Subject: Is Performance in PS CS3 Standard "Dumbed Down" From Extended?

DM
Posted By
David McKeen
Jul 19, 2007
Views
221
Replies
8
Status
Closed
Am I the only one who thinks PS CS3’s performance is sluggish? I upgraded from PS CS to CS3, so I don’t know where CS2 stands in all of this. Opening and saving files in CS3 seems to take almost twice as long as it does in CS. Creating a Web photo Gallery in CS3 takes 155% of the time (55% longer) than it does in CS. I measured it with a stop watch.

I wonder if the performance of CS3 standard is intentionally curtailed when compared to Extended Edition to give Extended a "leg up" on Standard?

By the way, my "Efficiency" is at a rock-solid 100% throughout all this.

Any thoughts?

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JJ
John_Joslin
Jul 19, 2007
Several people on this forum have mentioned sluggishness with CS3. However the majority of people like me, for whom it is much faster than CS2, don’t come here complaining!

It must be due to your system. And don’t say it’s only Photoshop, they all say that!
RK
Rob_Keijzer
Jul 19, 2007
David,

I also upgraded from CS to CS3 but in my case it’s even faster than an already smooth running CS system).

What is the memory percentage slider set to? Mine is 65%, and I have 2 G RAM. on a P4 2,6 GHz computer.

The next week I’ll be upgrading my desk Photoshop computer. (new mother board, new processor, new drives), so I’ll have a chance to see if it will be different. I won’t be installing CS1 again though.

An other cause for slow operation can be an unavailable network printer.

I wonder if the performance of CS3 standard is intentionally curtailed

Mmm

Rob
JJ
John_Joslin
Jul 19, 2007
Also bear in mind that some resident anti-virus/malware programs try to help by checking on things like exe programs and their activities. And auto-updating can be a pain.

And it is a well-known fact that the Bonjour service brings everything to a grinding halt while it is reporting to Adobe. I heard that Microsoft does the same thing too!

😉
DM
David McKeen
Jul 19, 2007
Thanks guys, I appreciate the insight.

Rob, my memory slider is set to 58%. I haven’t moved it since installation of CS3. I have my PC configuration listed below. I plan to build a more capable computer this summer. Any suggestions?

John, I was comparing performance of CS and CS3 on the same PC. I didn’t change other programs that could have affected performance. I was asking to see what folks here were experiencing. I wasn’t complaining. I didn’t say it’s only Photoshop. I said I noticed a difference between the performance of CS and CS3. It is possible I have system problems. A discussion in the forum might give me an idea where to look. How come the flambé? Don’t you want people dropping by here asking questions?

PC 2006 Configuration
Built January 2006

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

ASUS A8N-E nForce4 Ultra Socket 939

Athlon 64 x2 3800+

Crucial TWINX2048-3200C2 2GB Dual Channel Kit DDR400 XMS3200 184-pin DDR DIMM

Cooler Master RC-531-SSN1 Centurion 531 (Silver) Mid Tower

Antec SP500 500W PSU

HDD Drive 1 (C:) on EIDE PATA Port 1 Master
Maxtor 6L060J3 60 GB (already had)
O/S

HDD Drive 0 (RAID 0 config) (D:) on SATA Ports 3 & 4 2 ea. Seagate ST3400832AS 400GB 8MB 7200RPM SATA I
Data (mostly digital image files)
Windows paging file

HDD Drive 2 (E:) on SATA Port 1
Western Digital WD74GDRTL 74 GB Raptor 8MB 10,000RPM SATA I (150) Applications
Photoshop temp files (First)

HDD Drive 3 (F:, G:, H:) on SATA Port 2
Western Digital WD2500JD 250GB Caviar SATA I (already had)(150) Web site files (F:)
Programs & Updates (G:)
Photoshop temp files (H:) (Second)

Gigabyte GV-NX66256DP nVidia GeForce 6600 256MB PCI Express x16 w/TV & DVI

Plextor Dual Layer PX-716A

MS Windows XP Professional SP2

FDD Mitsumi AA17310 1.44MB 3.5in Floppy

SCSI board Adaptec AHA-2940AU SCSI Adapter BIOS v1.32

1394 Adapter Addonics ADFE400PCI 3 port (one internal) PCI card 400MBPS

Mouse MS Trackball Explorer 1.0 PS2/USB

Keytronic KT800PS2US-C 104-key PS2 keyboard

Monitor NEC MultiSync LCD2190 UXi
JJ
John_Joslin
Jul 19, 2007
Nobody is flaming!

I do sympathise with those experiencing slow performance but, since I don’t, I can’t do more than guess what might be causing it on your system. If you browse around in this forum you will find a whole catalogue of potential slow-down factors including default printers, network drives, mouse drivers, etc.
MD
Michael_D_Sullivan
Jul 19, 2007
Bonjour doesn’t report to Adobe; it looks for other CS3 apps on your network.

For me, PsCS3 is much faster than CS2 (Athlon 64 X2 4600+, 4GB RAM, /3GB switch, Raptor for scratch). (And CS2 was much faster than CS on my old, slower machine.)
JJ
John_Joslin
Jul 20, 2007
Michael, my quip about Bonjour was pure sarcasm – I have been chastising complainers for being paranoiac. 😉
DP
Daryl_Pritchard
Jul 20, 2007
David,

For myself, comparing PS CS2 and CS3 Extended under both Windows XP Pro/SP2 and Windows Vista Ultimate, I have found CS3 considerably faster that CS2 for select tasks yet maybe only an average of about 10% faster overall. Performance under Vista, in spite of much faster loading applications, is that actual application performance is a bit reduced in contrast to Windows XP. But I don’t see a performance hit of such extent that I’d necessarily stick with WinXP for that reason alone. There are things I like about each O/S…XP’s simpler interface, greater stability, overall ease of customization, etc., but I like Vista’s expanded toolset for system monitoring, fast startup, fast application launching, and such. XP still gets the overall nod. I don’t have any numbers to share on the Vista vs. XP comparison for PS CS2 and CS3, but here are some numbers I collected for my system when booted for Windows Vista: <http://ambress.com/photoshop/psbench_vista.htm>. One thing I found interesting was that the impact of background processes was pretty much insignficant on PS performance in Vista. I don’t recall looking at that particular detail with Windows XP.

Apart from benchmark testing however, I have seen that CS3 does seem to be suprisingly sluggish to close files. With CS2, I select to close a file and it’s done then and there. With CS3, and generally more with larger files than small ones, it takes signficantly longer to close a file. Again, I have no numbers but would say it is more like immediate for CS2 versus 3-10 seconds for CS3. Why? I’ve no clue, but it is ridiculous, especially when said file hasn’t even been changed. I’m not sure if I’ve noticed any lag in opening files though.

Regards,

Daryl

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