System requirements
In order to use SCIA Engineer version 21, your system must have the following system requirements.
HARDWARE COMPONENTS
| Minimum | Advised | |
| Processor |
Intel Core-i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 or similar |
Intel Core-i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 or similar |
|
Memory (RAM) |
8 GB |
32 GB, or more |
|
Graphics Controller |
256 MB, supporting OpenGL |
4 GB, or more |
|
Free disk space |
5 GB, SSD |
/ |
|
Resolution |
Full High Definition * |
/ |
*4K is supported for the new interface of SCIA Engineer 21
A 3D mouse is not supported.
SOFTWARE COMPONENTS
|
Supported Windows OS |
Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bit), but only licensing is tested Windows Server 2012 R2 (64 bit) Windows Server 2016 (64 bit) Windows Server 2019 (64 bit) Windows 10 (64 bit) Windows 11 (64 bit) |
|
API link with Revit (http://www.scia.net/revit) |
SCIA Engineer 21 is compatible with: Revit 2020, Revit 2021 |
| API link with Tekla |
SCIA Engineer 21 is compatible with: Tekla Structures 2019 Tekla Structures 2019i Tekla Structures 2020 |
| Etabs |
SCIA Engineer 21 is compatible with: Etabs 9.2 |
| IFC |
SCIA Engineer 21 is compatible with: IFC version 2x3 IFC4 (only import) |
| SDNF |
SCIA Engineer 21 is compatible with: SDNF version 2.0 SDNF version 3.0 |
Below you can find additional information concerning the hardware components.
PROCESSOR
For the processor two parameters are important: the number of cores and the clock frequency. When you perform a linear calculation, the number of cores is the main parameter that determines the speed of the calculation. In a nonlinear and eigenmode calculation, the clock frequency is the determining factor. Next to the previously mentioned calculation types, the design checks run multicore as well. We advise an Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 with at least 2.4 GHz.
MEMORY (RAM)
SCIA Engineer, the solver and the Engineering Report are 3 separate processes that each require memory to perform their actions. Next to these processes, also Windows (min. 1.5 GB) and all other applications take some memory in use as well. To not run out of memory when performing memory demanding calculations, we advise to have at least 16 GB or more RAM in the computer.
GRAPHICS CONTROLLER
A minimum memory of 256 MB and the support of OpenGL is required to run SCIA Engineer. This means that SCIA can also be run with an onboard graphics card. For some models that are graphically more demanding, the onboard graphics card may fail to render the structure. For this reason, we advise a dedicated GPU (Graphical Processing Unit). A low to mid end GPU should be adequate.
HARD DISK DRIVE (HDD)
Every hard disk with a free disk space of 5 GB can be used to run SCIA Engineer. This does not mean that the HDD is not important. The read/write speed of the HDD has an influence on the performance of SCIA Engineer. In order to increase performance, we recommend an SSD (Solid State Drive). Some available SSD types are:
- (m)SATA: cheap, worst performance;
- M.2: best price/quality ration;
- PCIe: expensive, best performance.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR OLDER SCIA ENGINEER VERSIONS
In the table below you find the system requirements for older SCIA Engineer versions.
| SCIA Engineer version | Hardware requirements | Software requirements |
| SCIA Engineer 20 | SCIA Engineer 20 | |
| SCIA Engineer 19 | SCIA Engineer 19 | |
| SCIA Engineer 18 | SCIA Engineer 18.pdf | |
| SCIA Engineer 17 | SCIA Engineer 17.pdf | |
| SCIA Engineer 16 | SCIA Engineer 16.pdf | |
| SCIA Engineer 15 | SCIA Engineer 15.pdf | |
| SCIA Engineer 14 | SCIA Engineer 14 hardware.pdf | SCIA Engineer 14 software.pdf |
| SCIA Engineer 2013 | SCIA Engineer 2013 hardware.pdf | SCIA Engineer 2013 software.pdf |
| SCIA Engineer 2012 | SCIA Engineer 2012 hardware.pdf | SCIA Engineer 2012 software.pdf |
| SCIA Engineer 2011 | SCIA Engineer 2011 hardware.pdf | SCIA Engineer 2011 software.pdf |
| SCIA Engineer 2010 | SCIA Engineer 2010 hardware.pdf | SCIA Engineer 2010 software.pdf |
| SCIA Engineer 2009 & 2008 | SCIA Engineer 2009-2008 hardware.pdf | SCIA Engineer 2009-2008 software(1).pdf |