Typical scene
Tuesday, 5:40 pm. The competition submission is due tomorrow morning. An architect clicks “Synchronize with Central”. The spinner keeps turning. One minute. Three. Her colleague, working from home in Nyon, is waiting too. He has restarted Revit twice since lunchtime. Yet the workstations are six months old: recent processors, 64 GB of RAM, professional graphics cards and NVMe SSDs. CHF 4,000 each. The supplier said they were “built for Revit”.
They probably are. And that is exactly why the next hardware quote may solve nothing. In many practices, the bottleneck is not inside the computer under the desk: it is in the network, storage, remote access or the model itself. Replacing computers in that situation is like buying a faster car to get through a traffic jam.
Do the calculation before requesting a hardware quote
A practice of 15 people losing 20 minutes per architect every working day ties up the equivalent of CHF 90,000 of working capacity a year.
The calculation is straightforward: 15 × 20 minutes × 20 days = 100 hours a month. At an assumed fully loaded hourly cost of CHF 75, that represents CHF 7,500 a month. Find the row closest to your practice:
| Practice size | 10 min/day waiting | 20 min/day | 30 min/day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 architects | CHF 24,000/year | CHF 48,000/year | CHF 72,000/year |
| 15 architects | CHF 45,000/year | CHF 90,000/year | CHF 135,000/year |
| 25 architects | CHF 75,000/year | CHF 150,000/year | CHF 225,000/year |
Assumptions: 240 working days and a fully loaded hourly cost of CHF 75. These are illustrative inputs, not measured Sunitech client results. This is working capacity tied up, not a net financial loss: recovered time does not automatically become revenue.
Twenty minutes can mean two slow synchronisations, one model opening and a crash. Ask your teams. Most will tell you “more than that”. Compare that with a common response: replacing ten workstations at CHF 4,000 each. That is CHF 40,000 before establishing whether the computers are the bottleneck. If the cause lies elsewhere, the practice pays twice: for the hardware and for the same waiting time.
The five likely causes and their tell-tale symptoms
Opening a file-based central model over a VPN
In file-based worksharing, the central model is the master Revit file stored on the office server: each architect works on a local copy and sends changes back to it during synchronisation. A practice has fibre, its remote staff have fibre, a VPN is installed and everyone opens the central Revit model stored on the office server. That does not make the workflow suitable for remote worksharing.
This file-based workflow is designed for the server and workstations to be on the same local area network (LAN). Revit exchanges many small requests with the central model: latency, not bandwidth alone, matters. Slow synchronisations, ownership errors and, in severe cases, central model corruption or data loss can follow.
Autodesk recommends avoiding multiple users working in the same file-based model over a WAN/VPN: slow or failed synchronisations, crashes and central model corruption can occur.
There are workflows designed for distributed teams: Revit Cloud Worksharing through the appropriate Autodesk cloud collaboration subscription, Revit Server for multiple offices, or a remote workstation that stays in the office while the architect controls it from home. Choose the architecture and licensing for your organisation rather than treating a synchronised folder as an equivalent.
Compare Autodesk’s supported collaboration methods.
The tell-tale symptom: everything works in the office, but slows down at home.
A NAS doing everything at once
Revit projects, archives, Office files, overnight backups that continue into the morning and cloud synchronisation all pass through the same appliance, sometimes over one Gigabit port. Filling a NAS with SSDs does not automatically make it the right BIM platform. Its processor, memory, disks and network link must handle the concurrent workload when fifteen people synchronise at 5 pm.
Autodesk describes the limits of its NAS/SAN support. A NAS is not automatically unsuitable, but compatibility and behaviour need to be checked with its vendor.
The tell-tale symptom: everyone slows down together, at the same times.
The model itself
Models can accumulate overly detailed downloaded families repeated hundreds of times, imported rather than linked DWG files, unresolved warnings and 3D views displaying the entire project and all its links. A faster workstation does not fix poor model structure. A methodical review with the BIM manager can improve the affected operations without replacing computers. Work on a backed-up copy and compare the same operations before and after.
See Autodesk’s model performance recommendations.
The tell-tale symptom: one project is slow on every workstation, while other projects work well.
Buying the wrong component
For everyday modelling, Revit depends strongly on per-core processor performance. A 24-core processor is not necessarily faster for those tasks than an eight-core model with better per-core performance. More cores can benefit CPU rendering and parallel operations: compare the actual workload and measurements.
The same reasoning applies to graphics. A CHF 1,500 graphics card may improve 3D navigation and real-time rendering engines such as Enscape or Twinmotion, but will not fix synchronisation limited by storage or the network. Increasing RAM from 64 to 128 GB brings little benefit if memory is never the limiting resource.
Autodesk’s hardware requirements distinguish per-core clock speed, multicore tasks and model size.
The tell-tale symptom: Task Manager shows one core at full utilisation while other cores are lightly loaded. This is a clue to investigate, not a complete benchmark.
