Poor graphics performance with AutoCAD Products for Windows

Autodesk Support

Mar 21, 2025

Products and versions covered

Issue:

Some performance issues with AutoCAD Products may be specific to graphics cards or the complexity of the drawing which may degrade performance. 

Causes:

  • Older and low-end graphics cards.
  • No support of the hardware acceleration by the graphics card.
  • Outdated or corrupted graphics card driver.
  • If two graphics cards are installed, the wrong one is used by AutoCAD Products.
  • DirectX is not used by AutoCAD Products.
  • AutoCAD Products not updated. 

Solution:

Modify or disable graphic settings in AutoCAD

Some video cards may not work well with some of the newer graphic settings and graphic intensive palettes introduced in newer versions of AutoCAD. This is especially true in large drawings containing numerous text objects, hatches, and linework. Disabling or modifying these settings may improve performance. See Improving AutoCAD performance with older or low-end graphics cards.


Enable or disable Hardware Acceleration

The Hardware Acceleration setting may be disabled or may need to be disabled, from Windows or  Virtual device with Windows. Not all graphics cards support this feature which may cause performance and display issues. See How to enable or disable hardware acceleration in AutoCAD.

Graphics Performance dialogue box open with Virtual Device highlighted


The driver for the graphics card may be corrupt or outdated

Updating current video driver to the latest driver available can correct problems with graphic cards. It’s best to uninstall the current driver first. See How to update your system to the latest certified video driver.

Configuring the system to always use the discrete graphics

To optimize battery life, newer laptops may have both a graphics adapter integrated into the motherboard for basic graphic display along with a discrete graphics adapter for more demanding graphical tasks. Setting AutoCAD to use the discrete graphics adapter resolves many performance-related issues. See How to configure Autodesk software to use high-performance graphics.

Missing updates for AutoCAD Products

Update AutoCAD Products. See Installation for individuals | Update your software.

Products:

AutoCAD Products;

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