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Update GPU drivers for Illustrator

Learn how to identify and update outdated GPU device drivers. 

The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a specialized processor that accelerates graphics rendering and helps Illustrator run smoother and faster. If your GPU drivers are not updated, they may not work well with the latest Illustrator version.

Before you proceed with updating GPU drivers, ensure that your operating system and Illustrator are up to date.

Update Illustrator

Are you a macOS user?

Update macOS to automatically update your GPU drivers.

Are you a Windows user?

Update Windows and read on to learn how to manually update your GPU drivers.

Do you see a System Compatibility Report when you open Illustrator? You will see this report if your GPU drivers are outdated. We recommend that you install the latest GPU drivers to fix this incompatibility. Following are the reports you see if your Intel and Nvidia GPUs are outdated:

Intel and Nvidia

System compatibility report for INTEL an NVIDIA GPU drivers

System compatibility report for Intel and Nvidia GPU drivers (displayed on app launch until the incompatibility is fixed)

Intel

System compatibility report for INTEL GPU drivers

System compatibility report for Intel GPU drivers (displayed only once on app launch)

We recommend that you update the drivers as soon as you see this report. However, you can also click Ok (Intel) or Continue with known issues... (Intel and Nvidia) to close the report and take action later.

Follow any of these options to export the report or reopen the dialog:

  • Click Export Report to export the contents of the report to a text file.
  • Choose Help > System Compatibility Report to reopen the dialog.

Don't know your GPU manufacturer? Or how to update the drivers for a specific manufacturer? Read on to learn how to identify your GPU manufacturer and update the drivers.

Identify GPU manufacturer

Follow these steps to identify your GPU manufacturer:

  1. Launch Illustrator.

  2. Open the Preferences panel (Press Ctrl+K or choose Edit > Preferences).

  3. In the Performance tab, note the manufacturer listed under the GPU Details area.

Update GPU drivers

Select your GPU manufacturer from the drop-down list and follow the steps to update your drivers. If your computer has multiple GPU cards from different manufacturers, update the drivers for each card.

Follow these steps to update your AMD driver:

  1. On your Windows computer, press Windows+R.

  2. Type devmgmt.msc, and then press Enter.

  3. In the Device Manager console, expand the node Display adapters.

  4. Right-click the GPU card you want to update the drivers for and choose Update driver.

  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to update the driver software.

  6. Close the Device Manager console.

If your drivers are still not updated, here are some resources to find and update your AMD driver:

  1. Follow the instructions to download and install the latest drivers for your GPU card.

  1. Search for your GPU card, download and install the latest drivers.

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