Photoshop CC -> performance down, memory usage up.

[legrady]

I recently switched to Photoshop CC.

I noticed performance was slow, memory usage was huge. At first I thought it might be because I was processing somewhat larger panoramas than previous ( eg merging 25 images at 21 MP each ).

Then my SSD drive crashed when the sysem ran out of memory, and I can't recover it.

I reinstalled Mac OSX 10.7.5 on the original HD and re-installed PS. Now my network bandwidth has jumped from under 1 GB uploaded per day, to 20GB, 30GB, 44 GB uploaded.

I don't know how much of this can be traced to PS CC, other than it's slow performance and high memory usage, but it' a suspicious coincidence.

Tom Legrady

[AysunS]

I'm currently running CC. I tried to switch to CC2014 but my graphics card drivers do not support it. I can't update drivers since I'm on a laptop that supports only drivers from manufacturers.

To get really on topic, Adobe is one of the most ignorant companies out there. Instead of letting the users select a custom package of products, they stuff up useless things, like there are many people who use the whole suite at the same time. Show me the large number of people who are video producers, image editors, web designers and coders at the same time. Please do.

These updates look from outside like you are just patching things around, instead of going back deep to the core elements and finding the problems.

Take InDesign for example, you can't increase the UI size. How stupid up can you code a software and avoid BASIC and FUNDAMENTAL UI and UX principles?

Now I read this thread and see the problems people face + this guy's ignorance telling everyone it's their systems. You have a big problem if many people experience this AND EVEN A BIGGER ONE IF YOU CAN'T REPRODUCE IT.

[Noel Carboni]

Photoshoprint, I'm sorry to hear you're having problems.

But...  If your computer isn't providing a reliable run-time environment to the top-of-the-line state-of-the-art software you're trying to run, whose fault is it really?  Why did you choose to buy that particular laptop?  Did you choose to buy less than top-of-the-line hardware?  What brand/model is it?

I assure you that if you'd come on here and asked "Is a laptop a good choice for running Photoshop?" someone here would have let you know that there are often serious limitations such as the one you have just discovered where the laptop makers don't support their systems after the sale well enough.

Have you complained to the laptop maker that they're not keeping up with their display drivers?  You come here calling Adobe stupid, but the real problem lies with them.

And have you looked to see whether disabling the "Use Graphics Processor" option, crafted by Adobe for just such situations where the user's graphics processor doesn't work right, allows you run the latest Photoshop?  Of course the feature set becomes limited if you do that.

Regarding the bundling/packaging of Adobe software, you DO know that you can install just the applications you want from the Creative Cloud application, right?  And there are packages (such as the Photographer's bundle for which you pay just for Photoshop and Lightroom) that are reasonably priced.

You really should think twice before calling others stupid.

-Noel

[AysunS]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I'm not complaining because my laptop can't run it. I'm not mad about that. What bugs me is that I was planning to buy a new pc and upgrade + install the new CC 2014 and it's really frustrating when you hear this problems. You would think that a new PC + new software would work better right? Reading this thread seems it is the opposite.

So yea, except that, I was talking in general about adobe and they are, indeed, stupid.

[Noel Carboni]

So you're here in a purely hypothetical capacity?  Anticipating problems that you don't actually have?

Are you new to the Internet?  You may not realize that one hears primarily about problems on a forum.  Not a lot of people go online and say "Adobe, thanks - your application is running just as it should be on my computer".  Note that Adobe is still in business and try to imagine there's a reason for that.

I personally have a decent and fairly modern computer (just a couple of years old) and Photoshop CC 2014 runs just fine.

Frankly I find it amusing that you insist on calling Adobe names, especially under the circumstances you've just exposed.  It's been my experience that insecure people lash out at others.  My advice above still stands.

-Noel

[AysunS]

Again, this has nothing to do with me. I might come in as a frustrated chump throwing random words at the wall, but the general impression is what matters and here we talk about the product.

1. I have to buy the whole suite to get access to Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. I do not need the rest. Why can't Adobe offer a custom package like this?

2. How come 10$ in USA = 10euro in Europe? And then VAT is added?

3. Memory problems and such, it's one thing to have compatibility problems with certain graphic cards, operating systems and known bugs - acknowledging and keeping the users informed is what needs to be done. It's another thing to keep telling users "we have tested, we can't reproduce the problem, it's your fault".

4. When someone comes and says that he bought a new computer and latest Photoshop works worse than previous releases, there is a BIG problem.

5. I have no problem in Photoshop eating more RAM, requiring more resources when it comes to certain features.

When the stupid transform tool starts lagging in CC when you resize a small layer, but in CS5 there is no problem like that, it's a big deal. Then you troubleshoot your problem on forums and you discover that by turning off layer thumbnails it almost fixes the problem. Pathetic.

