# What are the Hardware Specs for the machine you run Photoshop on?



## cayenne (Jun 12, 2013)

I"m trying to figure out what I need to set up for the VM in VMWare I'm going to be running Photoshop CS6 Extended on.....the VM is Win7 64bit.

What is the hardware you run (either mac or windows) that you run PS with and it is smooth for you?

Thank you,

cayenne


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## eml58 (Jun 12, 2013)

2 Machines

MacPro OSX 10.8.4
2 X 2.93 GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon
32GB 1066 MHz DDR3
2 X ATI Radeon HD 4870 512GB
4 X 3TB 7200RPM HD (Run on RAID 1)

MacBook Pro OSX 10.8.4
2.8GHz Quad Core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz)
16GB 1600 MHz DDR3L
Intel HD Graphics
768GB Flash HD

With the MacPro this Config you can run pretty well anything without any issue, most RAM intensive is when doing anything with Video, but CS6 not a problem, I run several Applications at any one time, doesn't Phase the Beast.

The MacBook Pro this Config, runs CS6 without any problems, but it can slow a bit when doing anything with Video if your running say CS6 + FCP, as long as your running a single Application or at the most two, runs well.


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## Dianoda (Jun 12, 2013)

Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
Intel 3770K CPU
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H motherboard
AMD Radeon 6970 2GB graphics
32GB DDR3 1866MHz RAM
256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD
About 6TB worth of mirrored storage across several 7200RPM drives
More storage via NAS

Unsurprisingly, photoshop runs great. My panos take far less time to process on this computer versus my old machine (having 32GB of RAM comes in handy - I've seen photoshop using 28GB+ a few times while stitching together 40+ frame panoramas). For general image editing, you don't need nearly as much RAM as I put in my machine - but having more can't really hurt. The only time I'm ever really waiting is when firing up the mechanical hard drive arrays - they take a second or two to spin up from idle. I can't really complain about performance.


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## Hillsilly (Jun 12, 2013)

We're running photoshop on four computers:-

Intel i5 / 4gb ram / Win 8
Intel i5 / 4gb ram / Win 7
AMD x4 945 / 4gb ram / Win 7
AMD 3800 / 4gb ram / Vista (Still using Vista to retain compatability with a film scanner)

We don't do any video work (or stitching of 40+ frames!). Instead, we use photoshop almost exclusively for poster / brochure / document design and negative scanning. The AMD 3800 is the oldest and slowest computer. Its about 6 years old and even when new, it was a lower end computer. But it works fine for our limited, low processing power needs.


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## Rienzphotoz (Jun 12, 2013)

Macbook Pro 9.2 (13 inch Mid 2012)
2.9 GHz Intel Core i7 
16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Intel HD Graphics 4000 (512 MB)
OS X 10.8.4
750 GB HDD

I run the following programs with the above config and they all work smoothly:
LR5, CS6 Extended, Premiere Pro CS6, Aperture, Final Cut pro (most of the time I work with LR5/LR4 & CS6 opened at the same time, sometime even Premiere Pro CS6 at the same time and still it works very smoothly).


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## Zv (Jun 12, 2013)

Sony vaio vpcf13wfx
Processor Type : Intel® Core™ i7-740QM
Processor Technology : Quad Core
Processor Speed : 1.73GHz1 with Turbo Boost Technology20 up to 2.93GHz1
Processor Cache : 6MB
8GB RAM (via 2 Crucial 4GB modules, upgraded from the standard 4GB). 
500GB disk space 
Windows 7 64bit

Currently running CS5 and LR3 and even with both applications open it runs smooth. The only time I run into issues seems to be extensive use of the adjustment brush in LR - it slows everything down. 

I should mention my editing is pretty light, no pannos (they slow things down like crazy) and some HDR (these seem to be relatively quick).


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 12, 2013)

I haven't had a issue with photoshop on any recent computer, the big thing is to have enough memory. 8GB Ram is minimum, and 12 is better, I currently have 24 GB since I merely added two 8GB sticks to my basic 8GB in my Dell 8500.

I also added a Samsung 512 GB 840 Pro for just the OS and installed programs. My Lightroom catalog also sits on the SSD.

I'd likely have bought the 900 GB Crucial SSD if it had been out at the time.

My Photoshop 5 also uses the ssd for a scratch disk, and 2.5gb of ram is set aside for it.


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## leGreve (Jun 12, 2013)

Macbook Pro early 2011
2.2 i7
16gb 1600mhz ram
256gb SSD in main bay
750gb 7200 rpm with build-in antischock in optibay

Hooked up to an 21" Eizo monitor which in my opinion is too small now. (Only 1050 in highest vertical res)

Runs CS6 smoothly on all accounts with multi layered 16bit tiffs.


