BricsCAD System Requirements

For Intel and AMD-based Microsoft Windows & Linux PCs, and Intel-based Apple Macs:

Supported Operating Systems

Windows 10 (x64)
Windows 8.1 (x64)
Ubuntu V18.04 or higher
openSUSE builds, later than April 2018
Fedora builds, later than April 2018
Mac OSX 10.13 or higher

Note: Windows 8.1 will reach the end of Microsoft’s Extended Support program on 10 January 2023.

Note: Mac OSX is supported only on Intel-based hardware at this time.

Deprecated Operating Systems

Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008 (with SP2 or higher)
Windows 7 (x64)

Note: we do not recommend running mission-critical CAD software on unsupported operating systems, as your PC may become more vulnerable to security risks.

On 14 January 2020, Microsoft ended support for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2.
On 14 January 2020, Microsoft ended the Windows 7 Extended Support initiative.

Minimum CPU:

Intel® Core™ i5
AMD Ryzen™ 5
2.5 GHz or higher

Recommended CPU:

Intel® Core™ i7
Intel® Core™ i9
AMD Ryzen™ 7
AMD Ryzen™ 9
3.0 GHz or higher

The CPU with the highest single-thread performance rating will always excel with BricsCAD.

Additional CPU cores can be a bonus, because BricsCAD supports the concept of ‘helper threads’ for many data- and calculation-intensive tasks.

Note about Intel® Xeon® and AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ CPUs: these top-tier workstation CPUs support large on-chip memory cache, more PCIe® I/O lanes and multi-channel, high speed memory architectures. Will they help BricsCAD run faster? Maybe. You will need to do testing in your specific environment, to determine if the additional cost of these systems is justifiable.

Minimum System Memory:
8 GB

Recommended System Memory:

16 GB
32 GB

For maximum performance, determine the memory configuration of your PC and ensure that each memory channel on the motherboard is populated with at least one memory module (SIMMs/DIMMs).

Note: the number of available memory channels may not correlate 1:1 with the number of RAM sockets on your PC’s motherboard. Questions? Please check with your hardware supplier before you buy system memory.

Minimum Disk Space:
2 GB for BricsCAD Ultimate, installed

Recommended Disk Space:
(As needed)

We recommend Solid-State Drives (SSDs) as system drives, for both BricsCAD and Windows. Drawings and support files can reside on slower mechanical hard disk drives, if necessary.

Note: solid-state disks can be up to 10x faster reading and 20x faster writing data than a mid-range hard disk drive (e.g. Seagate Barracuda 5.4k RPM, SATA 6.0).

Minimum Display System:

1920 x 1080 True Color display and a graphics card with 1 GB VRAM
Apple Mac Displays

Recommended Display System:

Multiple 3840 x 2160 (4k) True Color displays, with a PCIe® graphics card w/GPUs and 4 GB VRAM
Apple Mac Retina (4K & 5K) Displays

On Microsoft Windows systems, most graphics cards & GPUs from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel® are supported.

On Linux systems, most graphics cards & GPUs from NVIDIA and AMD are supported.

On Mac systems, native Apple display hardware is supported.

BricsCAD’s non-wireframe display modes are generated by RedSDK technology from Redway3D®. For maximum RedSDK performance in these modes, a GPU is required.

Note: We suggest that you install the latest drivers available for your display hardware, as recommended by the manufacturer.

Note to Linux users: Hardware acceleration of 3D graphics on Linux systems is NOT supported on:

Intel® graphics chipsets / cards
Laptops with dual graphics adaptors.
However, recent driver developments by NVIDIA show promise in this area.

For more information about supported graphics hardware for BricsCAD, see the Redway3D GPU chipset reference page.

CONTACT US

If you’d like to see any of our software in action, you can request a personalised demo or try it for yourself with a 30-day trial.

Our experts are on hand to answer any of your queries so feel free to get in touch, we’re here for you.