Photoshop CS4 is a disaster

iVan, if I've sounded pissy, I apologize. Sometimes it's hard to hear the same old stuff from the techs about "latest drivers" when I already have them.

I will say, though, that the power supply issue rang a bell with me early on, so I upgraded to a 620W Corsair unit. No luck, no difference, nada. My old one, which still works fine, was a 520W Corsair. Maybe I can somehow rig it to make popcorn. :)

>And guys, be nice to Adobe techies. Pissy attitude is only going to make them not want to reply here. When a problem like this happens, you better be sure they're working on it.

agreed!

Yeah, I know; it took me over 2 hrs to get myself up to date with this thread when I first read it the other day.

I got nvidia 8800 gt 512MB. The idea was to try a better card from a different vendor and see if that makes a dif.

It didn't. So the guy suggested running a diagnostic. Turns out that my power supply was maxed out (3 hard drives, 8GB or RAM, 512 video card, quad core cpu, etc...). He actually said he fixed someone else's Photoshop issue that way back when CS first came out. So he swapped the power supply and called me to tell me my 'shop is running smooth. Went to pick it up only to find out he lowered the resolution so he could read stuff on the monitor. I bumped it back up, and it's the same old song. I suggested swapping the cards again; perhaps it was the issue of low power AND nvidia card. He'll try working on that tomorrow (it's kind of nice to have someone else sweat over this for change)

I got dual monitors at 24" each; perhaps I'm overtasking my video card (although I doubt it given the card). He'll try swapping the card again now that I have a skookum power supply (pardon the BC jargon). We should know by the end of the day tomorrow. I am willing to throw money at this problem till it goes away. Well, to a point anyway...

I subscribed to this thread so I get every post delivered to my phone, and I read everyone's inputs. When the issue is solved I'll post all the details here - the hardware/software configuration I had and any changes that I make. I'll make sure we try one thing at the time so we nail this sucker down.

I know Adobe is working on this as well, although I haven't seen any recent posts from the tecs. Wrote to nvidia - no reply so far (it's only been a day though). So, Adobe guys (hope you're reading this), any discoveries on your end so far?

And guys, be nice to Adobe techies. Pissy attitude is only going to make them not want to reply here. When a problem like this happens, you better be sure they're working on it.

Sorry iVan,

From this thread it looks like you have an nVidia? This thread is geting hard to follow... What are you moving from and what are you moving to?

H

Well, I decided to take the proactive stance and test a theory. I found a shop that was willing to open a box and try a different video card in my system; if it doesn't fix my issue, they'll take it back. I'll report the results tonight.

Les, I agree in part. However, I only got PS and LR to work well when I started to disable functionality in PS. For me, it currently works fine (similar to CS3). I will stick with CS4. I bet that PS CS4.01 will be out in the next 3-6 weeks. And will fix most of these issues. If the Adobe Prod Dev staff can comment on timeline it would be appreciated.

However, it I were a betting man, the culprit would be is either system calls or the parameters being passed. That would explain almost everything. If an individual has a a different config, then they may get different results (and acceptable). I used to write OS code and low-level drivers for a living, and this simply smells like the problem. No evidence, but one of those "been there, suffered through that". In my time, I am sure users were cursing me for something similar...

David, sorry, I no longer have access to source. This was a long time ago and is actually a pretty funny story. I was trying to output my thesis on occlusion algorithms (a subset of graphics theory) and the doc would not print on the U's RIP. The problem came down to the RIP's implementation of the red book [this was before the release of the blue book]. I was forced to re-write the postscript driver for the mainframe to get my thesis to print (and get my degree---not a small incentive). Worked many long nights with the folks from Adobe. They were a bunch of good guys. This was before e-mail, so it all came down to phone calls, diet coke and chips.

H

"However, it must be noted that this is squarely an Adobe PS issue.... Not Windows... Not video card manufactures, not chip sets, not drivers, not anything but PS."

I'm not sure this statement addresses the discrepancy in performance that is obviously present among users of PS. I've managed to get PS (and Windows) to behave quite nicely but it has been an ordeal and is definitely related to hardware/driver and service pack issues..at least for me. No speculation here.

Hugh,

Writing the drivers for adobe is pretty impressive. Maybe you could offer to look at their code to see what is up and provide possible solutions to where the break down may be?

Ya, I know you may have a lot on your plate but this will help a lot of people out.

Just a thought

Have a good day

>The nVidia FX series has been out for what, five years. The card I am using was "top of the line" (i.e. $3,000) three years ago. The Open GL spec has not changed during the beta test phase of CS4

And I suppose there were no driver updates in all that time either, eh? If everything tested fine for them on the particular setups they had available at the time, what is it you want from Adobe?

Printers and associated monitoring SW can have a negative effect on Windows performance... I can think back to the bad old days of Epson's original monitor agent Now that was a real disaster It could cripple an entire system...

Actually, I can think back to my graduate school days when I wrote some of the original Postscript drivers for Adobe Just thinking about the red book brings shivers.

However, it must be noted that this is squarely an Adobe PS issue.... Not Windows... Not video card manufactures, not chip sets, not drivers, not anything but PS.

Personally, I have the Master Suite. The other apps run well (including AE CS4 --> which is far more intensive then PS.) I also run FormWorks, AutoCAD, various 3D modeling, 3D shading, and NLE SW and HD Video SW. Again, all far more intensive then anything attempted by PS. None of these apps have any problems, and neither did CS3...

It's just CS4 PS and 2.1 LR. The issues with PP CS4 have largely been fixed with the 4.1 upgrade.

I am sure that Adobe will shortly release a PS CS 4.1 -- I have some work-arounds in place for my system and will stick with CS4, but hoping for a timeframe on the 4.1

Hugh