How to configure your workstation for AutoCAD

AutoCAD was originally developed by Autodesk as a simple CAD editor for creating technical drawings. At present, the program has extensive 3D functions for modeling objects for mechanical engineers, designers and architects. Following is our hardware recommendation:

Optimized Single Thread Processor in AutoCAD 2023

When choosing the right CPU, two factors play an important role. The frequency (MHz) influences how many operations a single CPU core can perform per second. 2 The number of CPU cores indicates how many physical CPU cores are present within a CPU. Whether a higher frequency or a higher number of cores is more advantageous depends on the development of the CAD program. The question is: Is my program able to use multiple CPU cores? The CAD system AutoCAD is a frequency-bound application and uses a processor core to create drawings.  To improve CPU performance, we recommend that you deactivate the Hyper-Threading Mode setting in the BIOS. Starting with AutoCAD 2016, a second processor core is integrated for regeneration. We recommend a workstation optimized for single-thread workflows with an Intel Xeon 6-Core processor with a high MHz clock rate. As a base model, our HP Z4 G4 business workstation with Intel Xeon W-2155, 10 Cores and up to 4.50 GHz offers you a very good price-performance ratio. As a mobile option we have mobile business workstation available.

Optimized Memory in AutoCAD 2023

The size and complexity of your AutoCAD models determine the size of your memory. AutoCAD uses approximately 75% of the memory provided on the system when loading or saving a drawing. For 2D drawings we recommend an Autocad workstation with 16 GB RAM. However, if you are dealing with very large 3D models and renderings or have a large number of files open at the same time, you may consider upgrading to 32GB or more. Due to the fact that most users typically have more programs than AutoCAD running on their system, we recommend a workstation with 32GB of RAM and eight memory banks. Make sure that four memory channels are equipped with identical RAM. Ideally, four additional free memory banks are available for your RAM upgrade. We recommend the use of ECC memory modules. The Error Correcting Code Memory (ECC RAM) automatically corrects memory errors in the background and thus prevents a serious system crash. An absolute must-have for all professional users in design, development, simulation or modeling.

The ultimate graphics card for 2D or 3D models in AutoCAD 2023

The faster the graphics card, the better the performance in terms of frames per second. Nvidia Geforce graphics cards seem to be a good option due to the good price-performance ratio. Unfortunately, Geforce cards are not officially certified for use in AutoCAD by Autodesk. If you have a support contract with AutoCAD, we strongly advise you to use certified graphics cards from AMD or Nvidia. AutoCAD denies support if you are not using a certified graphics card. AutoCAD provides you with optimized graphics card drivers for each version. For AutoCAD 2022, we recommend an NVIDIA Quadro RTX A2000 with either 6 or 12GB VRAM. For more demanding tasks and realistic 3D renderings, an NVIDIA Quadro RTX A4000 with 16GB, RTX A5000 with 24GB VRAM or an AMD Radeon Pro W6800 with 32GB VRAM and compatible with DirectX 12 is the better choice. The Radeon Pro series is a further development of AMD's professional graphics card series FirePro.

Ultimate performance with SSD for AutoCAD 2023

Round off your system with a high-performance solid state disk. Choose an SSD with fast access rates. We recommend using a M.2 SSD from Samsung Model 980 Pro in storage sizes from 500 GB to 2 TB. By using an M.2 SSD you are able to transmit data rates of up to 4GB per second. This corresponds to a 7-fold increase in performance compared to SATA hard disks.

Increase AutoCAD 2023 performance

Delete the graphic cache regularly. The command *CACHEMAXFILES* deletes the AutoCAD graphic cache.

Activate the hardware acceleration in your AutoCAD program. If your graphics card supports Open GL, you will increase the graphics performance and the productivity of your workflow with 3D models will improve significantly.

Use certified graphics card drivers for your AutoCAD program.

New features in AutoCAD 2023

Performance improvements in the number and display of Autodesk Docs folders and in the display of folders on the Home tab

Technical preview for 3D graphics

Background publishing and hatch boundary detection now use multiple cores of a processor

New modern design, significant contrast improvement and sharper symbols

Microsoft DirectX 12 is now supported for 2D and 3D visual styles

Improved graphics performance thanks to multicore processors

faster 3D navigation

Smooth, fast panning, zooming and rotating in real time with multi-core processors. Regeneration is performed automatically