illustrator and Photoshop with Ryzen 3 2200G, dedicated GPU needed?

[garyisbinary]

I am building a budget pc for my gf who is in college for fine arts and wants to be an animator one day. I am trying to compile a list on pcpartpicker but im wondering if the APU will be fine for basically drawing, because thats all shes gonna be using it for. I saw this link https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-3-2200g-raven-ridge-cpu,5472-6.html
and i see that in photoshop it runs fine, but in illustrator it doesnt do so well. should i buy a dedicated GPU if she is just drawing on a pen tablet and not really any intensive photo editing or heavy logo designing?

 

[camieabz]

Illustrator recommends 2GB minimum VRAM, which would be a lot of (slower) RAM for an integrated GPU.

I would recommend a dedicated gfx card. Beyond the usual recommendations for application-specific gfx solutions (e.g. Quadro), which I imagine is not within the budget plans, I would aim for something in the 4GB or more direction. I would strongly suggest you look at the Adobe forums for what seems to work and not work, as there are many versions of Illustrator, and I believe some of the GPU-acceleration features run with some cards, and not others.

On the basis of not going with an APU solution, the Ryzen 3 1300x is an equivalent CPU to the 2200G, but if your budget can stretch to it, consider the Ryzen 5 1600, with six cores for added workstation oomph.

 

[garyisbinary]

Illustrator recommends 2GB minimum VRAM, which would be a lot of (slower) RAM for an integrated GPU.

I would recommend a dedicated gfx card. Beyond the usual recommendations for application-specific gfx solutions (e.g. Quadro), which I imagine is not within the budget plans, I would aim for something in the 4GB or more direction. I would strongly suggest you look at the Adobe forums for what seems to work and not work, as there are many versions of Illustrator, and I believe some of the GPU-acceleration features run with some cards, and not others.

On the basis of not going with an APU solution, the Ryzen 3 1300x is an equivalent CPU to the 2200G, but if your budget can stretch to it, consider the Ryzen 5 1600, with six cores for added workstation oomph.

well the budget is $450 and i have this https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ZJKdMZ

 

[camieabz]

Hmm.

Well for what it's worth, have an alternative list (just to add some options for you):

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Qncjvn

Ryzen 1300x to match the CPU performance of the 2200G - you could opt for the Ryzen 3 1200 to be honest.
AB350 motherboard with slightly better chipset options for a future Ryzen or Ryzen 2 CPU, if necessary.
256GB M.2 drive for less than the 2.5" SSD, but should be a fair bit faster
AMD rx 560 (1024 version) 4GB*

* Not done any research on how compatible this card is with Adobe Illustrator. However, it's a 4GB card, and benchmarks are similar to a GTX 1050, but with 4GB instead of the 1050's 2GB.

Only $25 over budget, but you still have to factor monitor, mouse, KB, operating system etc. :/

There would be nothing stopping you getting the 2200G and adding dedicated graphics to it, but as someone who has done exactly that, I will only consider an APU setup if there are no heavy demands on it. Bear in mind that Illustrator wants 2GB VRAM, and that will have to come from the 8GB system RAM.

 

[k1114]

You can use an intel igpu (which they do list) and it'll run perfectly smooth. 2gb vram is ridiculous. I've been using these software for years and these are both largely cpu based and lightly threaded. You'd be better off with an intel cpu which you can see a similarly priced i3 8100 in the benchmarks you linked. There are also quadro and firepro gpus cheaper than a 560 so it's not out of budget. Although most don't get them unless a 10 bit monitor is being used because it's not necessary otherwise.

 

[garyisbinary]

You can use an intel igpu (which they do list) and it'll run perfectly smooth. 2gb vram is ridiculous. I've been using these software for years and these are both largely cpu based and lightly threaded. You'd be better off with an intel cpu which you can see a similarly priced i3 8100 in the benchmarks you linked. There are also quadro and firepro gpus cheaper than a 560 so it's not out of budget. Although most don't get them unless a 10 bit monitor is being used because it's not necessary otherwise.

didnt even notice the i3-8100, been so long since i used an i3, i forgot they are better now. Any recommendations for firepros or a low end nvidia?

 

[k1114]

The 1050 and 560 are comparable in price and performance.

 

[garyisbinary]

The 1050 and 560 are comparable in price and performance.

Thank you, the 560 works great with the build and stays in my budget nicely.