If you are buying a machine, the useful question is not “what does AutoCAD need” but “which of these is the heaviest thing I will run” — because the answers differ by a factor of four. This page puts Autodesk’s own 2026 figures side by side.
Every number below is taken from Autodesk’s own system-requirements pages, read on 29 August 2026. Where Autodesk gives tiers, the basic/minimum figure is listed first.
The 2026 line, side by side
| Product | RAM | Graphics | Disk | Operating system |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AutoCAD 2026 | 8 GB basic 32 GB recommended | 2 GB DX11 (29 GB/s) 8 GB DX12 (106 GB/s) rec. | 10 GB | Windows 10 / 11 |
| Civil 3D 2026 | 8 GB basic 32 GB recommended | 2 GB DX11 8 GB DX12 recommended | — | Windows 10 v17763+ / 11 |
| Revit 2026 | 16 GB minimum | DX11, Shader Model 5 4 GB VRAM recommended | 30 GB install +100 GB free for temp | Windows 10 v1809+ / 11 |
| Inventor 2026 | 16 GB minimum 32 GB recommended | 2 GB DX11 8 GB DX11 recommended | 40 GB | Windows 10 / 11 |
| 3ds Max 2026 | 4 GB minimum 8 GB+ recommended | See certified hardware list | 9 GB | Windows 10 v1809+ / 11 |
| Maya 2026 | 8 GB 16 GB+ recommended | See certified hardware list | 7 GB | Windows, macOS 13–15, RHEL / Rocky Linux |
What the table actually tells you
Revit and Inventor are the heavy pair. Both start at 16 GB where the rest start at 8 or less, and both want far more disk — Inventor asks for 40 GB, and Revit wants 30 GB for the install plus a recommended 100 GB free for temporary files. If either is in your future, buy for them and everything else fits underneath.
Revit’s 16 GB is qualified, and the qualification matters. Autodesk describes it as usually sufficient for a single model of roughly 300 MB on disk. Real coordinated project models pass that routinely, and upgrading a model made in an older release temporarily needs more again. Treat 16 GB as the floor for a student, not a plan for a practice.
3ds Max’s stated 4 GB minimum is not a serious working figure. It is the number that lets the application launch. Anyone rendering, scattering vegetation or handling a large arch-viz scene should read that row as “8 GB is the floor and considerably more is normal” — the certified-hardware list is the honest reference for this one.
Maya is the only one here that leaves Windows. It runs on macOS 13–15 and on Red Hat and Rocky Linux. Every other product in the table is Windows-only. If your studio is on macOS or Linux, that single row settles a lot of arguments — see 3ds Max vs Maya.
The two .NET gotchas that break installs after an update
These are not on the marketing pages and they cause real, confusing failures:
- AutoCAD 2026 needs .NET 8.0 up to version 2026.1.1, and .NET 10.0 from 2026.1.2 onward. If AutoCAD stops launching after a point update, this is the first thing to check.
- Revit 2026 needs .NET 8, and .NET Framework version 10 from 2026.5 onward. Same failure mode: the update lands, the runtime is missing, the application will not start.
DirectX 12 Feature Level 12_0 is required for the “Fast” visual styles in AutoCAD and Civil 3D. Without it the software still runs, but shaded views fall back to slower paths — which is often what people are describing when they say a new machine “feels slow in 3D”.
Buying advice, in order of what actually matters
- RAM first. It is the specification most likely to be the binding constraint, and the cheapest to over-buy. 32 GB is the sensible working figure across this whole line; 16 GB is a student machine.
- SSD, always. Autodesk suggests it for AutoCAD explicitly, and Revit’s 100 GB of temp-file traffic makes it non-negotiable.
- Single-core clock speed for Revit. Autodesk says highest single-core base clock is recommended — many Revit operations do not parallelise, so core count helps less than you would expect.
- GPU VRAM for AutoCAD and Civil 3D. The recommended tier is an 8 GB DirectX 12 card; the basic 2 GB tier will run but costs you the fast visual styles.
- Certified hardware for 3ds Max and Maya. Autodesk publishes a list for both rather than a spec, because the driver matters as much as the card.
Requirements for a specific older release
These pages cover what individual releases need and whether they still run on current Windows: AutoCAD · Revit · Inventor · Civil 3D · 3ds Max · Maya.
Always confirm against Autodesk’s own system requirements pages before buying — they change with point releases. Softwares Academy does not host or distribute installers, licence keys or activation tools.
Meeting the requirements and still failing? The install itself has its own fault list — see install error 1603 — and once installed, licensing errors, AutoCAD fatal errors and Revit startup crashes each have their own.
