Is Nvidia MX250 any good for Creative Cloud applications?

[romyoi]

I’m currently on the look for a new laptop to rely on entirely for my design work. Unfortunately, MacBook Pro isn’t a feasible option for me in the meantime, so I’m looking for a Windows laptop than can run the latest versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, XD, Dimension, and also (but less importantly) After Effects as I’m still planning to learn it. I really care to have all features like 3D active in Photoshop, and I’m also not sure whether Dimension requires an even more power GPU.

I found a decent option within my budget from HP with an i7-8565U chip, 16GB of RAM, and 4GB Nvidia MX250. My only concern is whether the MX250 will be able to efficiently run the programs I previously mentioned or will it fail the job. I totally understand this is an entry-level mobile GPU and in all cases it won’t deliver the best results compared to a more advanced one like GTX 1050 for example, but if it can handle most tasks in a reasonable speed with minimum freezing (and also without heating up too much) I think I would be satisfied.

I looked all over the internet for reviews, but all I found was about gaming, with so many people ranting about how MX250 may not actually be a real upgrade from MX150, in addition to warnings that the chip comes in a slower 10Watt version that Nvidia didn’t make clear.

I’m not into gaming, at all. Also, all those comparisons with the earlier versions don’t really matter to me that much. All I care about is whether the MX250 will be able to run the applications I need while also delivering an acceptable performance or not?

I would really appreciate any advice to help me decide if I should buy this laptop or look for something different.

Here you can check the laptop specs for HP Pavilion - 14-ce2085ne(7DL93EA)

(Note: GPU isn’t mentioned in here, but I assume maybe because it can vary from one market to another or so):

https://ssl.www8.hp.com/emea_africa/en/products/laptops/product-detail.html?oid=29171113#!tab=specs

Here are two links with the Nvidia GeForce MX250 specs:

https://www.geforce.com/hardware/notebook-gpus/geforce-mx250/specifications

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-mx250.c3354

Thanks a lot.

Ramy.

[Guest · Accepted solution]

It isn't expressly approved by Adobe, so I wouldn't expect to use CUDA acceleration, and it's not very powerful anyway. It does have a sufficient amount of VRAM though. 

Let's say no. Can you source this? https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-i7-9750H-Keyboard-PH315-52-78VL/dp/B07QXLFLXT/ref=sr_1_4?keywor...

[romyoi]

Regarding CUDA, it shows in the specs that MX250 runs v6.1, though I honestly have no idea what CUDA actually does or which version of it might be required for Creative Cloud apps. Anyway, I think I get your point overall. I’ll sure check the alternative you suggested. Thank you so much.

[Guest]

CUDA 9.2 is required for 2019: https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/kb/gpu-and-gpu-driver-requirements-for-premiere-pro.html

[romyoi]

Oh, I see. Thanks for the clarification.

[RjL190365]

Actually, "v6.1" does not refer to the CUDA version at all. Rather, it refers to the CUDA Compute Capability. All Pascal (GP10x) GPUs, such as that GP108-based MX250, use CUDA Compute Capability version 6.x.

The newest version of the CUDA software itself is v11. Beginning with this version of CUDA, GPUs with Compute Capability 3.0 (first-generation Kepler GK10x GPUs) are now no longer supported, while support for Compute Capability 3.5 {Kepler GK110 and GK208} and 5.0 {first-gen Maxwell GM10x} remains in a depreciated state.

[איתן5ECB]

I have the same computer, and photoshop runs great 🙂

[RjL190365]

If you're going to use that GPU for hardware decoding and hardware encoding, forget about it. It has absolutely no hardware NVENC encoder at all, therefore forcing all encoding through software only (or CPU only). And its NVDEC decoder is nowhere near as powerful as the QuickSync inside the integrated graphics on even the weakest Intel CPU.

Worse, the latest Intel graphics drivers completely broke QuickSync support on systems with any discrete GPU installed! That will force software-only decoding and encoding of H.264 and HEVC video.