Ilustrator desktop build

Ijen

Ijen

Ijen

Associate
Joined
27 Jun 2009
Posts
17
Hi people, I’m an Illustrator and this new build is primarily for working on complex Adobe Illustrator files. Perhaps some digital painting in Photoshop. No, gaming, video editing, CAD etc.

Illustrator, clunky old pile that it is, bangs away at a single thread on the CPU; extra cores add nothing to performance. Similarly, it doesn’t send enough the way of the GPU for it to be a major factor (even with “GPU Performance”). And it’ll grind to a crawl long before using much more than a few gigs of RAM.

So my priorities are;
  1. a fast-on-a-single-thread performing processor,
  2. a fast SSD,
  3. everything else adequate to my needs with stability essential and quietness a welcome bonus.
Parts-wise, I think this means;
  • i7 8700k 3.7 Ghz
  • 512GB Samsung 960 Pro M.2 PCIE…
  • 32 GB 2x16 2666Mhz - just in case I also want to paint in Photoshop and have few hundred browser tabs open, as you do...
  • Storage I’ve got covered between HDs from my old PC, external HD and the server at work.
That being the general shape of it (unless I’m wrong about something?), I’d appreciate advice on the other bits;
  • Mobo
  • Case
  • PSU – I know this system is unlikely to require much more than 300W – but the Corsair “Ultra Quiet” PSUs start at 650W. Would I notice a difference?
  • Cooling – Illustrator can use a single core intensively when it’s figuring stuff out – but it’ll take brakes in between operations. Surely it's not as heat intensive as next-gen gaming? Suggestions please!
  • GPU – nothing crazy needed here, just needs to be good enough, whatever that might mean :p

Cheers folks!
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £178.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)​
​

That's the processor which suits your requirement description, not the 8700K which is overkill with 6 cores and 12 threads. It can be overclocked to around 4.8-5.0GHz, and will require less cooling than 8700K.

PSU get a Seasonic Focus 550W Gold for stability and stick it on Fanless Mode for quiet.

GPU maybe a 1050Ti - maybe more than needed but nothing crazy and with 4GB VRAM to help with whatever may need it.

Mobo, case and cooling... how many drives will you be using inside the system?
 
Very interesting! I hadn't considered an i3 8350, I'll read up on it.

Drives, I'll want one DVD drive and one SATA HD(one of my old ones). And a PCIe SSD. That's it, I think?

Thanks Danny.
 
A lot of 3000+MHz 32GB memory options are out of stock at OcUK. Would look for this one which is currently at a not-so-crazy price (£281):

G-Skill Ripjaws 4 F4-3000C15Q-32GRK 32 GB (8 GB x 4) Kit DDR4 3000 MHz


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,062.09 (includes shipping: £13.20)​
​

Included an i5-8600K for consideration, depending on how likely you are to use Photoshop.

Big cooler (that one will handle tall RAM), might as well even if you go with i3-8350K, fan won't have to spin as fast.

Quiet case, with DVD bays.

Mobo with the features you need.
 
For what it's worth, I had 30 browser tabs open yesterday on Firefox, and they were consuming 1.7GB of memory. With memory prices the way they are, I'd make sure you really need 32GB before forking out. 16GB could well be plenty.
 
I'll keep an eye on my RAM usage on my work system which, with 64GB, i7-5930 and Quadro K2200, is perhaps a bit extravagant for my present usage.

RE: 3000Mhz+ RAM, I was wondered about that and whether it's desirable for what I'm doing regarding stability?

I think I'm pretty much sold on everything else, it's better value than what I could find.

Cheers
 
In DDR4 and particularly Coffee Lake platform terms, 3000-3200 isn't very ambitious. Even Ryzen, with all the BIOS udpates, is now expected to have no issues with memory at that speed.

I doubt you would need to, but any issues could be addressed by running the RAM a little slower/slightly looser timings. I honestly don't think it will happen though - many Coffee Lake chips are running up to 4000-4133.
 
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