PC hardware spec for Acrobat DC, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator?

[Sam5FD3]

Hi,

Im not sure if this is the best forum for this post but here goes.  Im looking to upgrade the hardware on some PCs at work.  We use Acrobat DC a lot to view very detailed architectural plans and to compile our own.  I've found opening and viewing detailed PDFs can be very slow and am not sure whether this is down to the GPU, CPU or RAM or combination of all of them.  

I am looking at getting Nvidia Quadro P2200 graphcis cards and bumping up the RAM in each PC to 32gb (currently 16gb) in each PC.  Our current graphics cards are Nvidia GeForce GT1030s and we have 3.2ghz quad core i5 processors.

We will shortly be incorporating illustrator, photoshop and indesign into our workflow - nothing too intensive but want to be sure that what I spec will cover us for the future (for Adobe and other software we run). Have gone with P2200 as we use Solidworks and the recommendation is that we use Nvidia Quadro cards to run it.  Can anyone offer some advise please.

Thanks

Sam

[Peru Bob]

Moved from the Lounge to the CC forum.

[Dov Isaacs]

This really has absolutely nothing to do with Creative Cloud Services since this query has to do with software running on the desktop, not services! And it also includes issues associated with Acrobat which is only tangentially part of the Creative Cloud. Moving this back to the Lounge area.

Anyway, if you were to ask 10 knowledgeable professionals this type of question, you will probably get at least a dozen or more responses, some of which are possibly very conflicting.

My take on this.

The problem with performance of viewing “very detailed architectural plans” in PDF is that typical CAD programs such as AutoCAD output exceptionally inefficient PDF, often with thousands and even millions of very small, individual line segments instead of using dashed lines, polygons, and/or even text. Transparency is also often misused in such PDF. Thus, the problem is the content and the software producing same, not necessarily the original design that you wish to realize with this software!!!

Memory is fairly critical for InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop, but not so for Acrobat until the 64-bit version is released. If you are running these programs concurrently with large files, this is especially true. Consider 32GB the minimum requirement.

For Photoshop and Illustrator, the GPU (especially NVidia GPUs) can make a difference, but not to the point where it is worth spending thousands of dollars for same.

Intel Core i5 processors certainly will be a stumbling block for you. Latest version Core i7 or even Xeon processors will help tremendously, especially for Acrobat and InDesign.

What you haven't mentioned is storage! Are you still using old-style magnetic disks? If so, you want to move entirely to SSDs. They make a tremendous difference in performance with all Adobe software, not only in accessing the documents you have, but in loading various internal modules and accessing (reading and writing) work files. And if at all possible and if your systems support them, you really want M.2 NVMe-based SSDs.

Based on what you are describing as your current system usage and future system usage, it may actually be worth considering new systems that can accommodate latest generation CPUs and SSDs (especially the M.2 NVMe-based SSDs).

[Sam5FD3]

Thanks @Dov Isaacs, I really apprecaite your detailed response.  I understand re the millions of lines and poor formatting / export of architectural CAD plans - its beyond my control as we are issued with the files rather than generating them.

Good to know that the Nvidia cards I've been looking at will help with some aspects and definitely take on board your advice re i7 processors - will ensure that our new PC's have these.

We are all on SSD's - again I'll be sure to spec the M2 NVMe SSDs in any new machines we purchase.

As you say, there will be lots of differing opinions on this but I want to thank you for sharing yours - its been very helpful...

Thanks

Sam