Upgrades to the software will be uploaded to the website at Beta launch. Users with a valid Update Service Contract (USC) are free to download it at this time. On official release of an upgrade all customers who have a valid USC can download the files via the integrated Update Manager. A physical system CD may be available on request from your local sales channel.

Customers who do not have a valid USC or whose contract has expired will have to reactivate their contract in order to install and use software that were released subsequent to the expiry of their USC. Such customers can use the software they currently have indefinitely but will not be entitled to avail themselves of features and maintenance issues resolved in new releases.

Please note; that, like most companies, our support for older versions of our software is limited.

Yes. Having bought a licence for one copy of the Professional software, additional licences for software at the same or lower feature level attract a 30% (Thirty percent) discount. For example, having bought a Proteus PCB Design System at Level 2 you can then buy additional copies Proteus PCB Design System at Level 2, Level 1+ or Level 1 with a discount of 30% on their list prices. The additional copies are identical to the original and include CDs and manuals.
Multi-user educational pricing is separate; please contact us for a quotation.

Device libraries in the schematic and the layout are the building blocks of any project and are a fundamental piece of CAD software. Proteus comes with well over 10,000 pre-supplied library parts. However, with literally millions of electronic parts available it is impossible to supply a complete listing directly in the installed libraries of the software package.

The solution in the Proteus Design Suite is twofold. First, we provide an integrated web search directly in the library picker dialogue. This provides free access to over 15 million parts from both SamacSys and SnapEDA. A double click will import the schematic component and footprint directly into the project. In most cases the 3D STEP file will also be imported. Where a part has not yet been created you can request it be made for you. This is a service offered by our partners with an average turnaround of 24-48 hours per part.

Secondly, we provide an import dialogue form (PADS ASCII Library Import) that can import parts from third party vendors such as Ultra-Librarian and PCB Library expert. During this manual import process large unwieldly schematic bodies can be split into smaller elements and the pins then re-arranged around the various component bodies. A BSDL file import is also available. Tutorial movies are available for Samacsys import, SnapEDA and BSDL file import.