The Best Hardware for SOLIDWORKS in 2025

Common SOLIDWORKS Hardware Requirements Misconceptions

“Build your own custom SOLIDWORKS 2025 system to save money!”

Though building and configuring your own SOLIDWORKS CAD system (workstation) can be fun, we strongly recommend purchasing a certified workstation system from a reputable hardware manufacturer.

These workstations have been tested, optimised, and certified to run professional applications like SOLIDWORKS.

Your businesses time is better spent on designing and building great designs with SOLIDWORKS, not troubleshooting compatibility issues with your hardware components.

“Higher numbers are always better.”

Do not simply look at raw numbers and specifications when comparing components.

Many companies will tout workstations with impressive sounding specs, but lack the expertise in SOLIDWORKS solutions to recommend the correct specifications.

It is possible to spend many multiples the cost of our recommended workstations but get worse performance.

Get in touch with our team of hardware experts via the Technical Support hotline for additional assistance when assessing the right hardware for your requirements.

“SOLIDWORKS performance is the same every release.”

Besides the dozens of new features and enhancements, SOLIDWORKS have also focused on improving performance to take advantage of the latest hardware technology in each new release.

Consider upgrading your SOLIDWORKS to the latest version to benefit from these performance enhancements.

Windows 10 end of support

SOLIDWORKS 2025 is the last release to support Windows 10. So, if you haven’t already, now is the time to plan your switch to Windows 11.

Microsoft are ending support for Windows 10 in October 2025 and SOLIDWORKS will stop support at the same time.

SOLIDWORKS 2022 or newer is required to support Windows 11 along with a PC with TPM 2.0 security support.

While systems as far back as Intel’s 8th generation CPUs from 2018, however, our recommended replacement cycle for optimum performance is 3-5 years, so consider whether an upgraded workstation may be a better choice.

We discuss exactly how the end of Windows 10 will affect SOLIDWORKS users in this blog.

Our Choice: Dell Hardware

As part of the TriMech Group, we provide the best Dell desktops and laptops for SOLIDWORKS in the UK and Ireland, and even across the USA and Canada!

We also provide hardware to suit other Dassault Systèmes solutions, including CATIA, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, and DraftSight.

Our recommendations for SOLIDWORKS workstations are based off benchmark results that our experts take using real engineering data.

Having used and provided Dell hardware for many years, we are confident that Dell hardware will provide the best performance and support for your team.

Read More

Ready to Upgrade?

Make sure you’re ready to upgrade! Have you checked off these 10 things to do before installing SOLIDWORKS?

Read the full blog to get prepared and find out everything you need to do before installing SOLIDWORKS.

Core SOLIDWORKS Hardware Considerations

Processor (CPU)

The processor can be the single most influential component to your system, with the Turbo Boost speed in GHz being more important than number of cores.

• When purchasing a new computer, look at the most recent generation Intel Core i7 or AMD equivalent and above.
• Newer series CPUs may show similar clock speeds and cores to previous series CPUs. However, improvements to the overall architecture mean newer CPU’s can often perform more calculations per GHz.
• SOLIDWORKS add-ins like SOLIDWORKS Simulation, and SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation do utilize multi-processing capabilities more extensively. The Latest Intel Core CPU’s offer the best balance of speeds for CAD and up to 24 cores for simulation workloads.
• In our tests only SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation benefited from options with more cores, with 32 and 64 core AMD Threadripper 7000 series CPU’s offering 15-25% faster solve times albeit at a significantly higher price.

System Memory (RAM)

System memory is another important SOLIDWORKS hardware component for overall system performance, as insufficient RAM can significantly affect system performance.

For maximum stability, Error Code Correction (ECC) RAM is recommended.

• SOLIDWORKS recommends at least 16 GBs of RAM.
• We recommend at least 32 GBs of RAM for CAD use, with the RAM consumed by windows and other applications running alongside SOLIDWORKS means 16GBof RAM is often too low now.
• 64 GB-128GB is recommended if you are dealing with complex datasets, imports, 3D scanning and/ or conducting regular simulation tasks.
• Error Code Correction (ECC) RAM is recommended for maximum stability, this can correct for errors caused by environmental factors that could otherwise cause a software or operating system crash.
• Additional RAM will not improve performance if sufficient memory space is available - the best way to tell is to monitor Ram usage using windows resource or task manager.
• If physical memory resources are exhausted, virtual memory on your hard disc may be used causing poor performance.

Graphics Cards

The graphics card is one of the most commonly overlooked and improperly selected SOLIDWORKS hardware components when configuring a workstation.

Your graphics card affects how smoothly the images on screen rotate, zoom, pan, and refresh. Graphics cards can also enable visualization features to display images more realistically evaluating smoothness of models, etc.

• It is highly recommended to purchase a workstation class graphics card to run SOLIDWORKS optimally. Consumer class graphics cards are optimized to play the video games, but not to run professional applications like 3D CAD and are the most common source of SOLIDWORKS instability.
• The SOLIDWORKS Hardware Certification page provides a comprehensive list of supported graphics cards and certified drivers. Some features, such as live draft analysis, RealView graphic rendering requires a supported card.
• SOLIDWORKS utilises OpenGL hardware acceleration with SOLIDWORKS 2019 and newer leverages OpenGL 4.5 for improved performance when the Enhanced Graphics Performance option enabled.
• SOLIDWORKS Visualize utilizes NVIDIA CUDA cores for processing alongside Ray trace cores to accelerate calculations and Tensor cores to accelerate AI denoising of images, reducing the number of passes required up to 10x and therefore shortening your render times by a similar amount.

