Slow photoshop performance ADM 6870 -> RX560

[Loa]

Hello,

I recently upgraded my old ADM 6870 to a RX560 (on my 2009MP). I did that for a few games I play, and the results were very noticeable.

I didn't expect photoshop performance to increase (even though I'm using GPU acceleration), but I certainly didn't expect it to slow down.

The main problem is the brushes. When using brushes (with or without feathering), I get choppy mouse movement instead of the smooth flowing movement I had before.

Any ideas?

 

[martyjmclean]

Last year I had similar problems when I upgraded the memory (to 128GB) and GPU (to GTX 680) in my 2012 Mac Pro. Maybe because the Mac Pro only officially supports 64GB? I don't know, but honestly my solution was to ditch Photoshop for Affinity Photo.

 

[crjackson2134]

Last year I had similar problems when I upgraded the memory (to 128GB) and GPU (to GTX 680) in my 2012 Mac Pro. Maybe because the Mac Pro only officially supports 64GB? I don't know, but honestly my solution was to ditch Photoshop for Affinity Photo.

Interesting... I’m not particularly happy with PS performance myself lately. Would you consider Affinity Photo an equal to PS?

 

[martyjmclean]

Interesting... I’m not particularly happy with PS performance myself lately. Would you consider Affinity Photo an equal to PS?

As a photographer and basic graphic designer, it is! Everyone else I know seems to love it too. There might be some missing/different features for your workflow so I'd suggest playing with the free trial.

Also, they've had an iPad app for a few years - while Photoshop won't get one for another few years.

 

[crjackson2134]

As a photographer and basic graphic designer, it is! Everyone else I know seems to love it too. There might be some missing/different features for your workflow so I'd suggest playing with the free trial.

Also, they've had an iPad app for a few years - while Photoshop won't get one for another few years.

Thanks, I didn’t realize it had a trial version. I’m on my iPad more than my Mac (like right now), so it would be nice to have the same app on both. I will definitely be giving this a test drive.

I actually have a disdain for Adobe since moving to a subscription model. I’m still using CS6 because of that. It’s pretty inexpensive too... Can’t wait.

 

[h9826790]

Interesting... I’m not particularly happy with PS performance myself lately. Would you consider Affinity Photo an equal to PS?

If all you need is just PS but not the whole Adobe package. Affinity Photos is waaaaaaay better than PS.

I switched to AP about half years ago. So happy about that. The UI is little bit different, but the short keys are the same, make us very easy to switch.

And since it's really build for macOS, much much better optimisation. A lot smoother experience overall.

 

[Loa]

Hello,

Thanks for the tip. I'll check Affinity out.

In the meantime, anyone know why I would suddenly get worse performance?

Thanks.

 

[crjackson2134]

Installed Affinity Photo earlier today. Nice App. I will definitely make the switch.

 

[OneyedK]

In the meantime, anyone know why I would suddenly get worse performance?

No idea... I went from 5870 to RX580 Nitro+ and in PS (CC) most complex routines are a few seconds faster...
Did the comparison on High Sierra, but timed again with Mojave and get consistent results.

What OS is your mac on? Was it a clean install?

 

[bsbeamer]

Make sure to set your scratch disk, or reset your scratch disk. Keeping separate from system drive (and media drive with source files) helps a lot. I noticed the RX580 slightly slower than GTX 1080 FE when testing in 10.13.6 a few months back, but nothing quantitatively or timed to scientifically show that. Have not yet moved to Mojave.

Have stuck with High Sierra for now. Currently using CC 2019 with GTX 1080 FE. Adobe has been transitioning to Metal for much more throughout the platform on macOS (like Camera RAW in PS). OpenGL is still needed for 3D within PS using the PS 3D Forge Engine and don't expect that to be fully updated. 3D is moving to other applications and Adobe will likely tie into those vs. develop within PS.

 

[Loa]

I'm on 10.13.5, fresh install on my 2009 MP. Using Photoshop CC 2018 (19.1.5), with my scratch disk being my OS drive as it's the only SSD that I have. I will try changing it to another drive, but it's been set up that way for years.

My only beef is the brushes that move in chunks. Rest of the operations go very well.

 

[ActionableMango]

In the meantime, anyone know why I would suddenly get worse performance?

It would help to know what the bottleneck is. Monitor your system when the poor performance happens. See if it's the memory, CPU, disk, or GPU being hammered when you do those brushes.

If you have a spare disk you might try booting to that on a clean, minimal install with only the software and drivers you need. This troubleshooting step would eliminate any cruft that has built up on your main boot drive as being the problem.

 

[bsbeamer]

Did you trash PS/Adobe preferences yet? Usually my first thing to troubleshoot but not everyone does.

 

[ActionableMango]

As a photographer and basic graphic designer, it is! Everyone else I know seems to love it too. There might be some missing/different features for your workflow so I'd suggest playing with the free trial.

Also, they've had an iPad app for a few years - while Photoshop won't get one for another few years.

Wow, this application looks promising. Windows, MacOS, iOS...$20-$50, no subscription. This is everything I wish Photoshop was. Thanks for the recommendation.

The one problem I've had with every Photoshop alternative I've tried is that the selection tools are rudimentary in comparison. I will take advantage of the free trial in order to give this one a try--they specifically point out their selection tool is good for tricky content.

 

[crjackson2134]

I’ve used it a few hours today. I wish it had an Airbrush tool, but apparently they removed it. Earlier versions had it.

Perhaps I just haven’t found it yet.