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Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended White Paper

Table of contents

1: Essential hardware

5: Key steps to optimize

Photoshop CS5

performance

Adobe® Photoshop® CS5 performance

Promoting a faster Photoshop experience for all users

The depth and spread of tools and features in Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended software

make the two editions applicable to a variety of work environments and suitable for a wide range of tasks by

image-makers of all skill levels, from enthusiasts to professionals. In some environments, Photoshop is

employed in a dedicated, standalone fashion, while in others, it is a pivotal part of a larger suite of programs.

Making sure that your computer meets the minimum system requirements is an essential first step in ensuring

that all features function correctly. Optimizing your Photoshop CS5 setup to suit your work environment and

the tasks you regularly perform is the next step. All users will benefit from such optimization, but those who

work with video, 3D content, or other large files—or those who process multiple files at once—will see the

greatest performance gains. This paper provides guidance on best practices to optimize Photoshop CS5

performance with a combination of careful hardware selection and informed program setup.

What type of Photoshop user are you?

Determining how you typically use Photoshop will help you make more informed decisions about the best ways to

optimize your setup. For instance, the photographer who regularly processes high-resolution images will greatly benefit

from increasing the amount of system RAM available to Photoshop, whereas the designer who works with 3D models

will obtain far better performance by installing a faster video card containing more video RAM. So, itemize the tasks that

you regularly perform in Photoshop and then use the recommended setup details contained in this paper as the basis for

optimizing your system.

Essential hardware

Computers are built with a variety of components. Each performs a different function, and together they affect

the overall performance of Photoshop. The following sections describe system components and the roles they

play in the image-editing and enhancement process.

64-bit architecture

Photoshop CS5 provides 64-bit support on both Mac and Windows® systems. Substantial performance gains

can be achieved by switching from running Photoshop in 32 bit to the 64-bit version of the program, especially

when working with large or complex files or when processing multiple images at a time. The 64-bit

architecture supports management of larger amounts of RAM and better processing of larger amounts of

imaging data. Note that to run Photoshop CS5 in 64-bit mode, your hardware and operating system must both

be 64-bit compatible.

Summary of content (11 pages)

PAGE 1
Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended White Paper Adobe® Photoshop® CS5 performance Promoting a faster Photoshop experience for all users Table of contents 1: Essential hardware 5: Key steps to optimize Photoshop CS5 performance The depth and spread of tools and features in Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended software make the two editions applicable to a variety of work environments and suitable for a wide range of tasks by image-makers of all skill levels, from enthusiasts to profess
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Microsoft® Windows 7 and Windows Vista® ship in 32-bit or 64-bit versions, and Photoshop CS5 will only work in 64-bit mode when the 64-bit version of Windows 7 is running. You can check which version you are running by viewing the system type information in the System section of Windows Control Panel.
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Recommendations In general, you should buy as much memory as you can afford and your system can support, since adding more RAM is one of the simplest ways to improve overall Photoshop performance. But remember that only 64-bit systems can effectively address more than 4GB of RAM.
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Data drive The speed of your data drive will affect how long it takes to open and save files—faster drives will increase read and write performance in Photoshop. For this reason, many professionals also employ a RAID drive system to store their photos and project files. But keep in mind that with data, it is also important to ensure that the files are secure and regularly backed up.
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Recommendations For best performance, pick a card from the Photoshop CS5 supported video card list (kb2.adobe.com/cps/831/ cpsid_83117.html) that has a fast processor and as much memory (VRAM) as you can afford. If you’re working with video files and want to take advantage of GPU acceleration in Adobe Premiere® Pro CS5 software, you should also consult the supported video card list (www.adobe.
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falls below 95% when conducting simple operations will be improved by the correct allocation of fast scratch disks or the addition of extra RAM. 2. Separate the Photoshop scratch disk from operating system virtual memory As most operating systems employ a virtual memory system similar to the one in Photoshop, it is recommended that scratch disks be positioned on a different drive than the one your computer uses for its virtual memory system.
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Photoshop, if they were fragmented when initially installed. The efficiency of scratch disks is also degraded if the space used for virtual memory is fragmented. You can achieve real performance gains by regularly defragmenting the drives you use for scratch disks, image storage, and application loading. Both Windows and Mac operating systems have defragmentation utilities built in.
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10. Optimize Cache Level and Cache Tile settings Whenever you make a change to an image onscreen, your computer must redraw the image. The larger the image, the more processing power and time required. To make screen redrawing as fast as possible, Photoshop CS5 uses caching to continuously update a lower resolution version as you work.
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Normal—Is the default setting. It uses a large amount of GPU memory to support advanced OpenGL features and should be selected if you regularly use the GPU-accelerated features in Photoshop. Advanced—Uses the same amount of memory as the Normal mode, but enables more advanced features to improve drawing performance.
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16. Reduce color bit depth In Photoshop CS5, the number of functions that can be performed on 16- and 32-bit images has been increased. However, these images require considerably more processing power and hard-drive space than standard 8-bit images. For images destined for output to standard devices or the web, you can use the Image > Mode menu to lower the bit depth to 8 bit for maximum performance.
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For more information Photoshop CS5: www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshop Photoshop CS5 Extended: www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshopextended Adobe Systems Incorporated 345 Park Avenue San Jose, CA 95110-2704 USA www.adobe.com Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Lightroom, Photoshop, and Pixel Bender are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Apple, Mac, and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Inc.