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## mdmphoto (Jun 12, 2013)

Dell XPS 15
CORE i7-2720QM @ 2.20 Ghz
8 gb RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 540M 2gb RAM
Win 8 Pro w/Media Center

I use LR4, CS 5, OnOne PPS7 & NIK Complete; only adjustment brush slows system a bit. I always look for a gamer config when buying a pc and this always works for last 10 or so years...


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## nWmR12 (Jun 12, 2013)

2010 MacBook Pro 15"
2.66 i7
4gb of Ram
Running PS5/6 and LR 4 runs well no major issues. Although i haven't used it since I got the logic board replaced. My 5D mark 3 does push it to how fast it goes for speed but not painful slow yet.

OSX
i7-3770k @ 3.6 
16GB corsair 1600mhz
128GB SSD Samsung pro 840
Nvidia 580 GTX 1.5gig

This has no problems running either PS6 and LR.


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## DesignJinni (Jun 12, 2013)

*HP Z820*
2 x Intel Xeon E5-2660 (*32 Cores in Total*)
*64 GB RAM*
*6 GB* Graphic Card - Nvidia *Quadro 6000*
3 Hard Disks: 256 GB SSD | 2 TB | 500 GB

Runs like a charm...


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## lundstrom.emil (Jun 12, 2013)

Most of the time on a MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch Mid 2012, with LR5/PS CS6 in Native resolution (2880x1800)

OSX 10.9
Intel i7-3720QM 2.6GHz
16GB of 1600MHz DDR3L 
512GB SSD
Nvidia GeForce GT 650M 1GB


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## Sith Zombie (Jun 12, 2013)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> I haven't had a issue with photoshop on any recent computer, the big thing is to have enough memory.



Dito. I used to run CS5 on a 2007 macbook: 2ghz dual core processor, 4gb ram [667mhz] and it ran great for normal photo editing, even ran ok with half a gig files with a tonne of layers, so I don't think you have to worry about building a monster PC. It ran a little slow with the liquify filter some times and you could forget about 3D but any hardware you buy now will be leaps and bounds above my old macbook, even lower end stuff.

I now have a 13" inch macbook pro: 2.5ghz i5 10gig ram [1600mh] I wouldn't call it a powerful computer but it just flies!
I was going to swap out the optical drive for an ssd but cs6 already opens up in under 3 seconds, do I need it to open any faster?

I would argue that we've reached a point now that you don't really need to worry to much about computer specs, unless your into gaming and HEAVY video/3d work.


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## AmbientLight (Jun 12, 2013)

Currently I am running the newest 15" Macbook Pro version, which in my case I believe has the exact same stats eml58 has listed for his Macbook Pro. Previously I used a custom-built Sony VAIO laptop highly similar to what Zv is using (different model number, but with the same stats, in my case without an SSD).

With the Sony I was already quite happy, but working with the new Macbook Pro is far smoother and that Retina display sure makes quite a lot of a difference for me. Given that with current hardware sufficient speed is given for most applications the difference in display resolution has become a key factor for me.


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## yablonsky (Jun 12, 2013)

dell xps 8100
intel core i5-750 (4 x 2,66 GHz)
8 GB RAM
Win 7-64 Bit

works pretty fine
(batch conversion of RAW files)


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## gferdinandsen (Jun 12, 2013)

Homebuilt PC

Win7 x64
Quad Core 4x3.5GHZ
32GB RAM
5 SSD Drives (Photography -- Striped, OS, Programs, Temp Directories)
2 Magnetic Drives (Backup 1 and Backup 2)
1 External Drive (Backup 3)


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## Click (Jun 12, 2013)

iMac 
2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 
16 GB DDR3 RAM
OS X 10.8.4


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## docholliday (Jun 12, 2013)

Newest desktop:
Dual (2x) Octa-Core Xeon E5-2670 3.3GHz 20MB Cache w/ HT 
Supermicro X9DA7
32GB ECC DDR3 Registered RAM
Dual Quadro 2000
4x 15Krpm 300GB U320 SCSI (JBOD - ops/VMWare Workstation)
8x 10Krpm 300GB U320 SCSI (Data in RAID 6)
4x 7200rpm 1TB SATA3 (data 2 in RAID5)
4x 15Krpm 146GB SAS6 (swap in RAID0)
512GB SATA3 SSD (cache)
Quad Intel 1000 NIC (bound for network transfer to NAS)
Foundry FastIron Backbone Switch
(2x) Dell U2410 in 10-bit color mode
i1 Pro Color
Wacom Intuos 4
Base OS: Windows 7 Enterprise x64
VMWare: Solaris
VMWare: MacOS 10.7
VMWare: Windows Server 2008

Runs pretty smooth...lightroom loves it.


