Troubleshoot graphics processor (GPU) and graphics driver issues

Update your graphics driver

Updating your graphics driver can fix many issues, such as crashing, incorrectly rendered images, and performance problems. Get driver updates directly from the video card manufacturer.

NVIDIA drivers | AMD drivers | Intel drivers

Check your Cache Levels setting

If you've set your Cache Levels to 1 in Photoshop preferences, you may experience performance issues with features that take advantage of the graphics processor.

Reset the Cache Levels to the default setting, which is 4:

1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Performance
2. Set Cache Levels to 4
3. Quit and relaunch Photoshop

After relaunching Photoshop, retry the steps that caused the problem.

Reset your preferences

Resetting preferences returns Graphics Processor settings to their default status.

See Restore preference files to default

After resetting your preferences, launch Photoshop and retry the steps that caused the problem.

Change your Advanced Settings for Open CL

a. Choose Edit > Preferences > Performance

b. In the Performance panel, click Advanced Settings

c. Disable Open CL

d. Quit and restart Photoshop for the change to take effect

Enable Older GPU mode (pre-2016) setting

(Optional) For Windows users only: 

1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Technology Previews
2. Enable Older GPU mode (pre-2016)
3. Quit and restart Photoshop for the change to take effect

This preferences forces Photoshop to fall back to an alternate rendering engine. While this is recommended for older GPUs, sometimes newer GPUs could become more stable with this option selected.

Configuring computers with multiple graphics cards

Ultralight laptops and low end desktops, often use an integrated graphics card that uses less power to preserve battery and shares memory with your CPU.

Higher end computers often have a discrete, dedicated graphics card that uses its own memory (VRAM), has greater processing power, and doesn't eat up RAM. If your GPU preference is disabled and you cannot enable it, verify your monitor is connected to the high-powered GPU and not the built-in port on your computer. Also, higher end laptops ofter use two graphics cards, an integrated one when you're using the battery, and a discrete graphics card when you're plugged into an outlet.

If your system has more than one graphics card, ensure that Photoshop has been assigned the High-Performance graphics card rather than Integrated Graphics or Power-Saving graphics card for the best experience. Changing these settings on laptops will increase battery usage. See Quick Tips on setting up GPU for high performance in Photoshop.

nVidia

   See how to setup your NVIDIA GPU for high performance in the quick tutorial below.

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose the NVIDIA control panel.
   
2. Click Manage 3D settings.
3. Click Program Settings and add Photoshop.exe and sniffer.exe. Change the Preferred graphics processor to High-performance NVIDIA processor.

Note: Nvidia provides a choice between Studio and Game-ready drivers. Preferably, you should use Studio drivers.

AMD

   See how to setup your Intel & AMD GPUs for high performance in the quick tutorial below.

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose the AMD Catalyst Control Center or Configure Switchable Graphics.
   
2. Click Browse and choose High Performance instead of Power Saving.

Disable the less powerful graphics card

If the above step does not resolve issues when using more than one graphics card, consider disabling one of the graphics cards. Before disabling the onboard graphics card, please ensure you have the video output of your monitor connected to the dedicated graphics card.

To disable a graphics card, use the Device Manager on Windows. In the Device Manager, right-click the card's name and choose Disable.

After performing the troubleshooting steps above, you can confirm the results by enabling the Use Graphics Processor option in the Preferences > Performance panel and retrying the steps that caused the problem.

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Restart your computer

Some issues can occur directly after installing or upgrading the Adobe Creative Cloud application and/or Photoshop. Restart your system after a fresh update or install of Adobe software and see if symptoms clear up.

Update macOS

Apple includes GPU drivers in the system software and frequently adds bug fixes in updates. If you have a system update or security patch awaiting, install them and restart the Mac. If your computer does not let you install the latest version of macOS, then your computer hardware is falling behind current specifications for the operating system, and by extension, Photoshop. It may be necessary to use an older version of Photoshop that coincided with your final operating system version’s release date. To learn more, see:

• Download macOS installers from other Apple sources
• Keep your Mac up to date

Update Photoshop

All the most recent bug fixes are included in the latest version of Photoshop, and if your computer meets all current requirements for macOS and Photoshop, it should be the most stable.

Update Photoshop

As noted above, if your computer can no longer install the latest version of macOS, then you may want to have the last known working version of Photoshop installed at the time of your operating system, plus the latest version in case you are able to use it as well. See these steps to install multiple versions of Photoshop.

Creative Cloud issues

If you experience crashes, particularly on opening new files, sometimes the Creative Cloud application can be the source. Refer to the following documents for help installing or troubleshooting the Creative Cloud desktop app:

• How to install the Creative Cloud desktop application
• How to fix problems with the Creative cloud desktop application 

Turn off the GPU

Try turning the GPU off in Photoshop preferences to check whether problems go away with the GPU turned off. Go to Photoshop > Preferences > Performance and uncheck Use Graphics Processor, then restart Photoshop. 

• If the problems do NOT clear up after turning off the GPU, then your problem is more generic in nature. Try these tips.
• If problems go away with the GPU disabled, then you may opt to work without the GPU, or try some of the other steps below to straighten things out.

Re-enable the Use Graphics Processor option in the Preferences > Performance panel, restart Photoshop and try some of the following suggestions.

Camera Raw issues

Adobe Camera Raw uses the graphics processor differently than Photoshop. If you experience crashes, performance issues, or incorrectly rendered windows or objects, redraw issues or artifacts specifically when opening files in Adobe Camera Raw, then see Camera Raw graphics processor (GPU) FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).

Turn off Automatic Graphics Switching

If you are using a MacBook or MacBook Pro, go to System Preferences > Energy Saver, and turn off Automatic Graphics Switching. Restart Photoshop and see if the symptoms still occur.

Turn off OpenCL

1. Choose Photoshop > Preferences > Performance
2. In the Performance panel, click Advanced Settings
3. Uncheck the ‘Use OpenCL’
4. Restart Photoshop

Check your Cache Levels setting

If you have set your Cache Levels to 1 in Photoshop preferences, you may experience performance issues with features that take advantage of the graphics processor.

Reset the Cache Levels to the default setting, which is 4:

1. Choose Photoshop > Preferences > Performance
2. Set Cache Levels to 4
3. Restart Photoshop

After relaunching Photoshop, retry the steps that caused the problem.

Reset Photoshop preferences

Resetting preferences returns Graphics Processor settings to their default status.

See Restore preference files to default

After resetting your preferences, launch Photoshop and retest for errors. Sometimes preferences files can become corrupted, and a refresh can resolve a wide range of issues.