Such problems seem big, because you wouldn't expect them from a big software and company.

L.E. -> I'm more than confused now when I read these problems, so I can't figure out how to build my pc. Powerful processor and average graphics card or average processor+powerful graphics card?

[Noel Carboni]

That's just funny.  Usually people only rant about Adobe after they have a problem.

Consider:

A decently powerful processor. 

In the words of Neo, "you need SSDs, lots of SSDs".  Do not skimp.  Plan to have at least 50% free space after you have used it for years.  And in case you haven't heard, SSDs RAID really well.

A $200 gamer video card is quite sufficient.  Personally, I prefer ATI, e.g., an ATI R9 270X with 2GB of fast VRAM:  Graphics Cards : VisionTek Radeon™ R9 270X Graphics Card

But above all, RAM, RAM, RAM.  Photoshop runs best on systems with gobs of RAM.

-Noel

[Noel Carboni]

FYI, Photoshop 2014.2 is out today, and well worth a try.

-Noel

[Rainybeet]

"If Photoshop is grabbing RAM, it is because it does need it for something that you opened. That could be a document, or it could be presets that you have loaded. By default, Photoshop does not use that much RAM. And Photoshop won't use that much RAM until you load or do something that needs that much RAM."

So Photoshop is NOT supposed to grab tons of RAM for no reason other than it "might" need it later? Sorry but this is exactly opposite of what has been said on this very thread.

Either PS is SUPPOSED to hog all of your RAM to increase performance, and is therefore working as intended, or there are other problems with our systems that did not exist before CC but now just happened to show up that are causing memory issues.

Sorry, but you cannot have it both ways depending on who is asking the question. Seriously, I cannot believe you actually posted that given previous "answers."

[Noel Carboni]

rainybeet wrote:

So, is this Photoshop "working as usual?"  You cannot tell me that Photoshop is supposed to grab almost 5 Gb of RAM that it does not need when I first open it, causing it to be sluggish and slow down the rest of my system, only to give it up and run smoothly after I have used it for a bit.  When Photoshop is not hogging all of my memory it runs just fine, and I can keep it open all day, even when not using it, without noticing any drain on my system.  THAT seems to be working as intended.  It is when it is working right that it uses memory when it needs it and does not use memory when it does not.

What you've written implies that you do not fully understand how Photoshop is expected to work.

Once Photoshop allocates RAM - because you've opened a big document, or because you've opened a lot of documents, because you've done a lot of steps that generated a lot of history states, it normally allocates the RAM it needs and it HOLDS ONTO IT.  Chris has said as much above.

If you need to be able to do a bunch of Photoshop work AND leave it running all day, A) you need to configure Photoshop to use only so much RAM that it will leave enough free for everything else, and B) you need to have enough RAM so that the amount you allocate to Photoshop allows your system to run efficiently.  I'll add a C) that to maintain a responsive system you really, really want a high performance I/O subsystem.

-Noel

[DJ Emir]

He didn't say he opened a document, Photoshop is already automatically grabbing ram just opening Photoshop itself. Now it does make sense for Photoshop to start doing that in anticipation of working on files so that it already has some ram allocated the second you start working on stuff, but it is hanging for a bit before it lets me open anything. I'm experiencing a major slow down in actions and in saving files. I have bought a new hard drive to replace what feels like a dying third hard drive (used for file storage only)

I plan on getting a whole new motherboard, GPU and I7 4790K processor as I am on an older I7 right now. Once I have the new computer if these problems start up again I will be sure to let you know because right now the bottleneck in performance for Photoshop CC is ridiculous.

One thing I would say is to check on font usage. Does anyone know what is considered an acceptable amount of fonts and if that could be causing part of the problem what can be done about it. How does one use Adobe font management or other font management systems to seamlessly work with fonts while not losing system performance. I myself have about 8000 fonts loaded, 5000 of which were loaded just a little over a month ago. Back in CS2 and other Photoshops like CS6 (perhaps) I used to notice Photoshop would load system fonts when it opened. I don't see the dialogue in CC but being how long it takes to start up CC I assume the same thing must also happening in the background without any viual indicator to let us know what is happening, which could explain part of the sluggish start times, but it still is way too long of a time for a computer with 2 Intel SSD drives as it's primary and secondary hard drive and 24GB of Ram. Basically the only thing I have left to upgrade is the Motherboard and processor as this is already an I7 with tons of 7600 RPM storage, SSD Operating system and primary disc and a second SSD for primary scratch disk and plenty of ram even though it is an earlier generation i7.

