Computer System Requirements

PC Minimum1

  • Windows 10 / 11 64-bit
  • 8 GB of RAM
  • Video card2
    • 4 GB of RAM
    • DirectX 123
  • 5 GB of available hard disk space
  • Internet access4

Mac Minimum1

  • Monterey / Ventura / Sonoma
  • 8 GB of RAM
  • Video card
    • Apple M1 or newer
      OR
    • Intel/AMD card: 2GB of RAM with support for Metal GPUFamily macOS 2 or newer
  • 5 GB of available hard disk space
  • Internet access4
  • Supported Mac Models
Locating Your Computer's Specifications

Tips for Buying a New Computer

If you are thinking about purchasing a new computer to run Chief Architect, read our ChiefBlog article to learn more about computer specifications.

Differences between PC and Mac versions of Chief Architect

PC Mac
Walkthrough Export Formats
 
 .AVI / .MP4 / .WMV .MOV / .MP4 / .M4V
.WMF / .EMF Support
 
 Yes No
Gamepads
 
 Yes No
Virtual Reality6
 
 Yes No
Ray Trace Rendering5
 
 Yes Yes
  • 1 Windows computers with ARM processors are not supported. It is recommended that laptops have a minimum 15" screen.
  • 2 Supported video cards include: (1) dedicated video cards such as NVIDIA GeForce RTX and AMD Radeon RX (2) Intel integrated graphics on 8th generation or newer Intel processors.
  • 3 DirectX 12 requires Shader Model 6.0 or newer. Learn how to identify the shader model of your graphics card.
  • 4 Internet access required for installation, license authentication, deactivation and video & library catalog access. Internet access for license authentication is required once every 14 days.
  • 5 CPU ray tracing is supported on Windows and Macs. GPU real time ray tracing on a Windows computer requires an NVIDIA RTX or an AMD Radeon RX series graphics card. The Mac requires at a minimum an M1 processor. See the Recommended System Requirements or read our ChiefBlog article to learn more about computer specifications.
  • 6 Virtual reality requires a computer that meets the system requirements of both Chief Architect and the VR headset manufacturer. Learn more.

Known Incompatibilities