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Give every engineer a virtual Windows desktop, add GPU resources, install SOLIDWORKS, and let the team connect remotely.
The actual decision is more complicated. SOLIDWORKS is sensitive to graphics configuration, memory, storage performance, licensing, network conditions, and the location of project data. Large assemblies, Simulation workloads, PDM vaults, and add-ins make those requirements even more important.
SOLIDWORKS currently recommends 16 GB RAM, with 32 GB recommended, certified graphics cards and drivers, and SSD storage. It also publishes specific support information for virtual environments.
That means choosing a SOLIDWORKS cloud hosting solution should involve more than comparing CPU, RAM, and monthly price.
Here are ten questions worth asking before you sign a contract.
1. Is Your Infrastructure Compatible With Our SOLIDWORKS Version?
Start with compatibility before discussing performance. Ask which operating system, hypervisor, graphics configuration, and drivers will run underneath your virtual desktops.
For SOLIDWORKS 2026, Dassault Systèmes currently lists Windows 11 for client products and identifies supported versions of VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware Workstation, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Parallels Desktop. It also states that SOLIDWORKS and eDrawings require a GPU for optimal performance in virtual environments.
This matters because the desktop-delivery platform alone does not tell you whether the underlying environment matches SOLIDWORKS requirements.
There can also be product-specific limitations. SOLIDWORKS currently states that SOLIDWORKS Composer is not supported in virtualized environments.
Give the vendor a list of the exact SOLIDWORKS products, versions, PDM components, add-ins, and related applications your team uses. Ask for compatibility confirmation before migration.
Ask, “Which part of your environment is certified or supported for our exact SOLIDWORKS release?”
2. What GPU Will Each SOLIDWORKS User Actually Get?
“GPU-powered” is not a sufficient answer. Ask for the GPU model, virtual GPU profile, available frame buffer, driver, and whether resources are dedicated or shared.
SOLIDWORKS maintains a database of certified graphics cards and recommended drivers. NVIDIA also positions RTX Virtual Workstation, or RTX vWS, for professional design applications, including SOLIDWORKS.
The right configuration will depend on what engineers actually do. A designer working with moderate assemblies has different requirements from someone opening very large assemblies, running SOLIDWORKS Simulation, or working across multiple high-resolution displays.
This is why the conversation should not stop at “we use NVIDIA GPUs.” Ask how the hosting company determines GPU requirements and how easily the profile can be increased when workloads grow.
For a deeper look at why GPU architecture matters, see Why You Need a VDI GPU for SOLIDWORKS.
3. How Will You Size CPU, RAM, and Storage for Our Workloads?
A powerful GPU cannot compensate for an otherwise poorly configured virtual workstation. SOLIDWORKS lists an x86-64 processor, 16 GB RAM (32 GB recommended), certified graphics, and SSD storage in its current system requirements.
Treat those numbers as a starting point, not a universal configuration. Ask the provider to evaluate: Typical assembly size, number of parts and components, SOLIDWORKS Simulation use, rendering workloads, number of applications used alongside SOLIDWORKS, PDM usage, user concurrency, and storage requirements.
A workstation used mainly for part modeling should not automatically receive the same configuration as one running large assemblies and simulation studies.
A cloud workstation’s advantage is that you can change resources without replacing physical hardware. That benefit only matters when the vendor actively monitors and right-sizes the environment.
4. Can We Test Our Own SOLIDWORKS Projects Before Committing?
This may be the most important question on the list. Synthetic specifications tell you what resources exist. They do not tell you how your assemblies will feel when an engineer rotates a model, opens a drawing, changes configurations, or checks files out of PDM.
NVIDIA recommends running a proof of concept for virtual workstation deployments. Its current guidance suggests measuring application loading, dataset loading, CPU, GPU, and network utilization, frames per second, and user feedback on actions such as zooming and panning.
Ask to test the environment using representative projects from your own workflow. Measure tasks your engineers perform every day, such as opening a large assembly, rotating and zooming complex models, rebuilding assemblies, opening drawings, saving files, accessing PDM, and running the add-ins your company depends on. A provider willing to prove performance with your workload gives you far more useful information than a specification sheet.
Test your real CAD workload on a GPU-powered virtual desktop before making a long-term decision.
5. How Will You Handle SOLIDWORKS PDM and Project Data?
SOLIDWORKS PDM uses an archive server for physical files and a database server for information about files and activities. Dassault Systèmes notes that PDM performance over a WAN can decrease and depends heavily on network speed.
PDM Professional supports archive replication to place copies of vault archives closer to remote offices. This can reduce the amount of large file data repeatedly transferred across slower WAN links.
Ask the hosting company where these components will sit relative to your virtual SOLIDWORKS workstations. If your engineers are in several countries or offices, ask whether one centralized architecture is appropriate or whether PDM replication should be considered.
The goal is to keep SOLIDWORKS compute, PDM, and engineering data close enough that you do not solve workstation performance while creating a file-access problem.
This is also one reason a centralized cloud approach can work well for distributed engineering teams. Ace Cloud Hosting has documented one such deployment in its SOLIDWORKS Cloud VDI case study.
6. How Will Our Existing SOLIDWORKS Licensing Work?
Do not assume moving the application also means changing the SOLIDWORKS license. SOLIDWORKS 2026 supports individual machine activation and floating licenses managed through the SolidNetWork License Manager.
