Graphics card for AutoCAD, Revit and Inventor 2027: NVIDIA RTX A400, A1000 and 16 GB cards

Autodesk's GPU figures for AutoCAD, Revit and Inventor

For AutoCAD 2027, Revit 2027 and Inventor 2027, Autodesk states the graphics card as an amount of GPU memory per tier and publishes no list of cards. The upper lines are 8 GB in AutoCAD's recommended line, 8 GB in Revit's Performance configuration and "8 GB/16 GB" in Inventor's recommended line; the entry lines lie between 1 and 4 GB. By memory alone, the 4 GB NVIDIA RTX A400 reaches the entry lines, the 8 GB NVIDIA RTX A1000 the 8 GB lines, and the two 16 GB cards, the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation and the NVIDIA RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell, every memory figure on these pages.

The table prints Autodesk's lines as its pages word them. We read the pages on 10 November 2026; the last column gives the date each page carries.

Autodesk system requirements pages for AutoCAD 2027 and 2026 including Specialized Toolsets, AutoCAD LT 2027, Revit 2027 products, Inventor 2027 and Inventor 2026, read 10 November 2026.

SOLIDWORKS works differently, with a certification list in place of memory figures; our guide to the GPU for SOLIDWORKS 2026 covers it. For the larger RTX PRO cards in CAD, see the GPU for CAD guide.

AutoCAD 2027, AutoCAD LT and the 12 GB table

Three AutoCAD lines have to be kept apart. The full product, including the specialised toolsets, has a basic line of 2 GB and a recommended line of 8 GB, in the 2027 page as in the 2026 page. AutoCAD LT 2027 is a product of its own with 1 GB and 4 GB. The third line, 12 GB or more, stands in a separate table headed "Additional Requirements for large datasets, point clouds, and 3D modeling", next to 32 GB of RAM or more and a display adapter for 3840 × 2160 or greater. It is no general recommendation for AutoCAD.

Around these lines the 2027 page adds four points that matter for a purchase:

• DirectX 12 with Feature Level 12_0 is required for the "Fast" visual styles.
• Resolutions up to 3840 × 2160 are named together with the recommended display card.
• The toolsets (Map 3D, Electrical, Architecture, MEP, Plant 3D, Mechanical, Raster Design) carry rows for disk space and memory and no GPU figure of their own.
• AutoCAD 2027 names 64-bit Windows 11 as its operating system, AutoCAD 2026 names Windows 11 and Windows 10. System memory is 16 GB basic and 32 GB recommended for 2027.

The last point has a consequence for the driver. NVIDIA's release notes for driver 621.14 state that Release 620 will be the last branch to support Windows 10, which our article on the NVIDIA RTX Enterprise driver for Windows 10 and 11 explains.

Revit 2027 has three configurations and no card certification

Revit 2027 lists three configurations. Each asks for a DirectX 11 capable graphics card with Shader Model 5; the video memory is 4 GB for the entry-level configuration, 6 GB for Value and 8 GB for Performance, which Autodesk describes as the one for large, complex models. A further row, on accelerated graphics, reads "Graphics card with 8GB or more of video memory recommended. OpenGL 4.5 or higher required." for Value and Performance, and "Not recommended with the entry-level configuration." for the entry level.

Revit has no list of certified cards. Autodesk's hardware certification FAQ for Revit says that graphics hardware meeting the system requirements is supported, and that since Revit 2023.1 the certification status has been replaced by a report inside the product, which checks the DirectX version, the Shader Model version and the GPU memory of the system. A sentence such as "certified for Revit" for a card is therefore wrong in form. The NVIDIA datasheets of all five cards in this guide list DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.6.

Architecture offices that render their Revit models in real time have the renderer's figures to read as well; they are in our article on the GPU for Enscape, Twinmotion, D5 Render and Lumion. The server side of such an office, a language model for tender documents and the reconstruction of sites from scans, is the subject of our article on the AI server for construction and architecture.

Inventor 2027 prints two recommendations

Inventor 2027 has three steps where Inventor 2026 had two: "2 GB GPU with 42 GB/s Bandwidth and DirectX 11 compliant" as the Absolute Minimum, "4 GB GPU with 96 GB/s Bandwidth and DirectX 11 compliant" as the Minimum Recommended, and the recommended line with "8 GB/16 GB" and 240 GB/s. The line itself does not say when 8 GB applies and when 16 GB.

The same page has a second table for complex models, complex mould assemblies and large assemblies, which it describes as typically more than 1,000 parts. Its graphics line reads "8 GB GPU with 106 GB/S Bandwidth and DirectX 12 compliant", with a lower "Bandwidth" figure than the main table and without the 16 GB. We report both as printed. For system memory the page recommends 32 GB or more and 64 GB or greater for the large-assembly case, and Feature Level 12_0 is required to enable DirectX 12.

