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legrady
Participant
June 27, 2013
Answered

Photoshop CC -> performance down, memory usage up.

  • June 27, 2013
  • 42 replies
  • 138056 views

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

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Chris Cox

That would be because the memory usage is about the same as previous versions, and we don't know of any major memory leaks in Photoshop CC (we do a lot of testing to find and eliminate memory leaks in Photoshop).

And because we've seen third party drivers and third party plugins with memory leaks.

If Photoshop consumes that much RAM without opening any documents - then you have about 6 Gigs of presets being loaded at launch (which is presets that you added, because by default Photoshop doesn't load that many presets, and consumes under 300 Meg at launch).

If you mean that Photoshop cosumes that much after closing documents - then that is how much you allocated to Photoshop and used in your documents.  Photoshop not releasing memory back to the system until exit is perfectly normal behavior (otherwise it would run much slower).

We can try to help you determine what is consuming memory on your system.

But insisting that Photoshop is the cause when it is easily verified as not being the cause, won't help you.

42 replies

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O
orion128
Participating Frequently
June 22, 2014

I updated my CC version of Photoshop, for Photoshop CC 2014 version.

Now I work a lot slower than the previous version, so I can not nomally work. Moving objects, loading the editing tools, zoom, and scrolling is much slower. I do not understand why, in the previous version everything was working properly.

I have the following configuration:

Windows 7 Pro 64bit
Gainward GeForce GTX 770 Phantom 4GB

Intel i7 CPU

16 GB of RAM

Mpower MSI Z77 motherboard

My PS performance settings:

PS The use of 70% of RAM

3 scratchdisk with 250GB of free space

4 catche levels

Can you help me to solve the problem?

C
chuck@chuckespinoza.com
Participating Frequently
June 20, 2014

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
    Chris Cox
    Legend
    June 21, 2014

    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.

    C
    chuck@chuckespinoza.com
    Participating Frequently
    June 21, 2014

    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

      R
      rtl300
      Participant
      January 4, 2014

      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! 

        D
        Dustin07
        Participating Frequently
        January 4, 2014

        The fact that these techs are going to tell every single person that the problem with the memory being eaten up by photoshop CC is in their systems.
        The fact that these techs are going to keep telling people that the memory usage is the same as previous versions of Photoshop.
        I restored the latest version 17" model Macbook pro to its factory settings and replaced 8 gigs of ram with 16gigs and then did a new install of CC and I have to tell you that even if you set the preferences to 30% in Photoshop, it still eats 6 gigs without a document opened!  th bottom line is the more RAM addeed the more it takes.  I have been reading these posts since I subscribed to CC 4 months ago and nothing has changed. The Adobe specialists tell everyone that it is their system that is the problem and Photoshop is the same as it has always been.  Well I am sorry but, I find this unacceptable.  I am seriously thinking about getting rid of my CC membership because of what is happening. To me the difference between CC and CS5 is small.  Content Aware is the same to me whether it is CS5 or CC.  It is just sad that instead of finding a solution to this problem it is being denied instead. The fact is, we all need Adobe software because there is no other alternative so, we are at the mercy of those who tell us that the problem lies in our systems.

          Chris Cox
          Chris CoxCorrect answer
          Legend
          January 4, 2014

          That would be because the memory usage is about the same as previous versions, and we don't know of any major memory leaks in Photoshop CC (we do a lot of testing to find and eliminate memory leaks in Photoshop).

          And because we've seen third party drivers and third party plugins with memory leaks.

          If Photoshop consumes that much RAM without opening any documents - then you have about 6 Gigs of presets being loaded at launch (which is presets that you added, because by default Photoshop doesn't load that many presets, and consumes under 300 Meg at launch).

          If you mean that Photoshop cosumes that much after closing documents - then that is how much you allocated to Photoshop and used in your documents.  Photoshop not releasing memory back to the system until exit is perfectly normal behavior (otherwise it would run much slower).

          We can try to help you determine what is consuming memory on your system.

          But insisting that Photoshop is the cause when it is easily verified as not being the cause, won't help you.

          KREO_D15
          KREO_D15
          Participant
          January 4, 2014

          I'm experiencing the 'slowdown as well.

          recently updated from cs4 to cc being stumbled by it's huge slowdown.

          I work on a 2007 intel mac pro

          With 'no' add-ons, exept for 20 custom made brushes and 7 actions.

          Processor  2 x 3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon

          Software  Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63)

          Processor  2 x 3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon

          Videocard  ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512 MB

          memory  12 GB 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM

          I limited the animations and cache use to 65%

          but the shear 'dunk' in my productivity has made me switch back to cs4

          R
          rtl300
          Participant
          November 16, 2013

          I've just 'upgraded' to Adobe CC purely because CS5 hadn't been updated by Adobe to open the new RAW files produced by my Nikon D600.  Naturally as I'm paying for the new version I have tried to use it but it runs amazingly slowly even though it is all set to run as CS5 was and I have sadly had to revert to CS5 for everything other than RAW processing.  Actions that run in CS5 without issue are laboured and slow in CC and after very little time a message simply appears saying that it can't function as there isn't enough RAM, something that hasn't ever happened with CS5.  Very disappointed to be spending out on the cloud for a product that doesn't work.  Have looked at Lightroom as an alternative but flaws in its layout and work processes mean I find it far more unsuited to RAW conversion than using CC or CS5...please get this memory usage problem solved!!!

