CAD Workstations for professional design workflows

Are you looking for the perfect CAD workstation for CAD programs like Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, or SolidWorks? Here you’ll find workstations perfectly tailored to these applications, because we’ve conducted our own tests and reviewed benchmarks and studies from renowned hardware magazines to offer you the best solution:

Which processor is best suited for Autodesk AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor?

Applications like Autodesk AutoCAD or Inventor benefit most from high clock speeds and scale little to none with multiple cores. Therefore, we recommend processors like the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X for CAD workstations. Rendering processes, such as PhotoView 360 Rendering and Mental Ray Rendering, are a few exceptions to the core limitation in AutoCAD and SolidWorks. For these tasks, Intel Xeon W-2500 CPUs with high clock speeds and multiple cores are suitable, such as the Intel Xeon W7-2575X (22 cores, up to 4.8 GHz Turbo Boost) or the AMD Threadripper 7975WX (32 cores, up to 5.3 GHz Turbo Boost).

Which graphics card should be used for a CAD workstation running Autodesk AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor?

NVIDIA workstation graphics cards are particularly well-suited for CAD PC systems, as only these are officially supported by most CAD programs. These applications also scale effectively with the available GPU performance. An RTX 4000 ADA is therefore noticeably faster than an NVIDIA RTX A1000. Autodesk AutoCAD is an exception here; tasks in this application usually require only a small amount of VRAM, so an NVIDIA RTX A1000 is usually sufficient.
  

For Autodesk Inventor, the choice of graphics card depends on the size of the assemblies. An NVIDIA RTX A1000 is sufficient for small assemblies; an RTX 4000 ADA is suitable for medium-sized assemblies; and for large assemblies, you can opt for the RTX 5000 ADA.

Specifically for SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, and Autodesk Revit, the choice of graphics card depends on the assembly size and the resolution used. As a guideline:

How much RAM is needed for Autodesk AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor?

The amount of RAM required for CAD applications depends on the size of the assemblies and the number of files open simultaneously. For most users, 16GB of RAM is therefore sufficient. For large assemblies, it is recommended to install 32GB of RAM in the CAD workstation. For very large assemblies in SolidWorks (1.25GB–3GB), up to 64GB of RAM may be required.

Do I need an SSD for a CAD workstation running Autodesk AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor?

Generally, three storage solutions are suitable for Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, and SolidWorks workstations: SSDs, NVMe drives, and mechanical hard drives. While mechanical hard drives are slow, they typically offer more storage space at lower prices than fast SSDs and NVMe drives. However, due to their slow speed, they are less suitable as system and swap drives.
 

SSDs are many times faster than HDDs, but also significantly more expensive. These drives are ideal as system drives and swap drives. Programs and projects stored on the SSD can also be opened much faster than from a traditional HDD.
 

NVMe drives are up to 5x faster than SSDs, but they also cost significantly more. In most cases, an NVMe drive will not noticeably increase system speed, as even with standard SSDs, system performance is no longer limited by the speed of the hard drive. Like SSDs, these drives are well-suited as system and swap drives.
 

For working with CAD programs, a primary system drive (SSD/NVMe) is recommended, on which the operating system and the necessary applications are installed. With an SSD, the operating system and applications can be loaded noticeably faster than with a traditional HDD.
 

To enable fast load times, an SSD should be used for both the operating system and CAD applications. The fast system drive is supplemented either by a large HDD or an additional SSD for data storage. An additional SSD can boost the PC’s performance, as it allows projects to be loaded and saved more quickly.

Our recommendations: