Improve Photoshop Performance – DIY in 5 Ep 194

Опубликовано 26 марта 2023, 13:00

Photoshop is, as we all know, an essential program to many people’s careers or academic work. If it runs too slowly on your computer, it can cause a lot of grief. That’s why we want to help you improve Photoshop’s performance!

Upgrade your RAM
The single best thing you can do to improve Photoshop’s performance is to upgrade your RAM. Serious edits require larger files, like .RAW files. When you’re editing, it’s best to have that file accessible in RAM, since it’s faster than your storage. Workflow interruptions impede creativity, but utilizing your storage drive as a scratch disk for your Photoshop file substantially impedes your ability to edit quickly and efficiently. Even comparing RAM to SSDs, RAM is simply faster. A general rule of thumb is that 16GB of RAM will work for most people, but if editing files with a higher bit depth, plump for a mighty 32GB of RAM.

Raise memory usage
You should configure Photoshop to use more RAM. By default, Photoshop uses 70% of available RAM, but this can be adjusted in your Photoshop preferences. Click on ‘Performance’ and then adjust the slider upwards to allow Photoshop to use more RAM. It’s important to note that Adobe recommends against allocating more than 85% of your computer’s memory to Photoshop. When deciding how much memory to purchase, find out what your basic tasks (such as email) require without Photoshop in use. Leave some multitasking wiggle room beyond what Adobe recommends, just to be safe.

Upgrade to an SSD
If you’re still using a mechanical drive, please upgrade to an SSD. The files that are edited in Photoshop are typically large in size. With workflow in mind, booting, starting Photoshop, loading, and saving files will be quicker with an SSD. In the unfortunate event that you run out of RAM and Photoshop needs to access the scratch disk, an SSD will be an order of magnitude faster than even the fastest HDD. An NVMe M.2 SSD is over thirty times faster, for example. Obviously it’s best to solve all memory issues via RAM, but if we have to improvise, SSD efficiency is the way to go.

Close other programs
Even though Photoshop allocates 70% for RAM, and even though you told it to use up to 85%, it still has to compete for RAM. If you have another memory-intensive application like Final Cut open while editing in Photoshop, it’s better to close it so that your system can concentrate on running one program. No need to go overboard: you don’t need to nix every weather widget and calculator you have open. But more intensive apps should not be mixed with Photoshop, especially games.

Don’t clutter your Photoshop
Photoshop is a very versatile platform, offering numerous options for fonts, brushes, patterns, and more. However, the more options you download, the more your system’s memory has to keep track of. This bloat can cause slower performance. It’s best to keep it simple and download a slimmer suite of tools that define your work style. This is because it’s more efficient to be sparing with your selection of tools, adding and removing them as needed, as opposed to loading out libraries of unused tools that serve only to slow down the application and impede your workflow.

Conclusion
In summary, Photoshop’s position as the dominant graphical editing application is undisputed, with a well-deserved good reputation, but if you encounter sluggish performance while using it, check your RAM usage. If saving and loading files is time-consuming, you likely have a slow boot time. Switch out your HDD for an NVMe M.2 SSD to improve performance. Before doing this, try baselining your system, running only Photoshop and no other programs. If after doing this and decluttering your Photoshop you still face performance issues, you should embark on a hardware upgrade.
Good luck with optimizing your Photoshop experience!
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0:00 Intro
0:33 Upgrade Your RAM
1:54 Raise Memory Usage
2:33 Upgrade to an SSD
3:11 Close Other Programs
4:00 Don‘t Clutter
5:09 Outro