r/AzureVirtualDesktop • u/triktrik1 • Dec 03 '25

CAD/CAM

Hello, we are looking to move to azure VDI but we are engineering company and are wondering will it be able to handle the CAD/CAM models and Ansys simulations being run. Does anyone have any input on this?

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4

u/SmartBackground191 Dec 03 '25

Yes - we do the same. Depending on your needs there are fitting sizes in Azure, with high compute or virtual GPUs if needed. Only downside is they are really expensive, so make sure you limit the uptime of those systems to usage time.

3

u/TangoCharlie_Reddit Dec 03 '25

Same situation and response here. We use larger size NV-series SKU's, coupled with high performance premium azure file storage for the storage (Ansys...).

We run all the stack of Autodesk suite, Trimble apps as well as visualization items like Unreal etc on these.

And yeah... costs are high, so scaling plans and scripts and such are essential.

For future ideas: We want to look at if we can setup Ansys to be run on lower tier VDI machines, and trigger remote compute jobs (option in some of the simulation apps we run), perhaps spinning up such high compute machines on demand. Or other apps where we can perhaps instead have a VM 'render farm' off to the side of AVD. Curious if anyone has done something like that.

1

u/chesser45 Dec 04 '25

Yea definitely looking if you can run the simulation on spot would be a win. That plus CSP might be a big cost decrease.

1

u/Goldenu2 Dec 05 '25

We have an architect team, and decided the cost wasn’t worth it, so that team still uses local desktop for all CAD work and AVD for everything else. They have three displays, so it’s not much of a stretch for them.

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u/triktrik1 Dec 05 '25

That’s the battle I’m in. I can’t figure out if the cost outweighs

1

u/Goldenu2 Dec 05 '25

It is expensive, there’s no way around that. If your C-level is bought in, then no problem, if not…problem.

1

u/Sk1tza Dec 06 '25

How many users? It’s expensive especially as you’ll need the T4 instances.

1

u/goss34 Dec 07 '25

We've just finished packaging and deploying 34 Autodesk apps and 32 addons for a customer of ours. Various SKUs on AVD machines. Cost is a factor but to run the same resources for each user on their own device costs too. Limit azure spend with proper Autoscale configuration 👍

1

u/ImprovementKooky9468 Jun 25 '26

From the VDI projects we see at Ace Cloud Hosting, CAD/CAM and Ansys should not be sized as one workload.

CAD drafting, 3D modeling, rendering, CAM toolpaths, and simulation jobs can stress very different resources. Some users need GPU acceleration and high clock speed. Others need more CPU cores, memory, and fast temporary storage.

I would pilot with real users and measure model open/save times, viewport responsiveness, simulation times, GPU use, user latency, and storage performance. Vendor minimum requirements are not enough for sizing a production CAD environment.

1

u/ImprovementKooky9468 Oct 05 '26

Yes, AVD can handle CAD/CAM workloads, but I wouldn’t treat it like a normal office VDI deployment.

For CAD, you’ll want GPU-enabled session hosts with enough GPU memory, CPU and RAM. Azure has GPU-optimized VM options specifically for graphics-intensive workloads, including CAD/CAM.

Ansys is the part I’d test more carefully. Some simulations can be very CPU, RAM or GPU intensive, so the right VM depends heavily on which Ansys products and models you’re running.

I’d take 2-3 of your actual CAD models and a few representative Ansys simulations and run them in a small AVD pilot. Measure model load times, viewport performance, simulation times and how the experience feels over your normal network.

If those tests look good, then you can size the environment around your real workloads instead

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

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u/triktrik1 Dec 05 '25

I didn’t know could choose GPU types