            A
            Aspeeder
            Participant
            October 30, 2013

            I recently "upgraded?" to CC at my office. I mainly use Photoshop and Dreamweaver. I have noticed a huge reduction in responsiveness. I work on a less than 1-year-old iMac, and since upgrading it take 5 minutes or more to open files that use to be relatively quick to open. I also am having slow save times. Just to manipulate text in a text box, sometimes causes the spinning color wheel to come op for 10 or more seconds. This kind of slowdown is affecting my productivity. What can I check to speed up my load times?

            M
            mmgulati
            Participant
            November 15, 2013

            I have the same story with Adobe CC. I have Adobe CS5.5 on one system and CC on another. The file is ±400MB in size, and the CS5.5 uses 6-8GB of RAM while working on the file, while the CC uses 13-16GB of RAM on the same file.

            Both systems have 16GB RAM installed, and are allowing Photoshop to use up to 90%.

            I'm currently using 6 Cache levels and 1024 tile size.

              B
              booey
              Participant
              September 19, 2013

              Yes, this is ridiculous. I was having some relatively minor issues with Bridge CS6 but am now on a different subscription and decided to switch to Bridge CC and Photoshop CC.  Big Mistake.  Pretty much made the problems worse and PS takes forever to load and open photos from Bridge.  I just doubled my RAM to three weeks ago and now it looks like I will be needing even more of it.  Adobe needs to get their act together.

              Chris Cox
              Chris Cox
              Legend
              September 19, 2013

              If Photoshop is taking more than 20 seconds to load... something is wrong with your system.

              (and 20 seconds is on the worst laptop we can still boot, normal launch is under 7, and with an SSD it's under 2 seconds)

              wendym97311974
              wendym97311974
              Participant
              January 20, 2016

              ‌i am having the same probleM with PS CC taking 5GB RAM and 12minutes to load.  I am about to go in and delete all my presets as I'm desperate to get some work done.

              A
              Atsushi Hashimoto
              Participating Frequently
              August 13, 2013

              I have same problem on Mac.

              After closing my documents without quiting the app,

              memory usage does not decreace.

              I try to confirm with cleanning the histories and clipboard,

              but the usage did not changed.

              It occurs every time.

              I don't use any plug-ins.

                Chris Cox
                Chris Cox
                Legend
                August 13, 2013

                That's not a problem -- memory usage is not supposed to decrease when you close documents.

                Photoshop allocates memory up to the limit you set in preferences, then reuses that memory.

                Photoshop won't release the memory until the OS needs it (paging), or you exit photoshop.

                A
                Atsushi Hashimoto
                Participating Frequently
                August 13, 2013

                @Chris

                No.

                On my machine, PhotoshopCC eats huge memory compared with lower versions,

                it doesn't release after closing docs. And my machine become very very slow.

                CS6 and CS5 don't show this problem on same PSD.

                  Noel Carboni
                  Noel Carboni
                  Legend
                  July 2, 2013

                  I vote coincidence - for me Photoshop CC is just as fast as and uses the same number of resources as Photoshop CS6.

                  -Noel

                  M
                  MatthewPWright
                  Participating Frequently
                  July 2, 2013

                  I'm having a very similar problem. Since switching to photoshop CC I can no longer successfuly edit multiple images as I was able to do in CS6.

                  I have a Mac Pro running 24GB of memory, yet I'm running out due to Photoshop hording memory. Upon launch, Photoshop CC was using circa 1GB of memory, having processed 7 120mb raw image files as tiffs, the memory being used by photoshop has increased to a whopping 11.81GB of memory. Surely this is an issue with Photoshop CC?

                    Trevor.Dennis
                    Community Expert
                    Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
                    Community Expert
                    July 2, 2013

                    Matthew, I'm just wondering how much space you have on your OS drive, as per Chris's comment in the post before yours?  In these days of SSDs for OS and program files, people do tend to run very short, and that might be especially true of they have just subscribed to the full Creative Cloud package (although the 12 apps I installed came to a lot less than 10Gb).

                      Chris Cox
                      Chris Cox
                      Legend
                      February 26, 2014

                      Jon/Chris, maybe this will help (perhaps Im not alone in this--I hate it when I'm told I'm doing something wrong, but not instructed how to remidy the issue): http://www.adobe.com/inspire/2012/04/configuring-photoshop-optimal-performance.html


                      No, that won't help a bit.

                      Photoshop CC doesn't have a 32 bit version on MacOS.

                      And Jon simply launched the wrong version on Windows and failed to realize it.

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