All five cards in this guide are available to order from us in the EU. Name the Autodesk products, their versions and the number of seats, and a written quote follows within one business day.

The figure Autodesk calls Bandwidth

The display-card lines of AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT and Inventor pair the memory with a figure in GB/s: 29, 42, 96, 106 or 240. Revit's lines and AutoCAD's 12 GB table carry no such figure. The pages do not define it. For that reason this guide says that a card reaches a memory figure, and nowhere that a card meets an Autodesk requirement.

NVIDIA's datasheets print a memory bandwidth in the same unit, and the table in the next section shows it for each card: 96 GB/s for the RTX A400, 192 GB/s for the RTX A1000, 224 GB/s for the RTX 2000 Ada, 288 GB/s for the RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell and 672 GB/s for the RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell. Autodesk's pages do not say that their "Bandwidth" is this value, or any other value a datasheet prints. We print NVIDIA's figure for the reader who looks for it, set it against none of Autodesk's lines and draw no conclusion from it.

Which NVIDIA RTX card reaches which memory figure

NVIDIA datasheets: RTX A400 (3279761, May 2024), RTX A1000 (April 2024), RTX 2000 Ada Generation (2999417, January 2024), RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell (5322351, June 2026), RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell (5323450, June 2026); Autodesk lines as in the first table. The comparison is by memory only; Autodesk does not define its "Bandwidth", and NVIDIA's memory bandwidth is printed for reference, not as a match for it.

2D drafting and AutoCAD LT. The RTX A400 is our card for this seat: its 4 GB lie above the basic line of AutoCAD and equal the recommended memory figure of AutoCAD LT and the entry-level figure of Revit. NVIDIA's datasheet gives a maximum power consumption of 50 W and names no auxiliary power connector; the card takes a single slot at 2.7 in of height and has four Mini DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. Details: RTX A400 specs, buy the RTX A400.

AutoCAD in 3D and Revit at the Performance figure. The RTX A1000 keeps the 50 W and the single slot and has 8 GB, which is the recommended memory figure of AutoCAD 2027, the Performance figure of Revit 2027 and the 8 GB of both Inventor recommendations. Revit's row on accelerated graphics begins at this size as well. The card does not reach AutoCAD's 12 GB table. Details: RTX A1000 specs, buy the RTX A1000, and the comparison RTX A1000 vs RTX A400.

Point clouds, large datasets and large Inventor assemblies. The RTX 2000 Ada and the RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell both have 16 GB, draw 70 W without a power cable and take two slots at 2.7 in of height. With 16 GB they reach the 12 GB table of AutoCAD and the 16 GB in Inventor's recommended line, which no 8 GB card does, so they are our recommendation for point clouds, 3D modelling and large Inventor assemblies. The Blackwell card has GDDR7 at 288 GB/s and Mini DisplayPort 2.1b outputs; the Ada card has GDDR6 at 224 GB/s and Mini DisplayPort 1.4a. Details: RTX 2000 Ada specs, buy the RTX 2000 Ada, RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell specs, buy the RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell, and RTX A1000 vs RTX 2000 Ada and RTX PRO 2000.

CAD with rendering or AI at the same seat. No Autodesk line on these pages asks for 24 GB. The RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell is the order when the same seat also renders, visualises or runs an AI model, and when a full-height single slot with a 16-pin power cable is available at 145 W. Details: RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell specs, buy the RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell.

Where certification sits when Autodesk lists no cards

Autodesk's page on certified graphics hardware holds no card table and no driver table. It explains that hardware vendors test Autodesk products and that Autodesk's product teams review the results, and it links to six vendors: AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, Dell, HP and Lenovo. Cards and drivers that are not on a vendor's list may still work, the page says; Autodesk has then not received or verified test results.

On NVIDIA's side the ISV certifications page of 21 October 2026 describes certified combinations as formally tested against criteria set by the application developers. Which card is listed with which driver for which Autodesk product is recorded per combination on that page; we did not read those entries and therefore name no certification for any card here. For the driver, both the AutoCAD and the Inventor page ask for the latest drivers from the card maker's website. All five cards run on the NVIDIA RTX Enterprise Production Branch driver, whose current Windows releases are 621.14, 597.30 and 582.99.

Screens per seat and mixed offices

Each of the five cards has four display outputs and drives four displays. The RTX A400 and the RTX A1000 are listed with four displays at 4096 × 2160 and 120 Hz, which covers a drafting seat with several 4K screens. No card in this guide has an HDMI output.

Drafting, BIM coordination and design with visualisation are different seats and can take different cards. The eleven cards of this series, from 4 to 48 GB, are laid out in the NVIDIA RTX workstation GPU guide. For a mixed office, write to us with the number of drafting, BIM and design seats and the workstation models, and the quote names a card for each kind of seat.

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