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## Malte_P (Jun 12, 2013)

homebuild:

ASUS Z9PE-D8WS 
2x XEON E5-2680
32 GB ECC Ram
240 GB Samsung 840 SSD
4x 2TB Seagate HDD´s 
Geforce 770 GTX (newest addition)


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## J.R. (Jun 12, 2013)

Self-assembled PC:

OS: Windows 7 - 64 bit
Processor - i7 (3770)
8GB DDR RAM
1TB SATA HDD x 2
Dell 2713H 
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660


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## msatter (Jun 12, 2013)

Self-assembled PC:

OS: Windows 7 - 64 bit
Processor Core 2 Duo E6420 2.13 Ghz
Motherboard: Abit IB9
6GB DDR2 RAM
1TB + 2TB SATA HDD 
HP LP2480ZX 10-bits calibrated on AdobeRGB
ATI FirePro V4800

Only RAW converter is slow.


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## celltech (Jun 12, 2013)

Homebuilt:

Win 8 Pro x64
i7-3770K overclocked to 4.5Ghz
ASRock Z77 Pro4
GeForce GT520 1Gb - passive cooled
16Gb PNY 1333 RAM
SeaSonic SSR-360GP 80+ Gold
256Gb Samsung 830 SSD
128Gb Samsung 830 SSD scratch disk
2x2Tb Seagate 7200 rpm drives in a Storage Space mirror
Dell 3007 30" monitor

Large CPU heatsink and 120mm fans turned down to ~800 rpm...can't hear it running unless it really heats up.

LR5, PS6 is no problem for this setup...If I remember correctly this setup is 2-3x faster than my old Q6600 setup while using 1/3 of the power during exports. The difference was staggering.


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## RGF (Jun 13, 2013)

Dell xps, about a year old, 16GB memory, 256 GB SSD w 3TB HDD, high end graphics card, w 4GB of memory. I work on (typically) 16-24 MP images with extensive layers. A 16x20 print can top 2GB


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## neuroanatomist (Jun 13, 2013)

cayenne said:


> I"m trying to figure out what I need to set up for the VM in VMWare I'm going to be running Photoshop CS6 Extended on.....the VM is Win7 64bit.



Why are you planning to run CS6 in a VM, instead of native? If you were running a Linux box, I could understand. But I believe you run a Mac - CS6 runs great natively.

I run it on a mid-2010 17" MB Pro (Core i5, 8 GB RAM) and on a 2011 13" MB Air (Core i7, 4 GB RAM). It runs fast on both machines (and it will run even faster on my 17" MBP once I replace the 500 GB HDD with a 960 GB SSD (which I've just ordered).


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## Hannes (Jun 13, 2013)

Homebuilt:

Win 7 Pro x64
i7-3770K overclocked to 4.7Ghz
ASRock Z77 Extreme6
GeForce GTX670 overclocked about 30%
16Gb 1866 RAM
256Gb Samsung 840 SSD
Mechanical drives for storage

Again, not surprisingly PS runs like a dream on this set up, maybe when I get a camera with more megapickles will I need to get a bit more ram but for now 16gb seems to do the trick


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## unfocused (Jun 13, 2013)

Cayenne,

What are you asking? 

Do you really want the boys on this site to brag about how big their equipment is?

Or, do you want to know what you need to run Photoshop CS6?

If it is the latter, then, as others have already pointed out, just about any modern machine with do the trick. Buy extra memory and get a decent video card to run things faster. Make sure you have at least 1TB of storage and expect to need to offload some of the image files to other storage when that 1TB runs out, because it will happen. There was a time when Adobe programs really pushed the limits of machines, but there are so many other resource hogs these days that Photoshop isn't that big of a deal. 

Here is what Adobe says are the minimum requirements for Photoshop CC: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/tech-specs.html


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## K-amps (Jun 13, 2013)

Custom built rig:

Win 7 64bit
i7-960 running at 4.16Ghz x4/8HT
24 GB RAM
Samsung 830 256GB SSD
nVidia 460GTX

CS5 runs just fine no issues... LR4 run like a Dog... I am out of ideas how to speed up LR4 apart from switching off the HT cores.


