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Silynx

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Which Graphics Cards are supported for Mercury Graphics engine in Photoshop CS6?

Mar 25, 2012 12:27 AM

Tags: #photoshop #graphics #card #cs6 #supported #mecury

Hi,

I know that in "Premier" only high end graphics card will do the work for Mercury. Is that so for Photoshop?

Thanks

17320 Views 38 Replies Latest reply: Noel Carboni, Mar 25, 2012 11:27 AM

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1. PECourtejoie,

Mar 22, 2012 2:45 PM in reply to Silynx

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Hello, I don't think that the mercury engine is shared by Photoshop, but is does have a minimal requirement if you want to use OpenGl acceleration: see product details on : http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/photoshopcs6/

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2. -Agfaclack-,

Mar 22, 2012 2:50 PM in reply to PECourtejoie

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Blazingly fast performance and a modern UI — Experience unprecedented performance with the Mercury Graphics Engine, which gives you near-instant results when you edit with key tools such as Liquify, Puppet Warp, and Crop.* Plus, a refined, fresh, and elegant Photoshop interface features dark background options that make your images pop.

would be nice to know if it´s only the same name....

but a normal 460 GTX or so will do.

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3. Silynx,

Mar 22, 2012 2:56 PM in reply to -Agfaclack-

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In Premier's Mercury Engine, the 460 GTX will not do as shown here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/performance.html

The question if it will do for Photoshop CS6?

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4. -Agfaclack-,

Mar 22, 2012 3:02 PM in reply to Silynx

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the 460 GTX works fine in premiere believe me.... im using one in one of my systems.
it´s not official supported that is correct. but you only have to put a text string in a .INI file.

i have another system with a official supported 470 GTX and it´s not much of a difference.

but this is about PHOTOSHOP anyway. right?

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5. Silynx,

Mar 22, 2012 2:59 PM in reply to PECourtejoie

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Mercury is indeed shared in photoshop as shown in the page you linked.
I know that in Premier, Mercury will not do a good work without high end cards. Meaning minimal system requirements are far from being enough.
The question is if it's the same for PS CS6?

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6. Pattie F,

Mar 22, 2012 2:59 PM in reply to Silynx

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See system requirements post at : http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/photoshopcs6/#sysreqs

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7. Silynx,

Mar 22, 2012 3:03 PM in reply to -Agfaclack-

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I didnt know that Agfaclack. Thanks for sharing this. Did someone test this for PS CS6?

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8. -Agfaclack-,

Mar 22, 2012 3:07 PM in reply to Silynx

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arielinson wrote:

Mercury is indeed shared in photoshop as shown in the page you linked.
I know that in Premier, Mercury will not do a good work without high end cards. Meaning minimal system requirements are far from being enough.
The question is if it's the same for PS CS6?

i cant speak about video as i have not touched video in photoshop. but i doubt that it will have such high demands.

but for all the other tools in photoshop a 460 GTX is more then enough.
you don´t need so much power, PS is less demanding then premiere. the workload is very different.

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9. Silynx,

Mar 22, 2012 3:07 PM in reply to Pattie F

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Hi PS-Pattie. I saw the minimal system requirements but Mercury In Premier requires much more than minimal system requirement to work. Will it Work in photoshop with a low end graphics card? I doubt it. Isnt there a page which lists Mercury supported cards in PS CS6 like this one for Premiere?
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/performance.html

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10. -Agfaclack-,

Mar 22, 2012 3:11 PM in reply to Silynx

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again.. it´s nothing like that resource hog premiere!
you don´t have to worry. if CS5 runs fine CS 6 will also.

what card do you have?

btw:

mercury in premiere for cheap: http://www.indiev.org/?p=308

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11. Silynx,

Mar 22, 2012 3:13 PM in reply to -Agfaclack-

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I currently use Geforce 520 GT. Its a low end card which runs great in CS5.
Now that I read about Mercury is PS CS6 I became concerned that it will require new card like Premiere hardware requirements.

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12. Chris Cox,

Mar 22, 2012 3:20 PM in reply to Silynx

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What's in Photoshop is not 100% overlapping with what's in Premiere.

Photoshop does not require CUDA to use the acceleration.
Photoshop can use OpenCL on newer cards/GPUs.
But Photoshop will run on any working card/driver combination, and run faster with faster GPUs (but really wants 1 Gig or more of VRAM).

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13. ninjamupp,

Mar 22, 2012 5:08 PM in reply to -Agfaclack-

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-Agfaclack- wrote:

again.. it´s nothing like that resource hog premiere!
you don´t have to worry. if CS5 runs fine CS 6 will also.

what card do you have?

Not necessary. I had to switch of graphics processor in CS6 in the preferences or the documents would only show the workspace behind the document. (ATI Radeon 5670.)

