Recommended Systems for Adobe Photoshop

Q: Does having more CPU cores improve Photoshop performance?

A: Photoshop primarily only uses a handful of CPU cores, so it is more important to use a CPU with the higest operating frequency rather than the highest core count. You can read more about this in our Photoshop CC 2017.1.1 CPU Performance article which examined a number of CPUs with between four and fourteen CPU cores.

Q: You only list Core i7 CPUs, don't I need a Xeon CPU?

A: In the past, Xeon CPUs were more robust than their Core i5/i7 counterparts. Today, however, there is very little functional difference between the two Intel product families for workstations. In addition, Xeon CPUs are almost always clocked slightly lower than the Core i7 CPUs which means that you will be giving up a small amount of performance to gain a set of features that are typically only useful for servers.

Q: Do any of your systems support Thunderbolt?

A: Unfortunately, at this time our compact workstations do not yet have Thunderbolt support - but we are working on it! If you need Thunderbolt, email one of our sales representatives at sales@pugetsystems.com or call us at (425) 458-0273 and we can help you configure a system that includes Thunderbolt support.

Q: Do I need to use a Quadro card or is GeForce OK?

A: Either type of card should work great in Photoshop, but for most users a GeForce card is the better option. They are much more affordable are able to match performance of the Quadro cards for fraction of the cost. However, there are two main benefits to using a Quadro video card - they support 10-bit displays and we have found them to be a bit more reliable long-term.

Q: How powerful of a video card do I need?

A: While even an entry video card will be able to provide a huge boost in performance for GPU accelerated effects, there is a sharp drop in performance benefit by using anything more than a mid-range video card. Once you get above a GeForce GTX 1060 or Quadro P4000, you are only looking at a few percent higher performance for each model up you go. If you are concerned about performance, we have articles available that look at both the GeForce and Quadro line of cards.

Q: Do your systems support 10-bit displays?

A: With the selection of a Quadro video card, our Photoshop workstation does support 10-bit displays.

Q: How much system RAM do I need?

A: While the exact amount of RAM you need is going to depend on the size and number of images you will be working with, we generally recommend a minimum of 16GB for all our systems. Memory usage in Photoshop can quickly shoot up, however, so it is important that you ensure you have enough system RAM available. The exact amount you need will depend on exactly what you are doing, but based on your document size (as shown in the Info Panel or status bar) we recommend a minimum of 16GB of RAM for 500MB documents or smaller, 32GB for 500MB-1GB, and 64GB+ for even larger documents.

Q: Should I use an SSD for my files?

A: Yes! With the falling costs associated with SSDs, we almost always recommend using an SSD for the primary drive that will host your OS, Photoshop itself, and any active projects you are working on. The high speed of SSDs allows your system to boot, launch applications, and load files many times faster than any traditional hard drive. However, SSDs are still more expensive than traditional drives per GB - so for long term storage we recommend having a secondary traditional hard drive in addition to a primary SSD.