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## saizo (Jun 13, 2013)

Homebuilt:

2x Intel Xeon 2.3GHz 8-Core 16 threads ES (fixed at 2.5GHz no Turbo)
MB ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS
RAM 64GB
AMD HD7970
2x Sandisk Extreme SSD 240GB
2xcorsair GT 120GB for scratchdisk and caches
Windows 7 64-bit


few software take advantage of 32 threads
PS6, LR4, only use about 11 threads include PS6 video rendering, 
except for PS6 surface blur and radial blur use 32 threads. Keith Simonian Radial Blur Speed Test

I can't find any other tool in PS6 take advantage of more than 11 threads, if you want me to check a tool or filter in PS6 I'll be glad to help out.

my only advice is anything more than a hexa-core Intel processor is useless for photo editing.


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## alexanderferdinand (Jun 13, 2013)

Win7 64bit
16gb RAM
i7 860
1tb hdd
3x 2tb external hdd as backup

No wishes, runs fine.


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## theobdt (Jun 13, 2013)

Windows Machine
Dell XPS 8300 (Adobe Premier Pro/Adobe After Effects/Gaming box)
Intel i7 3.3GHz chip
16GB 1333Mhz RAM
Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB Video card
2TB 7200 HD
DVD-RW

Macintosh Machines
Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
3.33 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon
32GB 1333Mhz DDR3 RAM (Final Cut Pro 7/X, Motion 5, Adobe After Effects)
ATI Radeon 5870 1GB
3x 2TB 7200 for media
512 SSD for OS
4 3TB External FireWire 800 drives for storage
8GB Raid external for backup

17-inch MacBook Pro
2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
8GB 1066 RAM
Nvidia GeForce 9400 256MB
500GB 7200 HD

I have no trouble running Photoshop on either of my machines. I plan on upgrading my 17-inch to one of the new 15-inch MacBook Pros later in the year after the refresh of the line.


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## theobdt (Jun 13, 2013)

K-amps said:


> Custom built rig:
> 
> Win 7 64bit
> i7-960 running at 4.16Ghz x4/8HT
> ...



How are you running LR4 regarding your libraries? I find that I create a Library for each event or job that I do keeps it pretty speedy. When I first started using LR4 I used to keep everything in one library and keyword like crazy but that started to bog the system down. I took some advice from Scott Kelby and started breaking down my Library by event and it sped things up for me.


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## RLPhoto (Jun 13, 2013)

- Gigabyte Mobo. 
- C2D E6600 Dual Core Oc'ed to 3.16ghz. Big zalman Heatsink. ;D
- 4x 7200 RPM 500GB drives in RAID 0+1.
- Nvidia GTX 660 Ti - Was previous 8800 GTS but died recently.
- Two Dell 24" IPS Ultrasharps
- 8 GB of DDR2 800.
- Win 7 Pro

My base machine was built by me in late 2006 and Continues to kick butt. Only the Graphics card died a few months back but It's been a rock since I built it. It edits my 5D3 files quickly and I haven't been able to slow it down. (then again I don't do video) My machine is probably the most under-spec'ed machine here but I only use ID, CS3, and LR4.

When it dies, I'll build a new one, which can be a long time. Speaking of which, Who here uses their machines until they die?


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## Chris Geiger (Jun 13, 2013)

Win 8, ASUS P9X79 Pro motherboard
i7 3930 6 core processor overclocked to 4.3ghz, w/water cooler, 
32gig ram
NEC Pa271W 27" calibrated display
GTX570 graphics board
120G SSD, 6 TB internal storage.

Runs great for photoshop. For lightroom I can never have enough speed!


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## sheedoe (Jun 13, 2013)

Custom built PC

Asus P9x79 pro motherboard
Intel 3930k processor
Gskill 64GB DDR3 1600 RAM
nvidia 680 4GB video card
Samsung 840 pro 256.GB SSD
Samsung 840 pro 512GB SSD (scratch drive)
2X WD 4TB black HDD
2X WD 3TB red in NAS drive
Windows 8 pro
NEC PA241W and Dell 2713 monitor.

Photoshop works smooth most of the time. If i have too many images open at the same time, it slows down a bit.


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## Vossie (Jun 13, 2013)

I7-920
12 gb ram
256 gb samsung 840
2x samsung f1 1tb
Ati 6450 graphics card
Dell 2713 display


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## lilmsmaggie (Jun 13, 2013)

Custom home built PC

ASUS Maximus V Gene
i5 3570K 3.5 GHz 
G.Skill Ripjaws 16GB DDR3 RAM
256 GB Samsung 830 SSD
EVGA GeForce FTX 550 Ti 2GB video card
Seasonic X650 Gold PS

2TB WD Black HDD
2TB WD Green HDD

Looking at IPS monitors at the moment (Dell/ASUS)


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