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14. -Agfaclack-,

Mar 22, 2012 5:20 PM in reply to ninjamupp

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sorry i don´t get what you mean.
you switched of graphic processors to make it run faster or because it acted weird?

some people will always have issue.. that is a normal thing with software and so many possible hard+software configurations.
generally speaking i think i am right.

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15. ninjamupp,

Mar 22, 2012 5:25 PM in reply to -Agfaclack-

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Because it acted weird. It works perfectly in CS5, but in CS6 with OpenGL on, no matter what I did all I saw was the dark grey from the interface where the document should be. It did show what I did in the layer thumbnails though, but that wasn't any help really.

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16. -Agfaclack-,

Mar 22, 2012 5:34 PM in reply to ninjamupp

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you have the latest ati drivers for your GFX card installed?

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17. ninjamupp,

Mar 22, 2012 5:37 PM in reply to -Agfaclack-

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Oh yes. Double-checked that since it does seem to be an overlay problem.

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18. -Agfaclack-,

Mar 22, 2012 5:44 PM in reply to ninjamupp

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i blame it on ATI..... they have lousy OpenGL drivers.
that´s why all our 3D workstations run with nvidia cards.

maybe CS6 makes use of some OpenGL function that are not well implemented in the ATI drivers an were not used in CS5.

or it´s just an individual and system related problem.

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19. Pete.Green,

Mar 22, 2012 6:19 PM in reply to Silynx

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Here is a list of video cards that have been tested and work with Photoshop CS5: http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/tested-video-cards-photoshop-cs5.h tml

There have been more and newer cards tested with CS6, but the complete document with tested GPUs is not available at this time.

Just be sure to have the latest video drivers installed for whatever card you have, that'll be a big helper!

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20. Silynx,

Mar 22, 2012 11:04 PM in reply to Pete.Green

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There have been more and newer cards tested with CS6, but the complete document with tested GPUs is not available at this time.

OK I beleive the best answer is that there is no document available at this time in regard to graphics cards tested to work with PS CS6 Mercury Graphics engine.

If anyone stumble upon a documentation listing tested graphics cards for mercury like this one in Premire:
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/performance.html
- Please update this discussion.

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21. Noel Carboni,

Mar 22, 2012 11:13 PM in reply to ninjamupp

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What ATI Catalyst version are you running, arielinson?

-Noel

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22. Silynx,

Mar 22, 2012 11:47 PM in reply to Noel Carboni

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Noel as mentioned, I have Nvidia Geforce 520 GT. Low end graphics card which works great with PS CS5.

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23. PECourtejoie,

Mar 23, 2012 12:39 AM in reply to Chris Cox

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Chris, is Mercury engine the correct name for Photoshop? I thought there was a slight error in that page, but might be mistaken. Maybe the video sub-section is using that code.

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24. Stephen Shankland,

Mar 23, 2012 12:51 AM in reply to Silynx

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I asked Adobe about this for a story I wrote on Photoshop CS6, which uses OpenGL and OpenCL. Here is their full response:

Supported video cards
Adobe tested most of the following video cards before the release of Photoshop CS6. This document lists the video card by series. The minimum amount of RAM supported on video cards for Photoshop CS6 is 256 MB.
Note: Adobe tested laptop and desktop versions of the following cards. Be sure to download the latest driver for your specific model. (Laptop and desktop versions have slightly different names.)

Nvidia GeForce 8000, 9000, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 series
Nvidia Quadro FX TBD
Nvidia Quadro 400, 600, 2000, 4000 (Mac & Win), CX, 5000, 6000
ATI Radeon 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, 7000 series
Note: ATI X1000 series and nVidia 7000 series cards are no longer being tested and are no officially supported in CS6 – some basic GL functionality may be available for both these cards.

ATI FireGL TBD
ATI FirePro 3800, 4800, 5800, 7800, 8800, 9800, 3900, 4900, 5900, 7900

Intel
Intel HD Graphics P3000 Intel HD Graphics P4000
MacBook Air Intel GMA X3100
*Note that only the P4000 GPU will support OCL in CS6

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25. Silynx,

Mar 23, 2012 1:18 AM in reply to Stephen Shankland

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Thanks Stephan.
Since Adobe didnt mention in your liust any special requirement for Mercury graphics engine, I beleive the correct answer is that there are no special requirements as opposed to what is noted for Premiere.
If anyone find otherwise please update this discussion.
Thanks.

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26. Stephen Shankland,

Mar 23, 2012 5:08 AM in reply to Silynx

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Yes, the graphics card choice is drastically better than with Premiere Pro CS5. However, you do need OpenGL support, which on Windows can be spotty given that driver writers tend to concentrate on DirectX.

