How to fix "limited graphics acceleration is enabled" Quadro RTX 4000

Report · Jul 02, 2025

Hello Adobe team and community,

I'm reaching out after exhausting every known method to get my Quadro RTX 4000 working properly with Photoshop 2025 and Camera Raw 17.4.1. Despite having a system more than capable of handling Adobe’s AI tools, I’m still getting:

:warning: “Limited graphics acceleration is enabled” in Camera Raw
:warning: CPU usage spikes to 100% when applying AI Denoise or masks
:warning: GPU usage barely registers at 5–7% during these operations

This is beyond frustrating, especially given what I paid for this workstation GPU, which was explicitly purchased for high-end creative workloads.

:desktop_computer:️ My System Specs:

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900KF @ 3.60 GHz (8 cores / 16 threads)
RAM: 64 GB DDR4
GPU: PNY NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 (8 GB VRAM)
OS: Windows 10 Pro, 64-bit
Camera Raw Version: 17.4.1.2280
Photoshop Version: Photoshop 2025 (Latest)
GPU Driver: NVIDIA Studio Driver 537.58 WHQL, manually installed from NVIDIA’s archive

:white_heavy_check_mark: What I’ve Already Tried:

Enabled Custom GPU mode in ACR and Photoshop
Set GPU to be used for image processing and OpenCL
Set cache to 50 GB and ensured NVMe drive for Camera Raw cache
Manually installed correct Studio Driver, not Game Ready or RTX feature branch
Rebooted between every major step
Attempted sniffer.exe override to force Photoshop to acknowledge the GPU
Tried dropping gpu_preferences.json in %AppData%\Adobe\CameraRaw\
Verified GPU is recognized in NVIDIA Control Panel and Task Manager
Tested AI features while zoomed to 100% to ensure ACR fully engages
Still get “Limited graphics acceleration” and near-zero GPU utilization

🧨 What I’m Seeing:

CPU spikes to 100% during mask generation and Denoise
GPU (CUDA/3D) hovers under 10%
Photoshop reports 0 MB VRAM and “GPU not supported” if sniffer.exe is missing or replaced
ACR continues to use CPU-only rendering even with all GPU toggles active

💬 The Ask:

How do I force Photoshop and Camera Raw to fully utilize my Quadro RTX 4000 for AI Denoise, Super Resolution, and masking?

Is there a more specific driver version Adobe prefers internally?
Has the Quadro RTX 4000 been soft deprecated in Adobe’s newer builds?
Can I manually whitelist or override Adobe’s hardware detection via config files or ENV variables?
Is there any way to bypass the “Limited acceleration” lock and allow full CUDA/OpenCL use?

:direct_hit: Why This Matters:

This card cost a lot and was marketed specifically for high-end AI and creative workloads. It’s beyond frustrating to see onboard graphics outperform it due to Adobe’s artificial software restrictions.

If there's a working config, workaround, or official stance from Adobe, I would deeply appreciate a straight answer — or even better, a fix.

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

(I had chatgpt rephrase all this for me, as it's been tracking everything I've been trying to do, multiple drivers, multiple settings, it even said it could create a fake sniffer.exe to fix it, it did not work).

Report · Jul 02, 2025

Hey, @Micheal35732356bgoi. Welcome to the Photoshop Community. I'll help you figure this out.

The formatting almost tricked me into believing this is spam. But, I understand you've tried a variety of troubleshooting steps.

I found the latest drivers for Nvidia Quadro RTX 4000 is v573.42. Please the latest version of GPU drivers.

After this, clear the GPU info & Logs location on Windows is %APPDATA%\Adobe\CameraRaw. A shortcut to get to this folder on Windows is:

Press the Windows + R
Enter %APPDATA%\Adobe\CameraRaw
Rename the GPU & Logs folder in this directory by adding .old at the end. (GPU.old & Logs.old)
Launch Photoshop & Camera Raw again.

After this, head to the the bottom of this page (https://adobe.ly/4npYMgl) to Step 6 and check if removing the TempDisableGPU3 helps.

Let me know how it goes. Thanks!
Sameer K

(Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

Report · Jul 02, 2025

@Sameer K, with this version of the driver, when I select custom, Use GPU for image processing is greyed out, with the other driver, it was checked, just didn't seem to do anything at all.

