Running Lumion in 2025 takes serious hardware. Its system requirements demand powerful components to handle real-time rendering, and if your setup falls short, expect crashes, lag, and painfully slow render times.
The truth is, Lumion runs smoothly only on workstations with a high-end GPU, plenty of memory, and a solid internet connection.
In this guide, we’ll break down Lumion's exact hardware requirements, explain why they matter, and show a few lightweight alternatives like MyArchitectAI, which run entirely in the cloud and doesn’t depend on your hardware.
Lumion system requirements: quick overview
What you need to know is that the minimum specs exist only to run the software – they don’t guarantee a satisfying user experience. Nevertheless, that also doesn’t mean you must get the most expensive equipment—high-end Lumion system requirements are for firms doing complex commercial projects.
Understanding these tiers helps you avoid the frustration of buying hardware that either can't handle or isn’t suited for your specific tasks:
Minimum requirements
This configuration will potentially let you render small parks or single residential buildings using the most basic models and textures, but won’t smoothly support Lumion Pro's high-end features.
GPU: GPU scoring a G3DMark of 8,000 or higher with up-to-date drivers (Such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, Quadro K6000, AMD Radeon RX 580, or better)
GPU Memory: 6 GB or more
CPU: Intel/AMD processor scoring a single thread CPUMark of 2,200 or higher (AMD Ryzen 5 1600X, Intel Core i7-4790S, or better)
RAM: 16 GB minimum
Storage: Minimum 105 GB of free disk space on the drives where the Windows User Account and Documents folder are located
OS: Up-to-date Windows 10 64-bit (version 2004) or newer
Recommended requirements
With this setup, you can run Lumion smoothly when visualizing a small park or part of a city made with OpenStreetMap or other simple models, a large home with detailed interiors made up of several models and HD textures, or a single commercial building with landscaping.
GPU: A GPU scoring a G3DMark of 14,000 or higher with up-to-date drivers. (Such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, NVIDIA Quadro RTX 2000 ADA, AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT or better)
GPU Memory: 10 GB or more
CPU: Intel/AMD Processor scoring a single thread CPUMark of 2,600 or higher
RAM: 32 GB or more
Storage: SATA3 SSD or NVMe with 105 GB free space
High-end requirements
You’ll need these specs for rendering a detailed city, airport, or stadium, a multi-floor building with detailed interiors containing numerous models and HD textures, or complex landscapes with fine-detail trees and 3D grass.
GPU: A GPU scoring a G3DMark of 22,000 or higher with up-to-date drivers. (Such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, NVIDIA RTX A6000, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT or better)
GPU Memory: 16 GB or more
CPU: Intel/AMD Processor scoring a single thread CPUMark of 3,000 or higher
RAM: Ideally, 64 GB or more
Storage: NVMe m.2 SSD with 105 GB free space
Lumion system requirements: deep dive
Lumion GPU requirements
Your graphics card determines everything in Lumion. While working on building the context around your project, the graphics card ensures a smooth and enjoyable frame rate (measured in FPS). When rendering, the GPU streamlines the rendering process.
Lumion needs a dedicated graphics card with as many PassMark points as possible. The PassMark score directly correlates to your rendering speed and real-time performance.
Critical GPU memory requirements:
Rendering movies in 4K resolution requires a minimum of 6GB of graphics card memory (8GB or more would be better)
1080p ray tracing needs at least 8GB
Complex scenes quickly consume 10GB+
Ray tracing support (Lumion 2024/2025): To use the Ray Tracing feature, a graphics card that supports this technology is a must. Supported cards include:
NVIDIA RTX series (20X0, 30X0, 40X0, 50X0)
AMD RX 6000/7000 series
Intel Arc A580/B580 or better (Lumion 2025 only)
Lumion CPU requirements
While the processor is not used much while rendering still images and videos, it's heavily utilized for compressing frames after they have been rendered. So you still need adequate processing power.
Single-thread performance matters: Lumion relies on single-thread CPU performance. You need:
Minimum: 2,200+ single-thread CPUMark score
Recommended: 2,600+ score
High-end: 3,000+ score
Examples of suitable CPUs:
AMD Ryzen 5 5500 or better
Intel Core i7-11700T or better
Clock speeds of 3.0 GHz minimum, 4.0+ GHz ideal
Lumion RAM and storage requirements
System memory (RAM):
16 GB: Bare minimum for simple projects
32 GB: Recommended for smooth workflow
64 GB: Required for ultra-complex scenes
While Lumion primarily relies on your GPU to render scenes in real-time, your RAM plays a crucial role when loading models, textures, and projects into memory.
Storage requirements:
Minimum of 105 GB of free disk space on the drives where the Windows User Account and Documents folder are located
SSD strongly recommended (SATA3 minimum, NVMe preferred) for better loading and responsiveness
Additional space needed for project files
Lumion operating system compatibility
Lumion was created exclusively for Windows, focusing on DirectX and CUDA technologies that Mac's Metal API doesn't support. While macOS is not officially supported, it is possible to run Lumion Pro on a Mac. However, this setup significantly underperforms compared to dedicated Windows machines, so we don't recommend it.