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27. Blinded By The Light,

Mar 24, 2012 4:35 AM in reply to Silynx

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have an issue with CS6 Beta in VMware Player 4.0.2 build-591240. OS running in virtual machine is Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit.
According to Geeks3D GPU Caps Viewer I'm running OpenGL 2.1. "Furry Cube" demo is running.
I'm unable to see "Live Tip Brush Preview". I'm allowed to choose the option, but nothing happens.
EDIT: Tried with "erodible" brushes/airbrush.
EDITEDIT: "Oil Paint.."-Filter displays an error message. Won't work without "Use Graphics Processor".

Ciao, Walter

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28. Chris Cox,

Mar 24, 2012 11:27 AM in reply to Blinded By The Light

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Use Graphics Processor is disabled (along with all GPU features) because you don't have a GPU capable of running those features.
VMWare is emulating a very, very simple GPU.

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29. Blinded By The Light,

Mar 24, 2012 11:50 AM in reply to Chris Cox

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I see and understand. Two questions:
Is there a virtualisation software able to emulate a compatible GPU?
Is there a complete list of functions disabled/not available for incompatible graphics adapters?
- Oil Paint
- Adaptive Wide Angle
- Live Tip Brush Preview
?

Ciao, Walter

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30. Chris Cox,

Mar 24, 2012 11:58 AM in reply to Blinded By The Light

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I don't know of any current virtualization software that will emulate a modern GPU.

Hmm, I'm not sure we have a single list of what is unavailable without a GPU.

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31. Noel Carboni,

Mar 24, 2012 12:04 PM in reply to Blinded By The Light

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To your first question: I'm able to use GPU acceleration with Photoshop CS6 in a VMware virtual machine, running the Windows 8 CP, but there are a couple of caveats:

1. I don't know how the host system GPU figures into it, but I have an ATI Radeon HD 5670 with the most up-to-date Catalyst 12.3 driver set.

2. I had to apply the AllowOldGPUS registry change (adapted from an earlier version of Photoshop) to force Photoshop CS6 to recognize the VM's OpenGL implementation as sufficient to use OpenGL. After having done that, Photoshop CS6 works like a charm.

I'm sure Adobe would rather I not document that registry change here; you'll have to search for it and use your inginuity to do that.

-Noel

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32. Blinded By The Light,

Mar 24, 2012 12:28 PM in reply to Chris Cox

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I hope you agree that such a list would be helpfull.
Two chapters will do. In germish it might look like this:
===
- These functions are available only if a compatible GPU is detected. GPU must be activated in Preferences.
     - Oil Paint
     - Adaptive Wide Angle
     - Live Tip Brush Preview
     - ?

- These functions are available without a compatible GPU but performance will be inferior.
      - ?
===

Ciao, Walter

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33. Blinded By The Light,

Mar 24, 2012 12:34 PM in reply to Noel Carboni

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This was helpful indeed!
Brush preview is available and running smooth.
Oil paint opens a window and disappears. Can live with that now.
Adaptive Wide Angle refuses to work with 16 bit colours but let me use 8 bit. Can live with that, too

Thanks a lot, Noel!

Ciao, Walter

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34. Noel Carboni,

Mar 24, 2012 12:51 PM in reply to Blinded By The Light

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Yeah, I had some trouble with 16 bits/channel imagery as well.

I haven't tried Oil Paint yet.

-Noel

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35. Pattie F,

Mar 24, 2012 11:57 PM in reply to Silynx

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I have just posted an FAQ about the GPU which includes the final list of tested video cards and a troubleshooting guide.
FAQ: What features use the GPU and how do I troubleshoot GPU issues?

Tested video cards for Photoshop CS6
Adobe tested the following video cards before the release of Photoshop CS6. This document lists the video card by series. The minimum amount of RAM supported on video cards for Photoshop CS6 is 256 MB.
Note: Adobe tested laptop and desktop versions of the following cards. Be sure to download the latest driver for your specific model. (Laptop and desktop versions have slightly different names.)
nVidia GeForce 8000, 9000, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 series
nVidia Quadro 400, 600, 2000, 4000 (Mac & Win), CX, 5000, 6000
AMD/ATI Radeon 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, 7000 series
AMD/ATI FirePro 3800, 4800, 5800, 7800, 8800, 9800, 3900, 4900, 5900, 7900
Intel Intel HD Graphics, Intel HD Graphics P3000, Intel HD Graphics P4000
Note: ATI X1000 series and nVidia 7000 series cards are no longer being tested and are not officially supported in CS6 – some basic GL functionality may be available for both these cards.

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36. Chris Cox,

Mar 24, 2012 11:58 PM in reply to Pattie F

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And now we have a document - thanks Pattie!

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37. Pattie F,

Mar 25, 2012 12:27 AM in reply to Chris Cox

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38. Noel Carboni,

Mar 25, 2012 11:27 AM in reply to Chris Cox

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Chris Cox wrote:

Photoshop can use OpenCL on newer cards/GPUs.

That's HUGE, and worth putting up in lights, because it opens you up to being able to use non-nVidia graphics cards.

-Noel

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