What is running in the background
Outdated Revit add-ins, security software inspecting central model access, OneDrive synchronising the project directory or a recently changed graphics driver can affect operations. Disabling security to gain speed is the wrong response. Any exclusions must be targeted, documented and consistent with the software vendors’ guidance.
Autodesk documents antivirus conflicts affecting certain Revit versions. Cloud-synchronised folders also have specific limitations for file-based worksharing.
The tell-tale symptom: the slowdown appeared suddenly after an update or installation.
The five-minute check: where should you start looking?
Ask your team these questions tomorrow morning. The answers indicate which measurements to start with and which purchase should wait.
| What you observe | Most likely cause | What not to buy (yet) |
|---|---|---|
| Slow only when working remotely | File-based access to the central model over VPN | A faster internet subscription |
| Everyone slows down at the same times | Saturated storage or network | New workstations |
| Only one project is slow, everywhere | Model families, links or warnings | More RAM |
| One workstation is slow on every project | Workstation, user profile or add-ins | A new NAS |
| Stuttering 3D navigation, normal synchronisation | GPU, driver or overly demanding views | 10 GbE networking |
| Slowdown appeared overnight | Update, driver, add-in or infrastructure change | Any hardware before identifying the change |
If several rows apply, that is unsurprising: causes can combine. This is why measuring before buying matters.
Seven questions to ask before approving a hardware quote
If you cannot answer “yes” to at least five of them, your quote is based on intuition.
The last question does not make Revit faster. But after losing months of work to a corrupted central file, performance is no longer the only concern. Testing a restore is part of a backup and disaster recovery approach.
Sunitech’s Revit Performance Diagnostic
In half a day of on-site measurements, we identify what is really slowing your architects down, and what each fix will be worth to you.
Sunitech supports businesses in French-speaking Switzerland with their IT infrastructure, including IT for construction offices and sites. For architecture practices, the diagnostic focuses on one question: where is your team’s time going?
What we measure on your real projects:
- Workstation behaviour during slow operations: per-core CPU activity, memory, disk and GPU
- Network and storage at peak times: throughput, latency and server or NAS saturation
- Remote access arrangements and their compatibility with Revit
- Add-ins, drivers and protection tools that interact with project files
- With your BIM manager: the largest models, links and warnings
What you receive: a management-readable report, causes ranked by impact, correction costs and a prioritised action plan, rather than a component shopping list.
Our commitment: if your workstations are underpowered, we explain which ones and why. If they are not the bottleneck, the findings help you avoid an unnecessary replacement.
Are your architects waiting for their screens?
Tell us the three symptoms that frustrate your team most. An initial 20-minute discussion, without commitment: we tell you where to start.
Arrange a 20-minute discussionScope, schedule and pricing agreed before work begins; gains are confirmed by measurements after correction.
Frequently asked questions about slow Revit performance
Why is Revit slow despite a powerful computer?
Revit also depends on the network, storage, central model access and model quality. A powerful workstation cannot remove a saturated storage bottleneck, unsuitable remote file access or model structure problems.
Is 32 GB of RAM enough for Revit?
Autodesk’s Revit 2026 guidance places 32 GB in the balanced configuration and 64 GB or more in the large-model configuration. These are version-specific reference points, not a guarantee for every project. Check memory use, other running applications and the requirements of your installed version.
Which processor should we choose for Revit?
Prioritise a high per-core clock speed: that is Autodesk’s recommendation. Revit also uses multiple cores for many tasks, including CPU rendering: compare your workloads before paying for a high core count.
Can we open a file-based central model over a VPN?
Autodesk explains that file-based worksharing is designed for the same local network and recommends avoiding multiple users working in the same model over a WAN/VPN. Compare Revit Cloud Worksharing, Revit Server or a remote workstation that remains on the office network, according to your requirements.
Can a central model be hosted on OneDrive, SharePoint or Dropbox?
Not as a substitute for local-network file-based worksharing. A synchronised directory does not replace Revit’s collaboration mechanisms and can cause conflicts, lost changes or corruption. Archiving or transferring closed copies is a different use case.
Will 10 GbE make Revit faster?
Only where throughput is the limiting factor. It will not resolve remote network latency, an overly complex model or another server bottleneck.
How do we distinguish model and infrastructure problems?
One project being slow everywhere points towards the model; every project slowing at peak times points towards network or storage. Measurements are needed to confirm those leads.
These answers follow Autodesk’s collaboration guidance and its advice on cloud-synchronised folders. To review the rest of your IT environment, explore our IT audit.
Even the best workstation cannot fix a traffic jam
Your architects are not paid to watch a spinner. But the answer is almost never “more expensive machines”. Before committing CHF 40,000 to replacement hardware, ask your IT supplier: “Can you show us, with measurements, what is slowing down our teams?” Sunitech can help investigate that question with you.
Talk to Sunitech
