Computer system or Workstation for Photoshop

Hey Adobe,

The user asked for recommendations on good computer systems or graphics workstations that are highly compatible with Photoshop and Illustrator, starting from the lowest price options, because they were told their current system cannot handle Photoshop. The request seeks a range of suitable machines that can effectively run these Adobe applications without performance issues, beginning with budget-friendly choices. 

Yours Regards!!!

If your current system struggles with Photoshop or Illustrator, it’s usually a CPU–RAM bottleneck rather than only the GPU. For budget builds, these specs work really well:

Low budget option:

• CPU: Ryzen 5 5600 / Intel i5-12400

• RAM: 16 GB

• SSD: NVMe 500 GB

• GPU: Any basic GPU (Photoshop doesn’t need a powerful one)

Mid-range option:

• CPU: Ryzen 7 5800X3D / Intel i5-13600K

• RAM: 32 GB

• SSD: 1 TB NVMe Gen 4

• GPU: RTX 3060 or similar

Also, before upgrading, you can check if your current PC has a performance mismatch. I usually run a bottleneck calculator  test to see which part of the system is slowing things down. It helps you know whether you need CPU, RAM, or GPU first. You can check this tool: https://bottleneckcalculator.us/

If you share your PC specs, I can guide you on which upgrade will give you the biggest improvement.

When setting up a system for Photoshop, it’s all about balancing CPU, RAM, and GPU. Photoshop leans more on CPU and RAM, especially for heavy multitasking or large files, but a decent GPU still helps with certain effects and smooth UI performance. If you’re mixing older parts with new ones, I’d recommend using a bottleneck calculator to see if anything might hold back your performance. No point in getting high-end components if one piece is going to slow everything down.

Photoshop does not multi-thread most/all of its functions, so CPU clock speed is king.  I'd want 32Gb RAM (I have had 64Gb RAM in my current and previous system, and PS never seemed to make full use of it).  A very expensive GPU is not going to make a huge difference, but I'd at least go with a RTX4070 video card.  NVMe drives are crazy fast nowadays, which is good if you work with large projects and PS creates large temp files on your scratch drive.

You can a decent idea of what works from the Puget Systems app specific tests.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/all-articles/?filter=photoshop 

I suggest you start here- ! Photoshop system requirements 

And even improve on the "Recommended" requirements if you can (like 64GB memory, 8GB GPU)

"Price" - is hard to suggest depending on Country location.