Can photoshop optimally use workstation with two CPUs?

[derek]

I'm preparing very large graphic files for printing on a large format printer. I have a HP Z600 workstation with one processor and the maximum amount of memory for that processor. The Z600 accommodates a second processor and its associated memory (same amount as for first processor). If I install the second processor and its memory, will Photoshop use both processors and their memory in a manner that significantly reduces the graphic file manipulation times? I may be asking, does Photoshop support parallel processing? Of that I'm not certain. I'm only interested in the result; not the programming that achieves that result.

 

[Tom Mann]

I had Puget Systems, a high end custom computer builder, put together my computer. They regularly do fairly comprehensive performance tests and send out the results. In late April 2015, they tested various aspects of PS CC running on their systems. They examined performance vs number of cores for a single processor system:
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Photoshop-CC-Multi-Core-Performance-625 .

They also compared single to dual (physical) processor systems:
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...-Core-Performance-625/#MultipleCPUPerformance

The results surprised me. Here is an excerpt from the conclusions section of this article:

1. Photoshop does not work well with multiple physical CPUs. Most effects are not impacted, but anything that is highly multi-threaded (like many blurs) will actually take up to 30-50% longer if you have two CPUs versus just one. If you have a system with multiple CPUs, we highly recommend setting the affinity of Photoshop so that it will only ever try to use one of your CPUs.
2. Most actions in Photoshop are either single threaded or lightly threaded. This means that you will get the exact same performance whether your system has two CPU cores or twenty CPU cores. For these actions, a CPU with a high operating frequency is key.
3. Multi-threaded actions hit a point of diminishing returns after around 6 CPU cores, and most completely stop improving after 8 CPU cores.

What they didn't seem to address was whether or not there would be an advantage to two processors if one was simultaneously running Photoshop and some other processing intensive software, eg, 3D rendering, Matlab's Image Processing Toolbox, or even possibly something like a DAM. My guess is that if the affinities of the various applications were set correctly, one would see an advantage in using two physical processors.

HTH,

Tom M

 

[derek]

Tom emailed me, and following is my email reply.

Dear Tom,

Wow! This reply is far beyond what I expected. The issue I raise must be
universal, if photographers using Photoshop are sufficiently hardware
sophisticated to ask the question. In that context, your email should be
made permanently available somewhere in the forum as a canonical reference.
After I've studied your links further I may -possibly- have a technical
comment to make. Again, thanks ever so much.

My very best regards,
Derek

 

[Tom Mann]

Hi Derek - I'm really glad that the information that I brought to your attention from Puget Computers was helpful.

With respect to emailing you the info, actually, I didn't manually email you anything, LOL. I simply posted a reply to your question in the thread you started (so that people in the future can see it - - exactly like you suggested), and what probably happened is that you had "email notifications" turned on, so the forum software automatically sent you a copy of my reply by email.

Also, BTY, thank you for giving your thread a good descriptive / accurate title. This substantially improves the chances of someone else searching for this info finding it here. You wouldn't believe some of the thread names that we get, LOL.

Anyway, do drop in again, either with other questions or to simply share your work and knowledge. We would love to have you.

Best regards,

Tom M