MINIX 3 runs on Pentium-class hardware or later. Other Pentium-compatible CPUs are also supported. MINIX 3 does not currently support 64-bit x86.
The standard installation needs 28 MB of RAM as to release 3.1.8, but older versions have been be squeezed into 8 MB. Recompiling MINIX 3.1.8 needs 64 MB of RAM. Running optional packages like X11 adds up.
The newer releases have more features but also higher requirements. The standard installation currently (April 2012) needs 64 MB of RAM; recompiling MINIX currently needs at least 128 MB of RAM.
MINIX 3 needs one primary partition as well as 360 MB of free contiguous disk space. If you want X11 and all the source code for the whole system, and recompile the system, 1.2 GB should be enough.
If you also want to build packages from source using pkgsrc, you should add at least 1 GB. The extra space is only necessary if you want to build source packages from pkgsrc; most users will use the pkgin binary package interface. If your system does not meet these requirements, please see the tutorial on disk partitioning for information on how to free up the necessary disk space.
Currently, only IDE and SATA disks are supported. USB and SCSI disks are not supported at present.
<!> If you want to run MINIX 3 on a SATA system, you need to change your BIOS setting to IDE/Legacy mode.
The following Ethernet cards are supported
The information in the following table is derived from /usr/src/drivers/fxp/fxp.conf and /usr/src/drivers/pci/pci_table.c.
| Name | Vendor ID | Device ID |
| Intel Corporation 82801CAM PRO/100 VE | 8086 | 1031 |
| Intel Corporation 82801CAM PRO/100 VE | 8086 | 1032 |
| Intel Corporation 82801DB PRO/100 VE (MOB) | 8086 | 103d |
| Intel Corporation 82562 PRO/100 VE | 8086 | 1064 |
| Intel !EtherExpressPro100 82557/8/9 | 8086 | 1229 |
| Intel !EtherExpressPro100 82562EM | 8086 | 2449 |
| Intel !EtherExpressPro100 82559ER | 8086 | 1209 |
The information in the following table is derived from /usr/src/drivers/e1000/e1000.conf and /usr/src/drivers/pci/pci_table.c.
| Name | Vendor ID | Device ID | ||
| Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter | 8086 | 100E | ||
| Intel PRO/1000 GT Desktop Adapter | 8086 | 107C | ||
| Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Network Connection | 8086 | 10CD | ||
| Intel 82574L Gigabit Network Connection | 8086 | 10D3 | ||
| Intel 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection | 8086 | 10DE | ||
| Intel 82571EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller | 8086 | 105E | ||
A small number of peripheral devices (audio cards, etc.) are supported. Currently there is no support for USB or FireWire.