For SolidNetWork Licensing, the license manager is activated on a server and distributes licenses to connected client machines. License clients and the license manager need TCP/IP connectivity.
The hosting company should therefore understand how your current license model fits the proposed architecture.
Ask: “Will we keep machine activation, use SolidNetWork Licensing, or need a change to our current setup?”
Be cautious if someone recommends the old SOLIDWORKS Online Licensing model. Dassault Systèmes phased that program out effective February 12, 2022, and it is not available in current SOLIDWORKS releases.
Your cloud vendor does not replace your SOLIDWORKS reseller or licensing agreement. Licensing questions should be validated with your SOLIDWORKS VAR when needed.
7. Where Will Our Virtual Desktops and Data Be Hosted?
For a basic business application, a few extra moments of response time may may go unnoticed.
Interactive 3D designs are different. Every pan, zoom, rotation, selection, and model interaction depends on data traveling between the engineer and the hosted environment.
Do not ask only, “Do you have U.S. data centers?” Ask which data center would host your deployment and how far it is from the people using SOLIDWORKS.
If engineers are spread across the United States, Europe, and Asia, test from those actual locations. There is no single latency number that guarantees good SOLIDWORKS experience for every workload. PDM behavior, display protocol, network quality, model complexity, endpoint configuration, and distance can all play a role.
A practical performance test from each major user location is more useful than a generic latency promise. For teams still comparing remote-access approaches, What Actually Works for Running SOLIDWORKS Remotely explains the differences between VPN access, remote office workstations, and cloud-hosted desktops.
8. How Will You Protect and Recover Our Engineering Data?
SOLIDWORKS files can contain product designs, intellectual property, manufacturing details, customer specifications, and other sensitive information.
Ask how that data is protected at the identity, network, desktop, storage, and data-center layers. Look beyond a simple statement such as “our cloud is secure.”
Ask about MFA, access controls, encryption, session policies, endpoint controls, network security, administrative access, security monitoring, and relevant certifications.
Backup requires the same level of detail. With SOLIDWORKS PDM, backing up server settings is not the same as backing up the complete vault. SOLIDWORKS specifically notes that an archive-server settings backup does not back up file-vault archives or databases.
Ask exactly what gets backed up, how often, how long backups are retained, and how a full PDM environment would be recovered.
Also ask for the expected recovery point objective and recovery time objective instead of accepting “we provide disaster recovery” as the complete answer.
9. What Does Your Support Team Actually Manage?
A managed SOLIDWORKS environment should reduce your internal IT team’s workload. Ask where the hosting provider’s responsibility stops.
Does support cover only the virtual machine, or can the team also help with SOLIDWORKS installation, Windows issues, GPU drivers, performance tuning, PDM configuration, user provisioning, migration, and application access?
This distinction becomes important during production issues. If SOLIDWORKS suddenly becomes slow, you do not want your IT team caught between the cloud vendor, network provider, GPU vendor, and CAD reseller while everyone claims another party owns the problem.
Ask about support hours, response targets, escalation paths, and which issues may still require your SOLIDWORKS VAR. The SLA should also clearly state uptime commitments and service responsibilities.
Need a SOLIDWORKS Cloud Setup Built Around Your Engineering Workload?
See how Ace Cloud Hosting can configure GPU-powered desktops for SOLIDWORKS, PDM, remote engineering teams, and related CAD applications.
10. What Will the Environment Cost as Our Team and Workloads Grow?
Do not compare providers using the starting desktop price alone. A SOLIDWORKS cloud workstation can include costs for vCPU, RAM, SSD storage, GPU resources, Windows licensing, virtualization software, backups, data transfer, support, and other services.
Ask what is included in the quoted price and what is billed separately.
What happens when you move from 10 engineers to 25? What if five users require larger GPU profiles? What happens when project storage doubles?
Also ask how quickly users and resources can be added or removed. Finally, discuss the exit process before signing the agreement. Ask how your models, PDM data, backups, settings, and other information can be exported if you change providers later.
A low introductory rate is less valuable when scaling costs, support charges, or data portability become difficult later. For a broader view of these cost components, see How Virtual Desktop Pricing Works.
See how Ace Cloud Hosting can configure GPU-powered desktops for SOLIDWORKS, PDM, remote engineering teams, and related CAD applications.
A Good SOLIDWORKS Hosting Provider Should Be Able to Prove the Fit
There is no single virtual workstation configuration that fits every SOLIDWORKS user. An engineering company working on small mechanical parts has different needs from a manufacturer managing large assemblies, PDM, Simulation, and distributed design teams.
That is why choosing a SOLIDWORKS cloud hosting provider should start with your actual workload. Confirm SOLIDWORKS compatibility. Ask exactly which GPU resources you receive. Test your assemblies. Review licensing and PDM architecture. Examine security, recovery, support, scalability, and full pricing.
Most importantly, do not choose based only on infrastructure specifications. Choose a hosting partner that can show how the entire environment will work with the software, files, engineers, and locations your business already uses.
Ace Cloud Hosting provides GPU-powered Cloud VDI for SOLIDWORKS, with configurable virtual workstations for CAD and engineering workloads. Teams evaluating the move can also use a trial or personalized demonstration to test the setup against their own requirements.
