Photoshop CS4 is a disaster

Perhaps inadequate rather than defective. Within a statistical sample range, some devices simply won't make it when the combined statistics between all devices work against the desired results. To test against that is a daunting task! Simply changing one element or device can repair that problem, but it may not be the same device or element from system sample to system sample. Even the BIOS version can trip one up.

So, it looks like patience is the key. Not great for those who paid for and need professionally the program. I am holding off on a whole raft of upgrades i know I need to run at the levels i wish to run. C3 does very well at the moment. It's reasonably stable and gives me wonderful control.

I know John, You've said before your system is working fine. I'm on XP sp3, and it didn't make any difference what driver I used. That's why I've said that it's not as simple as "just get this card and this driver and it's going to work." People with the same card and driver are seeing different results, even some people like yourself who are running Vista 64 are seeing problems. I have no idea what the problem is, I'm just responding to the comment that suggested that the problem might lie with defective hardware. I wouldn't doubt that assumption if the problem was less prevalent, however, the fact that the Adobe techs are all over this like I've not seen before, suggests to me that there are other issues and the difficulties are effecting a fairly good number of people.

That's just my two cents and that's about all it's worth.

Paul

Thanks, Paul. I didn't know you were using an approved card. The analogy is intended for cards that may not be on the list, yet pricy.

Paul, I have that card and have no problems with the GPU features.
Driver version: 7.15.11.6931.
Vista Business OS. Patched up to today.

Lawrence,

To restate what I said, I have an Nvidia Quadra FX 3700, it is on Adobe's "tested and approved list" of video cards. As I said, it handles all other 3d apps just fine. So, I have an "approved card" running the latest driver, an up-to-date system running a supported operating system on a clean install of windows and the only application installed is the CS4 Design Premium Suite. As a consumer, I have met or exceeded all the requirements that Adobe puts forth, I'm not using a Lexus, I'm only running what Adobe says I need. So I'm sorry, but I don't see your analogy.

Paul

See http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/11/status_updates.html

It seems to suggest that Adobe are recognising the complications of GPU, perhaps?

I quote, "GPUs are pretty fascinating, and there are some things they do really well & others really badly."

Paul, your position on expensive cards is tantamount to expecting a $50,000 Lexus to perform as well in extreme conditions as a 10 year old jeep Wrangler then blaming the terrain for the problem.

There appears to be no universal autos and no universal video cards. :-(

To each his own, but if Adobe can demonstrate conclusivly that, with a system basicaaly configured to be reasonably close to universal, this card and this driver will perfom as speced by Adobe. In the interests of getting feedback, offering a short time loan to qualified users would, IMO, garner significant additional data points to be valuable.

My opinion anyway!:-)

So far, it seems that Adam has been able to duplicate many of the problems. His suggestions so far have only been workarounds that he says will get you "close" to the performance of CS3. It may be driver issues and/or Photoshop bugs, but too many people, including Adam, can demonstrate the problem so I'm betting that it isn't a "defective" card issue. And in my case, I have a $900 card that runs my other 3d apps perfectly, so I'm not that willing to just go out and buy another for testing purposes, although I might if I was the only one having the problems.

Paul

Has anyone actually replaced a card with a different version, obtained the most current updates and said problem solved? Without a series of such events, we do not have any basis by which to say the bug(s) are resolved.

In software testing, when we have filed a bone fide bug, it has to be resolved by the engineers then tested over several platforms before QA will close it.

At least, that's the way we do it where I work doing such testing.

I would suggest that Adobe actually have a couple of cards know to be good available for others to test in their systems. It would go a long way to root out exactly where the problem lies. It needs to be the same card version and driver.

The resulting list of systems that were fixed and those it didn't would be highly useful!