Does Photoshop require a dedicated graphics card? Can Photoshop use HD 4000/5000 graphics?

[kateinmunich]

I am looking for a laptop for my 16 year old daughter to take to school everday.  She has a photography course which requires her to have Photoshop (full version) installed on her laptop.  I have been told that this reuires a dedicated graphics card (eg NVIDIA Geforce 540 or similar) to run properly.  However most lightweigt laptops only have a "shared" grapics chip (eg Intel HD 5500) which I have been told would make Photoshop very slow or unusable.

The Adobe website does not mention any graphics card requirements for Photoshop.  I would be grateful to hear from anyone with eperience whether a dedicated graphics card is indeed necessary.  Many thank in advance!.

[Akash Sharma]

Hi kateinmunich,

Photoshop does utilize the graphics processing unit for enhanced performance.There are many features that require a Dedicated Graphics card like 3d enhancements.I will recommend you to get a Laptop that meets recommended  Photoshop Requirements.See Photoshop system requirements

Refer Adobe Photoshop CC GPU (graphics processing unit) and video card FAQ‌ to know about Photoshop GPU usage and recommended Video cards,

Regards

Akash.

[kateinmunich]

Thank-you for your answer Akash.  I am still not quite clear because the list of tested graphics cards that you referred me too Adobe Photoshop CC GPU (graphics processing unit) and video card FAQ includes The Intel HD 5000 series which I had understood were NOT dedicated graphics cards.

Please coud you be very specific:  could I run Photoshop on an Intel HD 5000 (in combination with i5 and 8GB RAM)?  If the graphics card is OK but the processor or RAM insufficient then please tell me what I would require there too.

Thanks in advance!  Kate.

[Trevor.Dennis]

kateinmunich wrote:

Thank-you for your answer Akash.  I am still not quite clear because the list of tested graphics cards that you referred me too Adobe Photoshop CC GPU (graphics processing unit) and video card FAQ includes The Intel HD 5000 series which I had understood were NOT dedicated graphics cards.

Please coud you be very specific:  could I run Photoshop on an Intel HD 5000 (in combination with i5 and 8GB RAM)?  If the graphics card is OK but the processor or RAM insufficient then please tell me what I would require there too.

Thanks in advance!  Kate.

I'm wondering the same thing Kate.    You can check the GPU FAQ below, but I think I might change your subject line to make it clear you are asking about HD5000.

If anyone reading this has a laptop with HD graphics, can you tell us if Photoshop accepts it and allows GPU Acceleration to be checked?

Troubleshoot Photoshop graphics hardware (GPU) and video card issues

[Trevor.Dennis]

I actually think you can, but lets get confirmation before you commit your Deutschmarks

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Photoshop-CS6-GPU-Acceleration-161/

[gener7 · Accepted solution]

Adobe Photoshop CC GPU (graphics processing unit) and video card FAQ

The HD 5000 is on the list, it should work for you. I have an i5 and Intel HD 4000. It works fine with CC 2015.

Intel Intel® HD Graphics 5500 vs NVIDIA GeForce GT 940M 2GB [Solved] - Lenovo - Laptop General Discu...

One user feels that even a Geoforce GT 940M would be an advantage when heavy effects are used over Intel 5500 cards.

I'll go with that. Better too much than too little.

[schugeorge67]

Hi Kateinmunich,

   I use to have an HP Pavilion g6 which had an AMD-A6 4400m 2.7 ghz, with integrated Radeon 7520 HD graphics (all very budget friendly specs) I have 8 gb DDR3 1600mhz RAM. I happen to use both Photoshop and Lightroom (CS6). I was able to run them individually - although LR is a little more resource hungry. When I try to use both or try to run more than one or two other apps or programs I start to run into issues with my laptop slowing to a crawl. I don't believe this is due to lack of dedicated graphics card though. I think it's due to my budget/entry level hardware, plus I probably could have used an additional 4gb ram to run more programs at once. Something a dedicated card would not help with.

Adobe is only giving you the absolute bare minimum "REQUIRED". for it to even run.

As far as PS goes, I can use it to do some layer and masking, but not much at all. So,depending on how intensive you plan on using PS or LR most i5 cpus w/integrated 5500 graphics (5th generation which scores really well on benchmarks scores)  should be fine as long as you have at least 8gb ram installed. That being said, you certainly can't go wrong with a dedicated card. I bought this 3 weeks ago, and so far I haven't have ANY issues at all. I also added 4gb ram for a total of 12. I disabled my video card, and used them both, then enabled it and didn't see any difference at all.

Amazon.com: Acer Aspire E5-573G 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop (Intel Core i5 5200U, 8GB, 1TB, NVIDIA GeFor...

[positive_maker15A8]

I have I7 4000 ghz, 32gb 1600mhz ram, 480gb mushkin ssd, in an ASUS A/3.1 USB motherboard.. and in 1600x1600 pixel photoshop image (2017 CC), texts and images are being dragged/moved inside it with max 10 FPS, so it gets so boring to create... Do I need an additional GFX card like with 4gb vram or focus on the chipset frequency?

[Sorontar]

I have not found any Adobe program that needs dedicated graphics card. Atleast Acrobat, Illustrator and Photoshop and Indesign have never used graphics card more than 10% activity. I have tried huge Illustrator files. Noone has been able to give me an answer where does GPU come into play. Maybe is really specific programs and effects or something. Avoid dedicated graphics card for laptops. Graphics card just sleeps while you have to carry around heavier machine.

[D Fosse]

It's not as simple as that. While Photoshop doesn't need all that much raw computing power from the card, it relies on pretty advanced functions that have to work reliably. New standards need to be supported in the card.

What is a definite requirement, is onboard video RAM. 2GB is bare minimum, 4 or more is recommended. An integrated Intel adapter doesn't have any VRAM at all, instead it eats into shared system RAM.