Some CS2 filters are extremely SLOW

To be exact, complex filters such as Smart Sharpen, Lens Blur, etc. are unusually slow on my computer. I tried to time the Smart Sharpen filter process on a rather small photo (PSD file 15,4MB 16bit) and it takes around 2minutes and 20-30seconds. Bigger files (70MB) can take up to 10min !!!. I've checked with other CS2 users with similar computer setups and they all say it won't take more than 15sec for the same image sizes.

I asked this question on some forums and followed the suggestions but none of them helped to cut down the time. I've played with cache levels&memory usage, tried every possible alternative but none of them made any noticable difference. Then I also tried to change the location and size of the WinXP Virtual Memory. Even at its max. limit(??) 4096MB it didn't make a difference.

The computer:
- Win XP Pro
- ASUS P5W DH Deluxe motherboard
- Core2Duo 6600 processor
- 2GB RAM (not sure about its type and brand)
- Matrox Parphelia APVe PCIe graphics card 128MB of DDR
- 1st HD: standart with C & D partitions. C has the WinXP and most of the program files. D partition has now the Win Paging File and used for photos
- 2nd HD: WE Raptor 150GB, 50GB is dedicated as PS scratch disk. The remaining has the PS CS2 and big photo files. First, CS2 was on C drive and I uninstalled it and reinstalled on the Raptor HD but this also didn't help.

AFAIK, I should be getting pretty fast performance with this setup but I'm beginning to think there is some kind of a serious problem with my hardware (or software??) I ran some tests for the HD's and RAM, defragged the drives but didn't get any warnings or error messages. Everything else seems to run pretty smooth on this computer but not these heavy filters. I suspect maybe the RAMs are somehow not functioning properly or maybe something with the Video card (I don't if it can effect the performance so much)

I'd appreciate a lot if you could help me to locate the problem. Thank You

Have you installed the updates to PSCS2? The original had some problems with dual Intel processors.

Yes, all updates are installed

How much memory are you giving Photoshop?

Available RAM 1761MB

Max. Used %75 = 1320MB

Do you think Matrox Parphelia APVe video card (128MB of DDR graphics memory, Dual 400 MHZ 10-bit RAMDACs) is OK for PS CS2 filters?

Murat,

Max. Used %75<<

Knock that back to 55% - you are not leaving any RAM for the filters to operate in.

The video card doesn't matter at all in this case.

Try timing the resize (400%) and Gaussian Blur (radius 50) commands on your computer and others. If those commands are signifigantly slower, that would indicate a problem in the CPU or memory system.

The same image (PSD file, 15.8MB, 16bit)

- Gaussian Filter radius 50: It takes about 2sec to process the image after the filter window's opened then it takes no time at all to finish the task when I press the OK button.

- Resize %400: It takes about 2.10sec

- Smart Sharpen: Basic, Amount %226, Radius 5.2, remove Gaussian Blur, More Accurate: takes around 3 minutes when I hit the OK right after the SS window opens. It takes about 30sec to get a full image in the preview window.

- Lens Blur: More accurate, Shape Hexagon, Radius 50, Blade 60, Rotation 60, Brightness 2, Threshold 50, Noise 0, Distribution: Gaussian. This takes about 1min to finish the image in the preview window

Ok, so you don't have serious hardware problems.

Did you try turning down the memory allocation to Photoshop?

Yes, I lowered it to %55 and it doesn't make a difference. As I previously mentioned I also tried many other combinations, Win Paging File, cache levels, etc. None makes a difference.

However, I tried to overclock the PC by %15 using the Asus software and it made an improvement by about %40, but I'm still over a minute for Smart Sharpening and i don't think it's normal. I asked some other PS users with similar PCs and they smart sharpen the same size photos in about 15sec.

Do you think my CPU runs somehow too slow, something wrong with the RAM?

I'm not sure.
The resize and blur tests indicate that there isn't a significant problem with the RAM.

But something isn't right.

Have you tried removing or disabling any third party plugins that might be installed?

And how many image cache (pyramid) levels do you have set in preferences?

I think I only have Neat Image as 3rd party plugin. But this not available as a plugin now since I uninstalled CS2 on C and reinstalled it on the faster Raptor HD. The performance is still the same before and after installing PS.

Cache levels set at 6

Try reducing the cache level to 4, and then to 2 and retesting.

OK, Problem solved but I'm not sure how. After trying dozens of options and many hours, I first decided to remove and uninstall bunch of programs that I don't use. I also removed PS completely including all its files, preesets etc. I also removed all the Canon files which came with my 5D (Raw converters, ZoomBrowsers and many other stuff)

Then I defragged the drives and run a program called Registery Mechanic (cost me $30) which scans the registery in seconds and puts up a list of Registery errors (I had about +300) and being affraid a little I let it repair and delete all these stuff from the registery. I reinstalled PS and 'Voila' it's lightning fast. It takes less than a sec to SS and just a few sec. to Lens Blur.

Well, what a relief... I just wanted to give a feedback in case some else have such a problem. Thanks for all the support

Thank you for the feedback to the forum :)

A lot of people might learn something from your experience!

Unfortunately, you did not have the chance to perform test after each of the steps you did... But thanks for sharing the whole list!