Photoshop leverages the graphics processor in your system to provide a seamlessly smooth Photoshop experience and increased performance with many features.
Features that won't work without a GPU
If your graphics processor is unsupported or its driver is defective, the following Photoshop features won't work:
- 3D
- Birds Eye View
- Flick Panning
- Oil Paint
- Perspective Warp (more info)
- Render – Flame, Picture Frame, and Tree
- Scrubby Zoom
- Smooth Brush Resizing
If you encounter any issues working with the above features, see Graphics processor (GPU) troubleshooting.
- On Windows, a GPU with DirectX 12 support and 2 GB of GPU memory
- On macOS, a GPU with Metal Support and 2 GB of GPU memory
If your using an older graphics card or driver, GPU functionality in Photoshop may be limited or not supported.
Generally, consider using GPUs with an Average Ops/Sec of 2000 or higher on PassMark's GPU Computer Benchmark Chart.
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Click Advanced Settings and specify the following options:
Drawing Mode:
- Basic: Uses the least amount of graphics card memory or VRAM and enables basic graphics processor features
- Normal: Uses more graphics card memory or VRAM and enables graphics processor-based color matching, tone mapping, and checkerboard blending
- Advanced: Provides the benefits of Normal mode and newer graphics processor features that can result in improved performance
Use Graphics Processor to Accelerate Computation: Enable to improve the interactivity of Warp and Puppet Warp previews
Use OpenCL: Enable to accelerate the new Blur Gallery filters, Smart Sharpen, Select Focus Area, or Image Size with Preserve Details selected (Note: OpenCL is available only on newer graphics cards that support OpenCL v1.1 or later.)
Anti-alias Guides and Paths: Allows the graphics processor to smooth the edges of drawn guides and paths
30-bit Display: Allows Photoshop to display 30 bit data directly on monitors with 30 bit support
Use native operating system GPU acceleration: Enables Photoshop to use macOS Metal and Windows DirectX 12
Photoshop does not take advantage of multiple graphics cards. Conflicting drivers may also cause crashes or other problems.
- If you have a system with multiple graphics cards, see Configuring computers with multiple graphics cards.
- If you have multiple monitors, a best practice is to connect them to the same graphics card.
Running Photoshop under virtual machines, or VMs, is not tested extensively nor officially supported because of known issues with features that rely on the graphics processor in VM environments.