Hard Drives

Other than acting as storage space for applications and files, the hard drive can play a vital role in your system’s overall performance.

• For optimal performance, DS SOLIDWORKS recommends a high-speed Solid State Drive (SSD). Though older SATA based SSDs will yield a significant improvement over disk based storage, newer higher bandwidth NVMe/PCIe are now preferred over SATA based SSDs.
• When selecting a drive capacity, allow for a sufficient amount of free space on the drive for virtual memory and scratch space. Drives, especially disk based non-SSDs, run optimally when 20% or more hard drive space is free.
• Only Windows-based storage is supported. NAS or SAN storage is not officially tested or supported by SOLIDWORKS.

Supporting Software Considerations

Operating System

SOLIDWORKS 2025 is only supported under the Windows operating systems.

• Windows 11 is supported with SW 2022 SP2 and newer.
• SOLIDWORKS 2020 was the last version that supported Windows 7 SP1, (64bit).
• eDrawings 2024 is supported under the macOS 12.0 (Monterey) or higher operating systems.
• Refer to the SOLIDWORKS system requirements page for additional information.

SOLIDWORKS Network License (SNL) Server

Many clients prefer their licenses to be internally networked opposed to activated as standalone licenses. Operating system and hardware requirements for license servers are slightly different than their clients.

• The 2024 SOLIDWORKS Network License (SNL) Server is only supported under the Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2019 and 2022.
• SOLIDWORKS offers support for certain Virtual Environments. Please review the list of approved virtualized environments on the SOLIDWORKS system requirements page.
• For Network Licensing, the default setup requires TCP ports 25734 and 25735 to be open through your firewall for license access.

Partner Software

There are related software packages that work with SOLIDWORKS. Certain older versions of these software packages are not supported by these companies in later revisions of SOLIDWORKS.

Check with your reseller or the manufacturer of the software for compatibility and support.

• SOLIDWORKS 2025 supports the use of Microsoft Office 2021 or newer. Word and Excel are needed in order to generate Design Tables, analytical reports, and Excel based BOMs.
• DS SOLIDWORKS recommends a trusted antivirus product updated to the latest version. Consider adding exemptions for SOLIDWORKS file types in the antivirus software to improve performance with Open/Save/Save As operations.

SOLIDWORKS PDM System Requirements

SOLIDWORKS PDM uses SOLIDWORKS SolidNetwork Licensing (SNL).

Review the SOLIDWORKS Network License Server requirements in addition to these requirements:

• For best performance, we recommend a dedicated server environment. Other configurations, such as servers with the addition of domain controllers, have been found to introduce variables that should be avoided whenever possible.
• SOLIDWORKS PDM 2025 Database and Archive servers are only supported in the Windows Server 2019 and 2022 operating system environments.
• SOLIDWORKS PDM database server also requires Microsoft SQL 2019 or 2022.
• SOLIDWORKS recommends at least 8GB of RAM or more for Archive and Database servers. Consult your SOLIDWORKS PDM Implementation Professional for recommended memory amounts based on your usage and server configuration.
• The processor should be a relatively current Intel or AMD processor. Consult your SOLIDWORKS PDM Implementation Professional for recommended specifications based on your usage and server configuration.
• SOLIDWORKS PDM Web 2 service requires the Microsoft Internal Information Service (IIS).
• SOLIDWORKS support certain Virtual Environments. Please review the list of approved virtualized environments on the SOLIDWORKS system requirements page.

eDrawings Requirements

eDrawings 2025 is only supported on Windows 10, Windows 11, macOS 13.0 or newer.

• The eDrawings mobile app is supported on both iOS and Android mobile devices.
• eDrawings 2025 supports HTC VIVE Pro™ virtual reality devices for VR viewing of your eDrawing models.
• HTC VIVE COSMOS and HTC VIVE Focus headsets are not supported.
• A graphics card with VR support and atleast 4GB or VRAM is required for VR viewing in eDrawings. For more information, visit the SOLIDWORKS website.

SOLIDWORKS Visualize Requirements

SOLIDWORKS Visualize is a photo rendering and animation application that performs best with NVIDIA Graphics cards.

These feature thousands of CUDA cores for the raw number crunching, ray trace cores to accelerate render calculations and Tensor cores to accelerate AI Denoising of images.

SOLIDWORKS Visualize 2025 requires a graphics card from NVIDIA’s 2019 Turing Generation

Accurate mode can support cards from NVIDIAS 2014 Maxwell generation with reduced performance.

• SOLIDWORKS Visualize 2025 needs at least 4GBs of GPU memory to enable GPU acceleration.
• Multiple graphics cards are supported if budget allows, adding a second card will roughly half the render time.
• SOLIDWORKS Visualize 2022 and newer also supports AMD ProRender GPUs found on Radeon and FirePro series graphics cards, however this is not our recommended render engine for best results there are still known limitations and issues with this option as of the 2025 release.

SOLIDWORKS Network Recommendations

SOLIDWORKS is tested only with Microsoft’s Windows Networking and Active Directory network environments.

The optimum solutions for collaborative working with SOLIDWORKS data are data management solutions including SOLIDWORKS PDM and 3D Experience platform.

These solutions are CAD-aware, cache data locally and only need to transfer back the components which are changed leading to a more robust and performative solution.

Opening and saving to a network drive or to cloud storage solutions such as one drive, drop box is not recommended. These solutions are not CAD-aware so can cause issues including file corruption.

• TCP/IP network service is required when using our SOLIDWORKS PDM for storing and managing data.
• Client Workstations require a minimum connection speed of 100Mbps for reliable SOLIDWORKS PDM Server Access. WAN environments have special considerations for bandwidth and latency.