GPU not compatible in Illustrator GTX 2070 Super

[matthews20813738]

In Illustrator, I have to use CPU mode which literally takes 5 seconds to zoom.  Adobe says that it can't find a compatible GPU under the performance tab despite my GPU showing up under system information.

For context I have a NVIDIA GTX 2070 Super and an Intel I9 CPU. 16gb of RAM. I asked Adobe support about it and they told me to update my drivers despite me telling them I've updated them. They also recommended I update my RAM but I don't see how that is relevant at all. 

I've looked through every single post about a similar issue and I've done everything possible to try to fix it. If anyone has any information that could possibly help, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Bobby Henderson]

16GB of RAM is about the bare minimum for running the current version of Illustrator. If your computer has open memory slots (that is if it has removable RAM modules) it would pay dividends to bump it up to at least 32GB. If you were running previous versions of Illustrator were the GPU accelerated features, such as Animated Zoom, working then? How much dedicated memory is on your computer's graphics board?

Also, do you have other applications running at the same time? It could be other Adobe applications such as Photoshop or even a web browser. Some web browsers (like Chrome) can be real memory hogs.

[matthews20813738]

I have 8gb of dedicated memory on my gpu. 

Also with this issue, my gpu has worked before on the same version of illustrator and then sometimes it doesn't work. It started working for a while and recently stopped working. I have tested and the version of my driver and the version of illustrator seem to make no difference. Also right now, Illustrator gives me the option to do real time drawing still. And no I don't have any other programs running. ALSO photoshop does recognize my GPU and allows me to use it. Blender also uses my GPU perfectly fine and it works perfect with video games.

[Bobby Henderson]

Have you tried any of the other usual trouble-shooting measures with Illustrator, such as resetting its Preferences file? I don't know if that trick would work, but given how the application is seeing your GPU in one moment and then not seeing it in the next moment points to some kind of corruption in Illustrator.

8GB of dedicated RAM on the graphics card should afford a good bit more performance overhead. Still, if your computer has removable/upgrade-able RAM modules I'd definitely recommend bumping the RAM up to whatever the maximum is your computer can support, be it 32GB or 64GB. RAM is relatively cheap.

[matthews20813738]

I just bought 64gb of ram and installed it and it didn't change anything, zooming now takes maybe a second less. I tried the preferences trick a few times before which didn't do anything, but I'll try it again.

[matthews20813738]

*Resetting the preference file, again did not work.

[Bobby Henderson]

There has to be some other technical issue present. NVidia's 2000 series graphics boards, such as the GTX 2070 Super, are a few years old (2018), but not really all that old. The card should be well within the hardware requirements for Illustrator, even for GPU accelerated functions.

[matthews20813738]

Do you have any advice on trying to diagnose whatever the other technical issue would be? I'm currently talking to someone with Nvidia seeing if they have anything to help.

[Abambo]

Sometimes it helps downgrading the driver version a bit. There is, however no guarantee that this will help with your current issue.

[matthews20813738]

That didn't help either. I reinstalled the oldest version of illustrator available and I have the oldest driver for the gpu now. As it is now, illustrator is completely unusable to me.

[Abambo]

That didn't help either. I reinstalled the oldest version of illustrator available and I have the oldest driver for the gpu now. As it is now, illustrator is completely unusable to me.

By @matthews20813738

Sorry for that. I did not intend you to install the oldest driver. Normally, it should be Driver Version -1 or -2 only.

[matthews20813738]

I've done that before, and I just did it again and it didn't work. I think I might have to just do a factory reset of my PC and see if the problem still persists. I would be surprised if it's a problem with the software or hardware because I feel like more people would have this issue if that was the case.

[Abambo]

Blender and Photoshop are not references for GPU performance in Illustrator. Even that Photoshop is an Adobe product, their needs in graphic performance are different.