More and more people will be coming to this forum looking for a solution to this problem of slow performance, knowing full well that their previous versions of the same software simply outperforms the new software. Telling them that they simply need to shell out another 2000-8000 to buy a new computer or upgrade their existing one when Photoshop was running just fine prior to this version is really not solving the issue and is just going to piss a ton of people off. That is not a good idea now that you are switching to a monthly and yearly subscription based model. If they get pissed off enough they will cancel subscriptions and either revert back to CS6 CS5.5 or whatever they had previously, or simply will find another solution from another company, I hear there are finally a few that give Photoshop a run for it's money. But many of us are loyal Photoshop fans, so why not help keep us that way.

[Noel Carboni]

Your mention of fonts is a good thing.  I have only 343 fonts in C:\Windows\Fonts myself.  I wonder if having a bunch of fonts on hand could be causing some massive amount of calculation when Photoshop is starting up.

I do have to say that there's a very brief period for me after Photoshop cold starts - maybe 1/4 to 1/2 second - where the UI is showing but it will ignore a click on, say, the File menu.  But Photoshop has always had some stall or incomplete initialization at that point; it's not new for CC though it may be slightly different (I used to see, for example, menus with most or all items grayed-out).

Also note that several recent (August 2014) Windows Updates are being reported to cause problems with fonts, especially those installed in folders other than the default.  Note, for example the "Known Issues" sections here:

MS14-045: Description of the security update for kernel-mode drivers: August 12, 2014

MS14-045: Description of the security update for kernel-mode drivers: August 27, 2014

-Noel

[allisonkae]

Hi Chris,

So I am a beginner with the Adobe Suite, and on top of that I am not a techie who can give you detailed information about my RAM or my processor.

All I know is I use Photoshop and Illustrator on two different computers. Both are Windows (Windows 7 and Windows 8). On both computers, I know if I open any program with the name Adobe on it, my whole computer slows down. Where this is happening on both computers, I know it is a problem with the software and not with my computer.

As you can imagine, it is difficult to get work done in a timely manner for my boss and for my professors when I have this problem.

If you could give me a layman answer about how to fix this problem on my own, (if it can be fixed),  that would be great.

Thanks,

Your Very Important Customer

[Soundgarden]

Allison, how much RAM (memory) do you have on each computer?

Adobe suite programs require a tremendous amount of RAM. They can run on smaller memory computers, but can cause a big performance decrease while running.  Personally, some of the Adobe suite programs cause a major drag in my computer performance just opening the programs - but that is temporary, 1-3 mins. (but that's another issue.)

The software also uses disk space for temporary memory storage as well as your RAM memory.  Check your computer's memory and also check to see how much free space you have on your hard drives, for each computer.

Photoshop running on a 4GB computer with a decent i3 processor or higher should not drag your computer just editing small files. But there are many factors could cause an issue in performance.

[allisonkae]

In response to the last paragraph, what kinds of things would I have to Uninstall or exit out of? How many programs do I have to delete before I can use photoshop?

Also, is there any chance this problem may stem from the program's constant communication with a cloud?

Thank you for offering a solution that I can work with, and not just telling me what's wrong. I really appreciate it.

[Soundgarden]

how much RAM do you have to work with? if you have 4GB or less of memory on your computer, you're options beyond upgrading to more memory are limited.

cloud access is internet only, and unless you share a lot of your personal work on Behance, you shouldn't have any problems with the cloud unless you're downloading and installing software updates all the time. I use carbonite, but that kills my internet speed when backing up, not my computer's performance.... so anything cloud related shouldn't have a significant impact on software performance.

[War Unicorn]

allisonkae wrote:

In response to the last paragraph, what kinds of things would I have to Uninstall or exit out of? How many programs do I have to delete before I can use photoshop?

Also, is there any chance this problem may stem from the program's constant communication with a cloud?

Thank you for offering a solution that I can work with, and not just telling me what's wrong. I really appreciate it.

Anything that resides in memory that's non-essential to the task at hand. (Apps that run in the background can be exited in the SysTray in the lower right, usually by right-clicking its icon. e.g., Adobe's own CC Desktop App allows this.) I never let apps run at startup if I can help it. I know what I want, when I want it.

You can usually let antivirus and antimalware apps run, but note they, too, can slow down your system due to real-time scanning going on (if it's enabled). These can usually be suspended or paused (usually by right-clicking its icon in the SysTray) while you do something more intensive.

The CC App consumes little memory, plus it's needed to sync and check your license at least once a month plus use resources like TypeKit.

[War Unicorn]

RAM, RAM and RAM would be the best thing to boost the performance of Photoshop/Illustrator. (The same rings true for any application, not just Adobe's oeuvre.)

As it stands, on my Windows 8.1 Update machine, I only have a few minor things running in the background and the SysTray. (Only 4 icons active in the SysTray alone.) I have a total of 12 GB of RAM to play with. Photoshop CC 2015, when first opened but with no documents active, takes up about 380 MB of memory. Opening a multi-layer, 16-bit, 3000 x 3000 pixel, 300 DPI document boosts Photoshop use to about 910 MB. I imagine opening and closing documents would continue RAM usage to climb until it reaches the amount specified in Edit > Preferences > Performance > Memory Usage, where it would then auto-flush to make room for current documents. (Maybe Chris can clarify this as I'm no propeller-head on the matter either.)

