diglloyd benchmark Actions for Photoshop

See Configuring Photoshop for how to configure Photoshop for fastest results.

You can download these actions.

The tests were performed using Photoshop “actions” — scripts that can be played to execute a series of actions.

The tests were not designed to test the speed of filters like Unsharp Mask, Gaussian Blur, etc: those are CPU-constrained operations.

Instead, the tests are designed to force Photoshop into using its scratch volume(s), to mimic behavior when working with large image files, images with many layers, or many images at once. Speed under such conditions is governed mainly by available memory and the speed of the scratch volume, not CPU speed.

All of the actions generate scratch files well in excess of the memory available to Photoshop (3GB).

diglloydSmall

Generates an 8.4GB scratch file using a 14,000-pixel-wide image. Not used for testing in this article, but is appropriate for testing smaller workloads.

diglloydMedium

Generates a 15.7GB scratch file using a 20,000-pixel-wide image. This is about as large a challenge as is suitable for a MacBook Pro (unless you have plenty of patience).

diglloydHuge

Generates a 56GB scratch file using a 40,000-pixel-wide image. Suitable for testing extreme cases with the Mac Pro, most dependent on scratch drive performance.

The test results for Mac Pro used both diglloydMedium and diglloydHuge. The test results for MacBook Pro used diglloydMedium only.

Running the diglloyd Photoshop test actions

This section details how to download, load, and run the diglloyd benchmark actions.

The test file begins as a 16-bit 5616 X 3744 four-layer image (all pixel layers) which is a 722MB uncompressed TIF. See step 2 below on how to create such a file.

1. Configure Photoshop

See Configuring Photoshop.

2. Download and install the benchmark actions

Download, then install the diglloyd benchmark actions (“diglloydPhotoshopBenchmarks.atn”) as follows.

       

Use the Load Actions command to load the action file.
After loading, the actions under “diglloydPhotoshopBenchmarks” appear;
expand the triangle to see the individual steps

Use the Photoshop Actions palette to load the diglloydPhotoshopBenchmarks.atn after downloading, as shown above. After loading, you should see three actions, diglloydHuge, diglloydMedium and diglloydSmall. Be warned that diglloydHuge can take a long time to complete on wimpy systems.

3. Create the test file

Follow these steps, or if you prefer, you can run the diglloydCreateTestFile action.

1. In Photoshop, create an RGB 16-bit 5616 X 3744 pixel file. A quick way to do this is to open one of your own images, duplicate it, then resize it using the Image Size command.
2. Duplicate the background layer 3 times, so that there are a total of 4 pixel layers.
3. Save as an uncompressed TIF, file size should be 722MB. The filename doesn’t matter.

Running the test action

To obtain consistent and repeatable results, the Mac should be in a reproducible state before running the tests:

1. Reboot, then allow the system to stabilize for 30 seconds or so (a variety of programs are active for at least a short while after the system starts up).
2. Turn off Time Machine so it doesn’t start backing up in the middle of a test. Don’t forget to turn it back on when done!
3. Drag your test volume (scratch disk) into Spotlight’s Privacy tab so that the Spotlight doesn’t try indexing the test volume during the test.
4. Quit any applications you have running (Mail, Safari, etc). These consume resources that can alter the test results.

Click the play icon as shown

The system should now be in an idle state with nothing running except the Finder. Verify this by opening Activity Monitor.

Next, open the test file, and verify in the Performance tab that Photoshop is configured appropriately and that you have chosen the desired scratch volume(s). Quit and relaunch Photoshop if you make any changes.

Wait 10 seconds or so for Photoshop to “quiesce” (it undertakes some background activity right after the file is opened, including some scratch-file activity).

In the Actions panel, select the desired action (eg diglloydMedium or diglloydHuge). To run the benchmark action, choose the Play command or click the small triangle at bottom. Note the start time, and the finish time: when the screen completely redraws after the last Invert operation.

Scratch file size (Info panel)

After the test is done, verify that the scratch file size is as expected.

It’s a good idea to keep Activity Monitor open, and watch for any other background programs that might start running while the test is in progress. Results are invalid if other programs are vying for memory and disk access.