Windows requirements:
Lumion 2024 requires Windows 10 version 2004 (Build 19041) or newer, or Windows 11 version 21H2 (Build 22000) or newer
64-bit only
Regular Windows updates required to avoid known problematic driver versions (e.g., certain NVIDIA 580.xx drivers)
Recommended specs for graphics drivers:
NVIDIA: At least version 551.23 (Released on 24/1/2024)
AMD: At least version 24.1.1 (Released on 23/1/2024)
Intel Arc: Version 32.0.101.6739 or newer
NOTE:While exact minimum GPU driver version numbers are not always published for each brand, aim for recent versions released after the GPU launch and supported by your vendor—check the Lumion support site for any documented compatibility issues.
Power supply considerations
The power supply is a very important component. Even if you meet the proper Lumion system requirements, an inferior quality power supply may cause your PC to reboot. This often happens if it cannot cope with sudden spikes in demand while you're using Lumion Pro.
Requirements:
80+ Gold-rated PSU minimum, or higher: Platinum/Titanium, from trusted manufacturers (Corsair, EVGA, Seasonic, Super Flower).
Sufficient wattage for your GPU (check manufacturer specs)
Lumion performance optimization best practices
You can use several hardware optimization strategies to make Lumion run more efficiently.
These optimizations work because Lumion calculates everything in real-time. Every polygon, texture, and effect demands GPU resources. Hence, by reducing complexity where it won't affect your final render quality, you can achieve smooth performance even on mid-range hardware.
Here’s how to run Lumion smoothly.
Monitor resources
Once GPU usage hits 90% or more, Windows may start using your system RAM to compensate, which can significantly slow down performance and render times. To prevent this, focus on optimizing the following:
Texture resolution: Higher-resolution textures can provide more quality in some instances, but require much more data to be processed per render frame, which directly affects performance
Model complexity: Keep 3D point count reasonable
Lighting: Adding many Lights to your Project will increase memory usage and decrease performance. In particular, Spotlights and Omnilights increase the 3D Point Count significantly
Special materials: 3D grass and video textures are performance-heavy
Use the frame rate as your guide:
Below 12 FPS: Project too complex for hardware
12-21 FPS: Acceptable but could be smoother
22+ FPS: Optimal performance
Optimize the editor
Make the Lumion window smaller and/or reduce the resolution of your monitor (the fewer pixels it needs to render, the higher the frame rate will be). Or, set the Editor Resolution to a lower percentage than 100% on the Settings screen.
Set Use proxies to On or Auto to temporarily replace models with wireframe boxes when the framerate is low.
Prepare the model
Lowering the tessellation (reducing the number of faces)
Removing redundant parts of the models that don't increase the render quality. For example, hiding or removing interior details when only an exterior animation is going to be made
Manage effects
In Movie Mode, consider using Effects in the Entire Movie instead of in each individual Clip (unless needed), as it is far easier to enable/disable them all at once for the whole movie
Turn off preview for demanding effects while working
The number of Reflection Planes you use will have a direct impact on performance, given that Lumion has to render the whole Scene again for each plane
Optimize materials
3D Grass Materials are very detailed and will have a significant impact on the performance, especially if you assign these materials to large areas or lots of different areas
Use Landscape Grass instead of 3D Grass for large areas
Adding lots of Foliage on many large surfaces can have an impact on screen redraws and render times
Adjust output settings
Displaying a Clip at 1280 × 720 pixels with 3-star quality and 25 frames per second is a lot faster than showing a Clip at 3840 × 2160 pixels with 5-star quality and 60 frames per second
Start with lower quality for previews
Use final quality only for client deliverables
The cloud alternative
Cloud rendering eliminates the fundamental problem with Lumion system requirements – you're no longer limited by your local hardware. Instead of spending thousands on GPUs (that soon become obsolete), you're accessing enterprise-grade rendering power that's constantly upgraded. You pay only for what you use, with no maintenance, no compatibility issues, and instant scalability for any project size.
Lumion’s system requirements keep climbing. The RTX 3060 that's "recommended" today will be minimum tomorrow. With cloud-based renderers like MyArchitectAI, you're always running on the latest cloud infrastructure – no upgrades needed, no compatibility issues. Just fast, beautiful renders from any device with a browser.
Common questions about Lumion’s hardware requirements
Is a 4GB graphics card enough for Lumion?
No. Even for basic projects, Lumion requires a minimum of 6 GB of RAM. A 4 GB card will severely limit your capabilities and cause frequent crashes with anything beyond the simplest scenes.
Can Lumion run without a graphics card?
Absolutely not. Lumion’s system requirements demand a dedicated GPU to function—this is one of the most GPU-intensive rendering programs available, meaning your graphics card is responsible for almost everything. Integrated-only graphics cards, such as Intel HD or AMD onboard graphics chips, are not supported.
Does Lumion use CPU or GPU?
Unlike traditional rendering software that relies heavily on the CPU, Lumion is built to take advantage of GPU acceleration. While the CPU handles UI, model calculations, and frame compression, the GPU does the heavy lifting for all rendering tasks. You need both, but the GPU is far more critical.
How to run Lumion smoothly?
Make sure your workstation meets (or exceeds) Lumion PC requirements & specifications
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