My advice would be to take a long, hard look at what's going on behind the scenes on your system(s). On Windows 8, Ctrl + Shift + Esc will tell you what's going on usage-wise. (I believe the same applies for Windows 7 but don't quote me.) Uninstall or just exit anything that's not essential. Windows Key + Pause/Break will tell you the basics of your system (like processor and installed memory).

[rtl300]

It is a sad state of affairs when the official response to all of these concerns about memory usage is 'it's your fault not ours'.  I've upgraded photoshop through each version from photoshop 7 and have never faced the issues that are occurring with CC.  If third party plugins and drivers affect Photoshop that badly then surely they should affect CS5 in the same way as they are affecting CC but I can assure you that my CS5 works perfectly and CC is unusable.  I, as many others in this discussion, feel that this is most certainly an issue for Adobe to solve, as long time Adobe users and supporters we deserve better service than this.  I am only able to use the RAW conversion element to CC (because CS5's version hasn't been updated to convert Nikon D600 or 800 RAW files) and once my tiffs or jpegs have been generated I then have to shut down CC and load up CS5 to work on them, I shouldn't be paying a monthly subscription to do that! 

[chuck@chuckespinoza.com]

Despite paying a monthly fee for CC I gave up using it. For the adobe techs to say that there is nothing wrong is a joke.

I am running a six-core system with 32 GB ram, an SSD, an empty drive dedicated to cache, on a win 7 - 64bit OS. Bridge, camera raw and Photoshop CC are so slow I can't use them. To tell me that nothing has changed between CS6 and CC is a lie or the person making the statement doesn't have enough information to make that blanket statement. With each new upgrade (including this week's) I try to use CC only to put it away and use CS6 again.

Like our counterparts with lightroom I often batch edit raw file files in camera RAW. I tried to grab canon 5d Mark III files and I got an hourglass. In CS6 there isn't any delay. Switching between folders in bridge takes forever (even if the cache is loaded).

there is an issue

[Chris Cox]

Millions of other users are not seeing any such slowdown. We cannot reproduce any such slowdown.

We have lots of information, but all of it tells us that the problem is something local to your system.

[chuck@chuckespinoza.com]

Are you or adobe offering custom tech support to go along with my monthly payment?

I am running CC out of the box? Just like the update I installed last night. I have increased the ram usage in my photoshop preferences but that has no effect on camera RAW nor bridge

[Noel Carboni]

Oh, and bear in mind that the settings you've chosen, edits you've made on the image, etc. will have an effect on how long it takes to open a particular raw file.

Are you comparing times with default settings in all cases?

-Noel

[chuck@chuckespinoza.com]

upon opening bridge CC to the folder that was previously used it took ~38 seconds of "building criteria" before i could view the file types, ratings, and details in the filter box.

The files have not been edited and have basic metadata embedded when downloaded. I selected the same 20 raw files in each case.

bridge CC camera raw 8.5 took ~5 seconds of a watch icon (sorry not hourglass) to load the files into the camera raw dialog after hitting CTRL R

No edits or changes were made to the files.

when i clicked to the next image in the list (still in camera raw) it took 0.5-1 second of the watch icon to load the next raw photo in the batch.

In CS6 it took ~4 seconds of building criteria

Selected the same 20 unedited RAW files CTRL R and they immediately load. I can switch from raw file to RAW file without any hiccup or delay.

not exactly scientific but that's the disparity I am seeing. Bridge CC is death to me. I know that the cache is not loaded because I don't use bridge CC but to make sure I wasn't crazy I clicked on a recent folder with only 80 raw files, respective small jpgs and a couple video files (4.5 gigs of data). It took so long I freaked out that I had moved the files to a backup location instead of copying them. After 30 second I stopped counting, opened windows explorer, browsed the backup folder, copied the files and was about to paste them to what should have been the original location and then Bridge decided that it was ready to work. For that ~ one minute there was no watch icon, no spinning circle or "building criteria". It just looked as if I was browsing an empty folder.

[Noel Carboni]

Thanks, that's the kind of performance degradation description that engineers can sink teeth into.  I hope Adobe's listening.

Is there any chance it was busily working on building databases in the background, and would have settled to a higher performance state if allowed to run for a while?  That's just a wild guess.

Unfortunately I've not even installed Bridge, so I can't say whether Bridge has gotten slower nor provide any particular tune-up tips, but I'm sure there are folks who can offer suggestions.

-Noel

[chuck@chuckespinoza.com]

for the first folder where I waited ~38 seconds it was probably building thumbs. For a 5 gig folder that takes a minute to load and show images means something is off.