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komamanga
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10 Jan 2018, 3:01 am

Recently I've noticed that Photoshop doesn't recognize my graphic card and when I checked their list of tested GPUs it wasn't listed there. (Nvidia Geforce GTX 960M 4 gb) The work flow and the time it takes for the program to respond to the commands is incredibly slow despite the good specs of my computer and I think this is the cause of it. I couldn't find a way to solve this problem so I was thinking of changing my graphic card however apparently I can't do that with a laptop.
The question is can I buy a desktop GPU and use it somehow externally, connecting with usb or sth?



komamanga
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11 Jan 2018, 10:51 am

Nobody knows?



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11 Jan 2018, 12:07 pm

Hey Komamanga,

Yes, many people have problems with the GPU you mentioned and Photoshop. This problem has been going on for a long time and still isn't solved, so yes if you need/want to use Photoshop then you likely need to buy a new GPU.

If you expect you need to upgrade your computer soon, then of course your best option would be to buy a new laptop or desktop with a good Photoshop compatible internal GPU. Although external GPU is probably the cheapest solution, it may be cumbersome if you need to be mobile.

Here are some links about external GPU's I found for you. Though I haven't read/watched them myself, I hope they will be helpful to you.

How to transform your laptop into a gaming powerhouse with an external graphics card.



I assume you have already updated the latest GPU drivers.


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Aristophanes
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11 Jan 2018, 2:18 pm

Before you start looking for shiny new equipment make sure it's the correct equipment for the problem. From what little I gathered on your post it actually sounds like you're running out of RAM. Press ctrl+alt+delete (windows command, use google to find shortcuts for apple or linux if that's what you're using) to open task manager and make sure that your RAM usage isn't at 100%. If it is, you have 2 options: A. decrease the complexity of the project (delete some layers, lower the image resolution, etc), or B. purchase more RAM.

Also, if the slow down is occurring during rendering operations (i.e. generate clouds, posterize, batch processing, pretty much anything you get to through the top menu) it's going to take time regardless of which processing unit it's using. Those operations take tons of calculations, so there's always going to be lag.

Now, if you have adequate RAM and the slow down isn't occurring during processing, then it's time to consider either a new processor and/or video card. Since you're on a laptop your upgrade options are limited. For photoshop I'd go with a processor over a GPU any day, remember offloading to the GPU is generally only done when the processor is already maxed, meaning the processor is still the prime location most calculations occur, thus the best place to upgrade. Also, using an external card is a solution, but a poor solution: while going through a hi-speed Thunderbolt connector is doable, there are a few caveats: first, you're going to need to buy a power supply for the graphics card (extra $$), and second, Thunderbolt only allocates 4 lanes max for PCI-E transfer, a desktop with a single dedicated PCI-E bus utilizes 16 lanes, meaning the transfer between your graphics card and processor is much, much slower on Thunderbolt 3 regardless of what Thunderbolt 3's overall max capacity is. Also of note, Thunderbolt being a USB based technology suffers from 'hiccups'-- if you've got more than one Thunderbolt device running they hand off each information packet (example: you've got 30 envelopes to mail and so does your neighbor, you can't both use the mailbox at once so you put an envelope in then your neighbor puts an envelope in, rinse and repeat until all envelopes are in the mail-- neither of you get booted from the mailbox, but neither of you are very efficient at mailing either). Don't get me wrong Thunderbolt 3 is a great new addition to computing, but as with all technology it too has it's limitations and best use scenarios.

Anyhow, hope my opinion on this issue was helpful.



komamanga
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11 Jan 2018, 2:36 pm

Both my processor and ram are adequate for my projects. The average numbers I see on the task manager are %50 ram and %10 processor and %20 GPU (photoshop %0). When I looked at the preferences in photoshop it showed me that it's running on GPU however not the nvidia one but the intel one that comes in CPU. So I thought this must be the reason for my problem. Am I wrong to think so? And since only %10 of my processor is being used I don't see any reason to change the processor. I'm sorry if my way of thinking is too superficial. Everything else is fast only photoshop is slow. I don't do much processing, all I do is using the brush and the eraser to paint.

I can't do it like in one of those videos, my computer is pretty new and I don't want to destroy it like that + I don't want to not have wi-fi + I need to move my computer often...



Aristophanes
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11 Jan 2018, 2:41 pm

I haven't use Photoshop in about 4 years (around when the GPU offloading option became available), is there an option to turn off GPU offloading? If so, do that and see if your CPU starts getting used like it should. To be honest it sounds like poor programming on Adobe's part, and a new GPU may not fix the issue if that's the case.



komamanga
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11 Jan 2018, 4:30 pm

I turned off the GPU offloading will see how it will change the situation.