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Customizing the Way You Work in Adobe Photoshop CS4

Dec 15, 2008

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Allocating Memory & Image Cache

PS 1.3

The Memory Usage and History & Cache preferences give you control over how much RAM is assigned to Photoshop, and how much memory is allocated to screen redraws (Image Cache). Photoshop, being a high-performance application, requires a fairly large amount of RAM. Adjusting these options can help increase Photoshop’s overall speed performance. Photoshop uses many operations that affect RAM: History States, Undo, Clipboard, and Cache. When you modify the Memory Usage settings, you are increasing or decreasing the amount of RAM Photoshop uses for various tasks. Experimentation is the key here. Try different settings and record Photoshop’s performance. By fine-tuning Photoshop’s engine, you increase its overall speed, and you’ll get more design miles to the gallon.

Allocate Memory & Image Cache Options

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.
Click Performance.
Select the History & Cache options you want to use:
- Cache Levels. Select a number from 1 to 8.
- History States. Enter the amount of History States steps you want to keep as undos; you can enter up to 1,000.
Click to view larger image

Important

History States impact Photoshop’s performance by holding the History States using a combination of RAM and Scratch Disk space. The more History States used, the more RAM is required. Using an extensive number of History States can impact Photoshop’s performance.

See Also

See “Installing Photoshop,” on page 2 for information on RAM and other system needs.

For Your Information: Setting the Cache Levels

Cache Levels are screen redraws, or how many versions of the current active document Photoshop saves. When you’re working on large documents, more Cache Levels help speed up the redraw function, and make image manipulation proceed faster. However, they are held primarily in RAM, so the more Cache Levels you choose, the less RAM is available for other Photoshop functions.
Enter the percentage of RAM used in the Let Photoshop Use box.
Photoshop needs about 5 times the size of the open document of unused RAM to operate efficiently.

Important

Any changes made for allocating memory and image caching will take place the next time you start Photoshop. Please see the message at the bottom of the screen.
GPU Settings (New!). If you have a video card installed with a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), the name of your video card will appear under Detected Video Card. Check Enable OpenGL Drawing (GL stands for Graphics Library) to make the enhanced speed and smoothness of CS4 graphic rendering and navigation available to you.
Click OK.
Click to view larger image

Important

Never select 100% Memory Usage. Selecting 100% gives Photoshop your entire available RAM, leaving nothing for the operating system or any other open programs. If you are experiencing more than your usual share of Photoshop crashes, experiment with reducing memory usage.