Workstation Guides: What Computer Do You Need for Your Design Software?

Every design application uses a computer differently. Revit and AutoCAD want sustained single-core speed and memory sized to the model; Fusion rewards extra cores for toolpaths and simulation; Twinmotion is led by the graphics card; Navisworks by memory; ReCap Pro by storage. The official system requirements rarely say so, which is why a machine that is fine for one application can struggle with the next. These guides are written by Modena Technologies, Africa's only Autodesk Platinum Partner and an Autodesk Authorised Training Centre, and by Modena Computers, which builds and stress-tests workstations in Cape Town. Each one takes a single application, sets out what the vendor officially requires, explains how the software actually uses each component, gives the thresholds we work to when we specify a machine, and says which Apollo or Vulcan configuration suits which kind of user.

Pick the application you spend most of your day in. If you run several, read the guide for the heaviest one; its recommendation will carry the others.

Revit

Clock speed, RAM by model size, graphics memory for Enscape and Twinmotion, and why worksharing wants fast storage.

Read the Revit guide

Inventor

Single-core speed for a predominantly single-threaded pipeline, RAM by assembly size, DirectX 12 graphics.

Read the Inventor guide

AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT

Clock speed over cores, RAM for xrefs and 3D, the DirectX 12 card that unlocks the Fast visual styles.

Read the AutoCAD guide

Fusion

Single-core speed for modelling, eight or more performance cores for CAM, simulation and local rendering.

Read the Fusion guide

Civil 3D

Clock speed, RAM for large surfaces, corridors and imagery, graphics memory for point clouds and 4K.

Read the Civil 3D guide

Twinmotion

Graphics memory first: what Lumen, the Path tracer, 4K video and VR need, and what runs alongside Revit.

Read the Twinmotion guide

Navisworks

Memory sized to the federated model, clock speed for navigation, cores for clash detection, and why the official table is no help.

Read the Navisworks guide

ReCap Pro

Storage first: two NVMe drives, RAM for registering and indexing scans, and what Scan to Mesh needs locally.

Read the ReCap guide

How the guides are written

Each guide starts from the vendor's published requirements for the current release, which we quote and then put in context, because a minimum specification describes a machine that will install the software, not one to earn a living on. We then draw on the vendor's own performance and support guidance, which is usually far more useful than the requirements table, and on what we see supporting, training and building for these applications every week. The thresholds in each guide are ours and are labelled as such. We avoid naming processor and graphics card models so that the advice stays useful as components change; the exact parts in each configuration are on the Apollo and Vulcan product pages, and we review the guides each January when new releases ship.

Every guide ends with the same two things: a table matching our six configurations to the kinds of user we meet, and an invitation to tell us what you work on so we can confirm the fit or build something different. Workstations are built to order in Cape Town, tested under sustained load before they ship, delivered anywhere in South Africa, and carry a four-year warranty with lifetime hardware support.

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