How to build a custom PC for ArcGIS Pro

What is ArcGIS Pro?

ArcGIS Pro is a robust GIS software developed by Esri for creating, analyzing, and sharing spatial data. Widely used in fields like geography, urban planning, and environmental science, it enables professionals to integrate diverse datasets, perform spatial analyses, and generate detailed 3D maps. Its seamless integration with the broader ArcGIS ecosystem facilitates collaboration and data sharing. In essence, ArcGIS Pro is an essential tool for informed decision-making and effective communication of geographic information. 

What is the recommended PC specification for ArcGIS Pro?

ArcGIS Pro uses a blend of different hardware and requires a well-balanced and decently powerful hardware setup that you’d typically find in a tower workstation. The blend of computations necessary in a general-purpose rendering program such as this one means that both the CPU and GPU are put to work, and a decent amount of memory is needed for your work.

How important is the CPU for ArcGIS Pro?

A majority of the computation will be handled on the CPU for this program; however, based on Ersi’s recommendation, 4-10 cores are the sweet spot, so no need to get carried away. For this reason, we recommend sticking with a consumer platform like Z790 or X670, which features processors like the i7 13700k and r7 7700x, which hit the sweet spot in this recommendation with great clock speeds. This can be scaled to higher processors on these platforms if you want the most out of your workstation PC.

What graphics card should I use for ArcGIS Pro?

You can choose two paths, which is highly dependent on your workload. For basic usage, an entry-level graphics card is perfect such as the RTX 4060, however, if you plan to make use of newer features such as deep learning and spatial analysis, it’s recommended you scale your graphics card as high as your budget allows, but the entry-level recommendation will still work for these features, albeit somewhat slower. 

How much system memory is needed for ArcGIS Pro?

This is another component choice that will fall into two schools of thought. For more basic projects, 32 GB is plenty; however, if you’re working on large, complex projects that cover a lot of space and detail, 64 GB is the route you will want to go.

How much storage do I need for ArcGIS Pro?

This program isn’t particularly storage intensive, so our standard recommendation for workstations is to have a 1TB NVME for the OS drive and a 2TB NVME for working space; these are what we find create the basis for the best user experience in professional applications. These, of course, aren’t strictly necessary, though, and you can specify your storage as budget allows.

Do you want to build your ArcGIS Pro PC with AVADirect?

We have preconfigured Intel ArcGIS Pro PC and an AMD Ryzen ArcGIS Pro Workstation available to order. If you have any questions or special requests, our sales team via email or live chat