Set up GPU for High Performance in Photoshop - 🔎 Quick Tip

[Sameer K]

Configuring computers with multiple graphics cards

Ultralight laptops & low-end desktop computers often use an integrated graphics card for lightweight tasks that use less power to preserve battery and share the memory with your CPU.

Higher-end computers often have a discrete, dedicated graphics card that uses its own memory (VRAM), has greater processing power, and doesn't eat up RAM.

Read more about Integrated graphics cards from Intel

Why configure a default GPU for Photoshop?

All tasks & features that require the GPU - Camera Raw, Filters, Neural Filters, Scrolling, Zoom in-out, Artboards, Export and Overall stability. An ill configuration can lead to random freeze & random app crashes while launching or working on a file. Ensuring Photoshop has been assigned the High-Performance graphics card rather than Integrated Graphics or Power-Saving graphics card delivers the best experience.

PG: Many computers with discrete graphics cards also have an integrated graphics card, which means they have two GPUs. Ensuring Photoshop has been assigned the High-Performance graphics card rather than the Integrated Graphics or Power-Saving graphics card will deliver the best experience, performance, and stability for all task and features that require GPU usage (i.e. General image display, Camera Raw, Photoshop Filters, Neural Filters, Scrolling and Zoom actions, Artboards, Export, performance and stability, and more)

How to identify display adapters (GPU) on your Windows computer?

Go to the Device Manager from Windows search or press the Windows key > Type 'Run' > Enter devmgmt.msc > Click OK.

Click on the arrow (>) to reveal the list of devices under Display Adapters.

Quick steps to set up the high-performance GPU for Photoshop

Nvidia:

❶ Use Windows Search and search for the NVIDIA control panel.

❷ Click Manage 3D settings > Program Settings

❸ Add Photoshop.exe and sniffer.exe

❹ If Photoshop.exe & sniffer.exe are not part of the default list, click on Add > Select sniffer from the list or Click Browse... >  Navigate to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop <version> & Select Photoshop.exe & sniffer.exe

❺ Change the preferred graphics processor to the High-performance NVIDIA processor & click on Apply.

❻ Check this short video for help.

Other GPUs configurations:

❶ Use Windows Search and search for Graphics Settings

❷ Click Add an app > Desktop app > Click Browse... >  Navigate to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop <version> & Select Photoshop.exe.

❸ Select Options & set it to High Performance.

❹ Repeat steps 2 & 3 to add Sniffer.exe from the same location as Photoshop.exe

❺ Check this short video for help.

Visit the Quick Tips home page to learn about Photoshop in small-sized chunks.

Related links:

Troubleshoot Photoshop crash or freeze

Troubleshoot Photoshop graphics processor (GPU) and graphics driver issues

Photoshop system requirements 

Quick Tips: Learn how to give full disk access to Photoshop on macOS

[Ambre28362584cidp]

Often useful in software or even video games that require a large part of the processor.
Related to :
https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/set-up-gpu-for-high-performance-in-ph...

[markusq70451472]

@Sameer K  

I ran into a other issue which you might want to add as next step troubleshooting.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/tipp-troubleshooting-with-external-gr...

As i have a Notebook with two Graphic Cards and added a third one (external) you need an additional change in the PhysX settings