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jackm4630927
Participating Frequently
January 10, 2018
Answered

Running Photoshop CS6 on large UHD Monitors

  • January 10, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 9309 views

I am running Windows 10 and am considering purchasing a large UHD (4K) monitor, such as the NEC PA322 UHD.  The smallest I would consider would be a 27 inch monitor.  Do you anticipate that I would encounter any scaling problems running Photoshop CS6 with either of these monitors? My computer is a Dell XPS 8700 desktop with an i7 processor, and a AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card. It's clear that people who are using small laptops with UHD monitors have encountered scaling problems with Photoshop. Does anyone anticipate encountering scaling issues with larger monitors. I see that some individuals have found slow performance when using a MAC in conjunction with the PA322 UHD. Does anyone have experience using either a 27 or 32 inch UHD monitor with a PC in Photoshop? Thank you for your help.

Jack McEwan

    Correct answer JJMack

    CS6 does not have Adobe UI scaling feature.  You can if you want  use Windows scaling with Photoshop.  But if your eye are good you should not need to.  A 27" 4K display resolution is 160Dpi which is not the much higher then 96Dpi  that  Photoshop's UI was created for.  In fact you will most likely love that the display is sharper then your old displays.   I have a 24" 4k display its resolution is 185Dpi Photoshop's UI is a bit on the small size young eyes could most like use that resolution.  The problem is higher resolution displays  have smaller pixels Photoshop UI displays smaller then Adobe designed for a 96Dpi display.  Small Devices like laptop with 4K display resolutions are in the 200 to 300 Dpi range Photoshop's UI displays 1/4 to 1/9 the size of a 96dpi display.

    3 replies

    JJMack
    Community Expert
    JJMackCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 10, 2018

    I chose the 24" 4k for its fit with  my 100DPI displays.   I keepPhotoshop UI on those displate and edit imar in the 4k Display.

    screen captures look like this creating wall required a Photoshop  action.]

    JJMack
      J
      jackm4630927Author
      Participating Frequently
      January 10, 2018

      Thanks for your help!

      JJMack
      Community Expert
      JJMackCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      January 10, 2018

      CS6 does not have Adobe UI scaling feature.  You can if you want  use Windows scaling with Photoshop.  But if your eye are good you should not need to.  A 27" 4K display resolution is 160Dpi which is not the much higher then 96Dpi  that  Photoshop's UI was created for.  In fact you will most likely love that the display is sharper then your old displays.   I have a 24" 4k display its resolution is 185Dpi Photoshop's UI is a bit on the small size young eyes could most like use that resolution.  The problem is higher resolution displays  have smaller pixels Photoshop UI displays smaller then Adobe designed for a 96Dpi display.  Small Devices like laptop with 4K display resolutions are in the 200 to 300 Dpi range Photoshop's UI displays 1/4 to 1/9 the size of a 96dpi display.

      JJMack
        D Fosse
        Community Expert
        D FosseCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        January 10, 2018

        Yep. With a pixel density of 140 ppi, it should probably be workable at 100%, with no scaling. A 4K laptop is a different story.

          JJMack
          Community Expert
          JJMackCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          January 10, 2018

          A 32" 4K display's resolution is 140DPI   Photoshop UI is very usable on a 32" 4k Display  My old IBM Thinkpad had a 143Dpi resolution  I much preferred that resolution over my Desktop displays 100Dpi resolution using Photoshop.

          JJMack
            D Fosse
            Community Expert
            D FosseCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            January 10, 2018

            CS6 had no interface scaling. UHD displays weren't invented back then.

            You have to take what you get - except there are hacks to scale the whole display. The downside to that is that it also scales the image window, so that the high resolution is completely wasted. It also prevents correct pixel rendering to scale, probably leaving you with an overall worse result than a lower resolution display.

            That said, current versions of Photoshop still only have 100% and 200% UI scaling. An option for 150% (which would probably be optimal in this case) is much requested and has been in beta testing for a while. Can't be long now.

              Z
              Zinnia27211973a358
              Participant
              November 19, 2022

              It seems to be a long time, by now in 2022.  I'm using CS6 because I do not want to work in the cloud, and on a 34" ultra wide screen monitor (the HP Envy 34), the Photoshop UI is much too small for comfort.  Hacks?  I've heard there are hacks?  I already know that I can increase the size of apps to a cartoonishly large 350%, at which point Photoshop's UI is readable and everything else is, well, cartoonishly large to the point of inefficiency.

              D Fosse
              Community Expert
              D FosseCommunity Expert
              Community Expert
              November 19, 2022

              Cloud saving is optional. Photoshop CC works locally off your local disks, just like it always has. 

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