Even Adobe Illustrator CC 2018 needs a powerful GPU @ 4K Resolution @_@?

[traderjay]

I was having major performance issues with Adobe Illustrator CC 2017 to 2018 (latest update). It is so bad that the experience is similar to running windows without VGA drivers back in the XP days. Every selection, zoom and transformation takes 5+ seconds to complete. I work with alot of complex EPS vector diagrams.

Spending hours with adobe tech support didn't resolve anything, disabling GPU acceleration kinda helped but slows down the workflow. My system is very powerful XEON E5-2696V3 with 32GB of RAM and SSD OS/Application Drive. The GPU is the GTX 1050 ti and I never suspected that it was the cause of all my problems until I opened the updated task manager with GPU monitor. I saw that the GPU memory is nearly always utilized whenever I have the images open and suspected that the card is causing all the issues.

I borrowed a Titan X Pascal from a friend to do some testing and bam...all performance issue solved. I still have a hard time believing a 2D application is causing the GPU to choke out ....

 

[Fardringle]

Are you sure there's not a problem with your video card? I know of several people using Illustrator CC 2017 here with FAR inferior video cards to your 1050Ti (or 1080Ti as listed in your signature) with no noticeable issues. Adobe says that Illustrator CC 2017 works just fine with cards as old as the GTX 4xx series as long as they have at least 1 GB RAM (2 GB preferred).
https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/system-requirements.html

 

[traderjay]

Are you sure there's not a problem with your video card? I know of several people using Illustrator CC 2017 here with FAR inferior video cards to your 1050Ti (or 1080Ti as listed in your signature) with no noticeable issues. Adobe says that Illustrator CC 2017 works just fine with cards as old as the GTX 4xx series as long as they have at least 1 GB RAM (2 GB preferred).
https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/system-requirements.html

I don't think there are any issues with the Strix GTX 1050ti..I can run all the 3D applications w/o issues. I was able to do quite a bit of video encode and davinci resolve color correction on the card with no crash or freeze. I've checked on the adobe forums and it seems their software quality and speed went downhill in the recent years.

Illustrator will work fine upon a fresh restart (GPU VRAM less than 20% utilization), once I start opening files and the VRAM usage goes up, performance takes a nosedive.

 

[TheELF]

Illustrator will work fine upon a fresh restart (GPU VRAM less than 20% utilization), once I start opening files and the VRAM usage goes up, performance takes a nosedive.

So the problem is you loading up too many too big images for the vram to handle and not the GPU being too weak.

 

[traderjay]

So the problem is you loading up too many too big images for the vram to handle and not the GPU being too weak.

I think its both, because when I move the images around or resize them, the GPU spikes to 100%

 

[kawi6rr]

So the problem is you loading up too many too big images for the vram to handle and not the GPU being too weak.

Anybody who multi tasks will have more then one app open at a time so your theory doesn't hold much weight. If OP has confirmed the same issues other people are having on the Adobe forum then the VRAM limits seems to the the culprit.

 

[traderjay]

An update on this - I received a GTX 1070 since the titan is on loan. Illustrator still work fantastic with no slow down. Just for the kicks, I decided to install back the 1050ti and I see good GPU utilization across both cores

 

[DaveSimmons]

That means a 6 GB 1060 would probably have worked too, and you needed more VRAM for your set of applications and use of them.