Adobe Photoshop CS4 Performance

To measure performance under Photoshop CS4 we turn to the Retouch Artists’ Speed Test. The test does basic photo editing; there are a couple of color space conversions, many layer creations, color curve adjustment, image and canvas size adjustment, unsharp mask, and finally a gaussian blur performed on the entire image.

The whole process is timed and thanks to the use of Intel's X25-M SSD as our test bed hard drive, performance is far more predictable than back when we used to test on mechanical disks.

Time is reported in seconds and the lower numbers mean better performance. The test is multithreaded and can hit all four cores in a quad-core machine.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 - Retouch Artists Speed Test

Photoshop CS4 continues to be more comfortable with Intel CPUs, as even the Core 2 Quad Q9400 is able to outperform the X4 955. The cream of the crop here is Intel's Core i7 though, even a 920 is able to outperform the fastest Core 2 Quad we have here.

SYSMark 2007 Performance DivX, x264 & WME Performance
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  • dragonsphere - Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - link

    I read articles like this all the time for multiple websites. I am a professional application performance tester and I can tell you that most of these articles are junk just to stir up the masses. Most of their statistics are based on averages. This means that 51% of the time they are wrong. Have you noticed that none of them show confidence tests to prove that their data is accurate? Also they don't use 90th percentiles. I think this is due to the lack of the tools that they are using to generate these sub-standard statistics. Until the software they are using is more precise I would consider these tests to be junk science.
  • cal954 - Saturday, May 2, 2009 - link

    Thanks for all the information. I used this model to build my first computer, although no matter what I try to do, my CPU-Z never shows me the multiplier being anything but 4.0 and I can't get my core speed above 800 even w/ CnQ disabled.
  • Hamlet2000 - Saturday, May 9, 2009 - link

    You need to update your bios on your motherboard. I had the exact same thing with my new Phenom II 955 build on a Gigabyte board. Once you update, go into your bios and set the clock at 200 x 16. You'll notice the speed difference right away - it's a smoking fast CPU!
  • Edgemeal - Monday, April 27, 2009 - link

    Geez, some of you people make it sound like AMD has to have the fastest CPU in the market or they just aren't any good or something!

    AMD knows what their chip/PC parts are worth in the market place and their price/performance fits in very nicely. I applaud AMD, without them you'd be reading about the new $900 2GHz P4s right about now LOL!
  • swapnadip - Friday, April 24, 2009 - link

    Either AnandTech is Intel fan or Intel pays them hefty Loyalty.

    If not, then why every other reviewieng site shows AMD PHENOM 2 X4 955 BE defeating Core i7 940 on evey computing prospects.

    On some instances it has bashed on Core i7 965 extreme.

    This is pretty much biased and helping INTEL play their MONOPOLOY in this sector. In today's market, no two rivals can have their top of line product bearing differences of Day and Night like shown in this review.

    Thanks
  • swapnadip - Friday, April 24, 2009 - link

    Either AnandTech is Intel fan or Intel pays them hefty Loyalty.

    If not, then why every other reviewieng site shows AMD PHENOM 2 X4 955 BE defeating Core i7 940 on evey computing prospects.

    On some instances it has bashed on Core i7 965 extreme.

    This is pretty much biased and helping INTEL play their MONOPOLOY in this sector. In today's market, no two rivals can have their top of line product bearing differences of Day and Night like shown in this review.

    Thanks
  • swapnadip - Friday, April 24, 2009 - link

    Either AnandTech is Intel fan or Intel pays them hefty Loyalty.

    If not, then why every other reviewieng site shows AMD PHENOM 2 X4 955 BE defeating Core i7 940 on evey computing prospects.

    On some instances it has bashed on Core i7 965 extreme.

    This is pretty much biased and helping INTEL play their MONOPOLOY in this sector. In today's market, no two rivals can have their top of line product bearing differences of Day and Night like shown in this review.

    Thanks
  • iFX - Friday, April 24, 2009 - link

    PII 940 BE = $189.99 on Newegg right now and for the last week+
    PII 940 BE = $189.99 on Newegg right now and for the last week+
    PII 940 BE = $189.99 on Newegg right now and for the last week+
    PII 940 BE = $189.99 on Newegg right now and for the last week+
    PII 940 BE = $189.99 on Newegg right now and for the last week+
    PII 940 BE = $189.99 on Newegg right now and for the last week+
    PII 940 BE = $189.99 on Newegg right now and for the last week+

    ----

    Why is it every AMD article on this site has errors?
  • wowo - Friday, April 24, 2009 - link

    how x264?x264 benchmark 2.0 is very old .

    it is 819,but new x264 is 1139.intel is better for 1139 a lot.

    please test wirh new x264.
  • ultrageek1111 - Friday, April 24, 2009 - link

    you know what they say about black processors...

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