Best graphics card for Adobe Illustrator

[shumster]

I've recently started working on illustrator files and am having some issues with its performance.

The files are multi-layered, with about 40-50 layers, totalling about 20-40mb in size. I'm using my powerbook (1.5ghz, 1GB ram, 128vram), and performance is, well, slow. Performance on an XP machine (P4, 1GB ram) is also slow and it often crashes.

I need to upgrade the PC to ensure that performance is acceptable (can't do much about the powerbook), and will be looking to get a G5 as well. What is the most important component to ensure smooth performance/quick refreshing of the display/smooth scrolling? I think it is probably the video card - what is the best graphics card for this application?

 

[JaisHTX]

Well I don't know about illustrator, but I know for doing a lot of CAD work, like AutoCAD, where there is a lot of 3D rendering involved, the ATI FireGL series is great. I am an engineer, and I have noticed a lot of companies using this technology. The newest one out is the ATI FireGL V7100, this is not a Radeon (gaming card), this is more for CAD and graphics designing. BUT, the bad news ... I don't think ATI has come out with a version which is compatible with Mac. But, other companies, such as nVidia may have a card for Mac geared more towards the same thing as the FireGL.

 

[FuzzyBallz]

ATI's not the only company that makes CAD capable work station video cards. nVidia's Quadro FX series is also very powerful.

First of all, what processor speed is your PC using? And what video card? If you're using a nVidia MX4 video card, you'll see a huge improvement with a Radeon 9800 Pro.

 

[JaisHTX]

Okay, I did some research on nVidia cards also. And their top of the line Graphics card for design, like I mentioned above is the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4400. This has something like 512 MB of memory, and is a power house, as well as the ATI FireGL V7100, but the ATI only has 256 MB of graphics memory. So take a look at the specs, these cards are absolutely awesome. But the downfall is you would have to use a Wintel with them ...

 

[JaisHTX]

ATI's not the only company that makes CAD capable work station video cards. nVidia's Quadro FX series is also very powerful.

First of all, what processor speed is your PC using? And what video card? If you're using a nVidia MX4 video card, you'll see a huge improvement with a Radeon 9800 Pro.

I know, it was what I knew about though, so I mentioned it, and I also looked up nvidia, I like the nvidia cards better anyways, just by looking at the specs ...

 

[JaisHTX]

http://www.ati.com/products/fireglv7100/index.html

http://www.nvidia.com/page/qfx_uhe.html

 

[neilrobinson]

before you go and buy a new video card check a few settings;

- scratch disks (do you have 2 hard disks in your pc? setting it to the second drive makes a huge difference.)
- Display preformance (hand tool) - maybe setting it to faster updates will help you ect.

i noticed a huge slow down between illustrator 11 and 10, quite often i am using 10 now just becuase it is a lot faster.

just my thoughts,

 

[iSuck]

I've recently started working on illustrator files and am having some issues with its performance.

The files are multi-layered, with about 40-50 layers, totalling about 20-40mb in size. I'm using my powerbook (1.5ghz, 1GB ram, 128vram), and performance is, well, slow. Performance on an XP machine (P4, 1GB ram) is also slow and it often crashes.

I need to upgrade the PC to ensure that performance is acceptable (can't do much about the powerbook), and will be looking to get a G5 as well. What is the most important component to ensure smooth performance/quick refreshing of the display/smooth scrolling? I think it is probably the video card - what is the best graphics card for this application?

What are you currently runnin in the way of a graphics card?