What are the system requirements for Civil 3D?

Since Civil 3D uses AutoCAD as its base, its hardware requirements are very similar to AutoCAD. For the purpose of our courses, as well as helping you succeed in your professional workflows within the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry, we recommend you meet Autodesk’s requirements for Civil 3D. These requirements are crucial for efficient drafting, design, and modeling in civil engineering projects. They are listed below. Please keep in mind as new versions of Civil 3D are released, these requirements may change, and it’s essential to stay updated to maintain efficiency in your civil workflows. Ensuring your system meets these requirements will optimize performance when working on complex site plans, infrastructure designs, and other civil engineering tasks. For the most up-to-date system requirements and to ensure your setup is compatible with the latest features and toolsets in Civil 3D, visit Autodesk’s website. Staying informed about these requirements is vital for anyone looking to excel in drafting and design within the AEC sector.

System Requirements for Civil 3D

Operating System
64-bit Microsoft® Windows® 11 or Windows 10 version 1809 or above. See Autodesk’s Product Support Lifecycle for support information.

Processor
Basic: 2.5–2.9 GHz processor (base) ARM Processors are not supported.
Recommended: 3+ GHz processor (base), 4+ GHz (turbo)

Memory
Basic: 8 GB
Recommended: 32 GB

Display Resolution
Conventional Displays: 1920 x 1080 with True Color
High Resolution & 4K Displays: Resolutions up to 3840 x 2160 (with “Recommended” display card)

Display Card
Basic: 2 GB GPU with 29 GB/s Bandwidth and DirectX 11 compliant
Recommended: 8 GB GPU with 106 GB/s Bandwidth and DirectX 12 compliant

DirectX 12 with Feature Level 12_0 is required for Shaded (Fast) and Shaded with edges (Fast) visual styles. Please be sure to use the latest drivers from the video card manufacturer’s website.

Note: Civil 3D uses your computer’s display card for a variety of essential graphics operations including but not limited to view manipulation, line smoothing, and text/linetype generation. It’s recommended that you have a display card with dedicated VRAM to support these operations at optimal speeds.

Disk Space
20.0 GB (suggested SSD)

Additional Requirements for Large Datasets, Point Clouds, and 3D Modeling

Memory
16 GB RAM or more

Disk Space
6 GB free hard disk available, not including installation requirements

Display Card
3840 x 2160 (4K) or greater True Color video display adapter
12 GB VRAM or greater
Pixel Shader 3.0 or greater
DirectX-capable workstation class graphics card