I'm going to paste one log (then the other).

cr_sdk_initialize: Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 17.4.1 (Windows), version 17.4.1x2280, 64-bit, Release
name : NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000
VendorId : 4318
DeviceId : 7857
SubSysId : 312479966
Revision : 161
DedicatedVideoMemory : 8383365120
DedicatedSystemMemory : 0
SharedSystemMemory : 34324803584
MemoryBudget : 7578058752
AdapterLuid.LowPart : 70847
AdapterLuid.HighPart : 0
Flags : 0
DoublePrecisionFloatShaderOps : yes
ConservativeRasterizationTier : 3
CrossNodeSharingTier : 0
ResourceBindingTier : 3
ResourceHeapTier : 2
TiledResourcesTier : 3
NodeIndex : 0
TileBasedRenderer : no
UMA : no
CacheCoherentUMA : no
feature level : 0x00009100
feature level : 0x00009200
feature level : 0x00009300
feature level : 0x0000a000
feature level : 0x0000a100
feature level : 0x0000b000
feature level : 0x0000b100
feature level : 0x0000c000
feature level : 0x0000c100
MaxSupportedFeatureLevel : 0x0000c100
HighestShaderModel : 0x60
WaveOps : yes
WaveLaneCountMin : 32
WaveLaneCountMax : 32
TotalLaneCount : 2304
ExpandedComputeResourceStates : yes
Int64ShaderOps : yes
RootSignature.HighestVersion : 0x2
ML inference: default device (Auto Fastest)

**********************************************

cr_sdk_initialize: Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 17.4.1 (Windows), version 17.4.1x2280, 64-bit, Release
gDNGMaxSIMD: 3
Memory allocator: internal scalable (cr_memory_scalable_allocator)
libdispatch threading: yes
thread type: dispatch
ACE thread type: dispatch
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9900KF CPU @ 3.60GHz
OS: 10.0.19041.5915
MPProcessorCount (hyperthreading = false): 8
MPProcessorCount (hyperthreading = true): 16
MPThreadCount: 16
std::thread::hardware_concurrency: 16
AVX support: yes
AVX2 support: yes
AVX512 support: no
System physical RAM: 64 GB
Initialize GPU system
Read GPU config
New/changed GPU init digest, so zapping any TempDisableGPU2 and TempDisableGPU3 files.
Safe load GPU
Native16BitShaderOpsSupported: YES
SupportsShaderModel_6_2_OrHigher: YES
Supports FP16 for DX on WML: YES
Building pipeline states for NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000
name : NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000
VendorId : 4318
DeviceId : 7857
SubSysId : 312479966
Revision : 161
DedicatedVideoMemory : 8383365120
DedicatedSystemMemory : 0
SharedSystemMemory : 34324803584
MemoryBudget : 7578058752
AdapterLuid.LowPart : 70847
AdapterLuid.HighPart : 0
Flags : 0
DoublePrecisionFloatShaderOps : yes
ConservativeRasterizationTier : 3
CrossNodeSharingTier : 0
ResourceBindingTier : 3
ResourceHeapTier : 2
TiledResourcesTier : 3
NodeIndex : 0
TileBasedRenderer : no
UMA : no
CacheCoherentUMA : no
feature level : 0x00009100
feature level : 0x00009200
feature level : 0x00009300
feature level : 0x0000a000
feature level : 0x0000a100
feature level : 0x0000b000
feature level : 0x0000b100
feature level : 0x0000c000
feature level : 0x0000c100
MaxSupportedFeatureLevel : 0x0000c100
HighestShaderModel : 0x60
WaveOps : yes
WaveLaneCountMin : 32
WaveLaneCountMax : 32
TotalLaneCount : 2304
ExpandedComputeResourceStates : yes
Int64ShaderOps : yes
RootSignature.HighestVersion : 0x2
Loaded GPU system: DirectX
GPU primary driver version: 32.0.15.7342
GPU device count: 1
GPU device names: NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000
GPU3 allow list: yes
GPU3 deny list: no
GPU3 prev digest: 00000000000000000000000000000000
GPU3 new digest: 4FD9787F2863DBE7EB87DFD6FD34008F
Need to run gpu self tests : True.
New/changed sanity digest, so zapping any TempDisableGPU3 files
GPU Init Status (part 1): I2_GPU2
GPU3 Hard Status Result (part 1): unknown
GPU3 Soft Status Result (part 1): success
GPU4 Hard Status Result (part 1): unknown
GPU4 Soft Status Result (part 1): success
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000: Building compute pipeline state NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000: Finished building compute pipeline states.

Maybe that'll help.

Report · Jul 02, 2025

It’s beyond frustrating to see onboard graphics outperform it

By @Micheal35732356bgoi

Does this mean it's a dual-graphics system? That's a well known potential conflict and you may need to completely disable the integrated GPU. See section 6 & 7 here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/troubleshoot-gpu-graphics-card.html

Just for info, these new AI-based functions that you specifically mention (Denoise, masking, super resolution) mainly use the GPU's Tensor cores, not CUDA. And it doesn't run under OpenCL. Tensor cores are optimized for these tasks. But it sounds like that's not happening on your machine - they will be extremely slow on "standard" GPU cores/CUDA.

Report · Jul 02, 2025

No, my wife has a much weaker computer, and an older graphics card, the 1660 Super, and it runs better on hers. More of a frustrated complaint, I should be more precise when asking for help, sorry.