InDesign + Photoshop + Illustrator on a Windows 10 notebook - what GPUs are 2020 really compatible?

Report · Apr 03, 2020

Dear community,

I am a new member of the community with - I admit - no experience with Adobe products. I am trying to find a budget notebook (for my daughter, who begings her Design study this semester) capable of running InDesign + Photoshop + Illustrator. My professional background is electronic / IT engineering, so I would be able to select an appropriate configuration, if - IF! - technical requirements were clear.

To come to the point - I must say I am really confused with respect to the GPU choice.

For these three software packages Adobe lists "compatible" graphics cards, but these lists seem to be - hm... - a bit outdated? I haven't found any "ultimate" GPU, which would serve all the three applications well. There are a lot of threads in this forum, where people complain about certain GPUs not working at all / correctly, although "compatible" and other report on (mostly newer) GPU models which do work with ID/IL/PS, although not listed as "tested".

To keep my questions simple:

1. If one wants to work under Windows 10, then there is NO GPU support for InDesign (as of March 2020) - correct? Pity, but Mac would be no alternative at the moment.

2. Is there any "budget" graphics card recommended for both InDesing AND Photoshop, which would boost BOTH applications?

3. Several Nvidia (older and/or low range) models, which officially DO NOT support Photoshop, e.g. there is no "Studio Driver" available at Nvidia homepage, can still be used with "Game Read Driver" - is there any list of those "semi-compatible" cards available anywhere?

Your help would be appreciated - thank you in advance!

Report · Apr 03, 2020

With any older or lower-range GPUs, Photoshop 2020 might not even run at all. A supported GPU is REQUIRED for it to even run at all.

And the Illustrator GPU list lists the Quadro RTX 4000 as "supported." But that GPU costs about $1,000. And Adobe has not tested any Pascal or Turing GeForces at all with Illustrator.

Lastly, starting with the 2020 release, GPU acceleration in InDesign has been completely removed from both the Windows and the Mac versions of that program, regardless of the OS version that it's running on.

With that said, your most cost-effective choice for a GPU for use with these apps is the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER.

Report · Apr 04, 2020

Thank you @RjL190365

"With any older or lower-range GPUs, Photoshop 2020 might not even run at all. A supported GPU is REQUIRED for it to even run at all."
Well, according to "Requirements" Photoshop DOES NOT need any GPU to run, only certain functions are not available without GPU support (e.g. 3D). Is this correct for the 2020 version as well?

"the Illustrator GPU list lists the Quadro RTX 4000 as 'supported.'"
The list of supported GPUs is long - is there any reason why you mention this particular card only (the least expensive)? I would expect that any other Quadro would do as well.

"And Adobe has not tested any Pascal or Turing GeForces at all with Illustrator."
By the way Quadro RTX 4000 (as well as 5/6/7/8000) IS a Turing card, so is also the GTX 1650 (the "lowest end Turing"), which you recommend.
Adobe mentions OpenGL 4.x as the only requirement.

"Lastly, starting with the 2020 release, GPU acceleration in InDesign has been completely removed from both the Windows and the Mac versions of that program, regardless of the OS version that it's running on."
Is this really so? So far I have read that GPU support has been removed from Windows. Can you recommend any reading concerning InDesing GPU support on Mac? My daughter will be using CC 2020, so this might be a critical issue.

So far GPU support for InDesing was, at least for me, the only potential advantage of Mac over Windows. If GPU support were discontinued for both platforms I would not see any (technical) reason to go for a much more expensive Mac.

"your most cost-effective choice for a GPU for use with these apps is the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER."
Do you mean - although not explictely listed by Illustrator, but in fact (?) compatible with it and also compatible with Photoshop 2020?

Report · Apr 04, 2020

Here is the problem with Photoshop 2020:

It is very picky as far as hardware (especially graphics drivers) is concerned. The other 2020 versions are also very picky, as well. With an old or lower-end GPU, Premiere Pro 2020 will not run properly, if it even starts up at all: The program will lock up or crash before you get much if anything done with that program.

And when I stated that the GTX 1650 SUPER is the most cost-effective GPU at the lower end, there are cheaper GPUs that are far slower than the cost difference indicates (the non-SUPER GTX 1650 is only about $10 less expensive but almost 50% slower than the SUPER, while the older lower-end cards are even slower than that while not being priced low enough to justify such a steep performance loss.

Report · Apr 04, 2020

If I understood you correctly, you are referring to Premier Pro. However, my daughter will be working with Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign only (at least in the early semesters). Are the Premiere Pro restrictions ("picky" behaviour) relevant for these three applications as well?

By the way, I suppose you are talking about slot graphic cards. I am looking for a notebook with a GPU and unfortunately could not identify any laptop with a 1650 SUPER card (only with a "regular"1650). 1650 SUPER are available as PCI slot cards only - can you confirm it?

Report · Apr 04, 2020

In that case, then, stick to those laptops with the GTX 1650. What I described was for all 2020 versions of the Creative Cloud programs, not just Premiere Pro. Those with the older GTX 1050 should only be considered if the price is significantly less expensive than those with the GTX 1650.

Report · Apr 06, 2020

For a while the recommended GTX 1650 seemed to be a good low range price / performance compromise for me, but I double checked the requirements for several Adobe components again - the 1650 is NOT listed as Photoshop compatible. The predecessor 1050 and the "successor" 1660 are mentioned there, but 1650 is missing.

Very confusing, I must admit.

Any comments?

Report · Jan 11, 2022

Dear community,

I opened this thread almost two years ago (in April 2020). In the meantime my account has been deleted and I am being listed here as a "Gast" ("guest"). I have re-registered myself under a different name, so please be advised that contributions from "Marek5FB8" come from the very same person.

Since April 2020 ma daughter has studied Design at one of the universities and has been working on a commonly used hardware/software platform there.

We need to reconsider now a purchase of a Windows based notebook in the next weeks, so I would be grateful for your support in selecting the reasonable setup.

My daughter develops projects using InDesign, Ilustrator and Photoshop from Adobe (only these three applications) and in addition with "unreal engine" (from EpicGames). So far we have found the following requirements concerning CPU and GPU for these applications:

1. InDesing does not support GPU

2. Illustrator supports GPU, the list of compatible cards supporting "new Windows GPU Performance features in Illustrator" is available, but does not contain older GC, like for example the GTX 16xx series - are they still compatible, or obscolete?

3. Photoshop specs refer to "GPU with DirectX 12" only, but a current (updated?) list of compatible cards is hard to find. According to answers in my original thread Photoshop shall be very "picky" concernig GPU compatibility

4. Unreal Engine does not need GPU for compiling, but uses multithreading (up to 128 threads), so a good CPU (8/16 C/T or better) would be more beneficial than a GPU

Now back to the point and to my original question:

Given the requirements listed above - what would be now (as of 2022) the recommended, reasonable low end / low cost GPU solution for a compatible Windows notebook (in principle with respect to Ai, Ps and UE)?

Thank you very much in advance for you help!