Skip to main content
D
Deep Agheda
Known Participant
June 20, 2025
Question

Illustrator GPU Performance Disables Automatically After 15-20 Minutes

  • June 20, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 2500 views

Hi Adobe Community,

I’m facing a recurring issue with Adobe Illustrator. Whenever I open any file and start working, everything functions normally for the first 15–20 minutes. But after that, the screen blinks once, and then Illustrator automatically disables the GPU Performance mode.

This happens consistently with every file. Once the GPU mode turns off, the performance drops significantly. If I close the file and reopen it, everything works fine again—for another 15–20 minutes—before the issue returns.

I’ve been facing this problem for a long time now, and it’s really affecting my workflow. I would appreciate it if someone could help me identify the cause or suggest a permanent solution.

Thank you!

2 replies

Mohammad.Harb
Mohammad.Harb
Community Expert
June 20, 2025

After updating GPU driver to the most recent update, Reset Illustrator preferences :

Form preferences Settings -> General , Click on Reset Preferences, then restart illustrator.

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    June 20, 2025

    Hi @Deep Agheda,

     

    Thanks for bringing this up. I can see how frustrating it must be to have GPU performance drop mid-project.

    Could you confirm your Illustrator version, OS, GPU model, and driver version? If you're on Windows, try updating the GPU driver directly from the manufacturer's site rather than using Windows Update. 

    If the issue continues, try a clean reinstallation of your GPU drivers (Intel / NVIDIA / AMD) and set the Graphics Preference to High Performance for Illustrator: https://adobe.ly/3EjIhRc

    In Illustrator, go to Preferences > Performance and check if 'GPU Performance' is enabled. If it's off, try toggling it. Also, try disabling any third-party plugins or extensions and test the issue in safe mode to rule out conflicts.

    If you're able, a short screen recording of when the GPU mode disables would be helpful for further investigation.

     

    Keep me posted on how it goes.
    Abhishek

      D
      Deep AghedaAuthor
      Known Participant
      June 20, 2025

      Hi, @Abhishek Rao 
      Here are the screenshots as requested. Just to clarify, we haven't used any third-party plugins.

      I’ve found that the issue goes away when GPU Performance is disabled, but that introduces another problem—zooming no longer works as expected. As you may already know, without GPU Performance, zooming is limited to the rectangular marquee style instead of the smooth, animated zoom we're used to.

      I've attached some screenshots of the operating system, GPU, and so on.

      Looking forward to your insights on this.

       

      Thanks!

      Deep A.

        Abhishek Rao
        Community Manager
        Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        June 20, 2025

        Hi @Deep Agheda,

         

        Thanks for the update. Since GPU Performance off avoids the issue but limits zoom functionality, this may point to a driver or system conflict. If you haven’t yet, try a clean reinstall of your GPU driver and set Illustrator to use the high-performance GPU in system settings.

        If that doesn’t help, we’ll need a bit more info to investigate:

        For Windows computers:

        1. AiSniffer file:
        - Close all Adobe applications.
        - Navigate to the Illustrator Preferences folder and copy the AiSniffer file to the desktop from this location:
        %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 28 Settings\en_US\x64\

         

        2. For the System Report, kindly follow these steps:
        - Please press Windows Key + the letter "R" on your keyboard to bring up the Run command window
        - Type "msinfo32" in the Open field and left-click OK
        - While viewing the Microsoft System Information summary, go to File, then choose Save (Please do not use Export)
        - Save your MSINFO32 report as "msinfo32.nfo" on your desktop to easily locate it after. It can take up to a minute to generate a report.

         

        Kindly upload the files to Google Drive/Dropbox/etc. and share a public link here or via DM so that we can investigate this further.

         

        Looking forward to hearing from you.

        Abhishek

          Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
          Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices