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MP 1,1-5,1 configure Mac Pro 5.1 for best performance

JoeStrummer

JoeStrummer

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 27, 2019
32
1
South Africa
Hello

I am confused as to how to configure my MacPro for the best performance and was hoping for advice? I work mostly in Photoshop with large files (with layers). I really struggle sometimes with big files (slow!) and I have a sense it could be better.

Where is best place for PS scratch disk? I have been told that it should be on the fastest disk available but not on the same disk as the app (PS) and not on the same disk as the source file (image that is open in PS)?

MacPro 5.1 with a single processor (6-Core Intel Xeon 3.46ghz) and 32GB ram (4x8GB).

My current PCI slot set-up is….

Slot 1 - Radeon RX 580 8GB GPU
Slot 2 - M.2 PCIe adapter with Samsung SSD 970 PRO NVMe M.2 (boot)
Slot 3 - Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500GB (work)
Slot 4 – USB card

In the hard drive bays (including the optical bay) I have a selection of rotational hard drives and SSD – but these speeds are largely determined by the slow SATA interface.

I boot from the NVMe M.2 blade (in slot 2) and that has OS and all apps (including photoshop). I use the SSD in slot 3 as a ‘work’ folder. Current projects get stored there and files opened into PS from there.

But where should I put scratch disk?

Will more RAM help?

Why is it so slow?

I don’t really care about opening times – my main concern is once the file is open in PS and I am adding adjustments and layers and resizing and using various plug-ins etc – how to make that as fast as possible?

Thanks!!!
 
Hello Joe,

what about maxing out the RAM ?
Optimal will be a 3 x 16GB configuration. You get a speed gain because of the triple-channel-ram@ 1333MHz.
If you use 4 DIMMS the system will use only a double-channel-configuration.

You can use a DUAL Processor board.

You can put the X580 in Slot 2.
Then you have the ability to use a PCIe M2 adaptor with bifurcation (ASmedia 2824 or PLX-Chip)!
This will give you a speed boost from the SSDs.

I use a Highpoint 7010 (similar to the 7001a and 7003) RAID with 3 x M2 SSDs. The adaptor has also a SAS port...
... in future I will use this with the Internal drive bays (power from the logicboard with an adaptor and the data via cable
from the 7010...

Greets willy
 
JoeStrummer said:
MacPro 5.1 with a single processor (6-Core Intel Xeon 3.46ghz) and 32GB ram (4x8GB).

My current PCI slot set-up is….

Slot 1 - Radeon RX 580 8GB GPU
Slot 2 - M.2 PCIe adapter with Samsung SSD 970 PRO NVMe M.2 (boot)
Slot 3 - Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500GB (work)
Slot 4 – USB card

In the hard drive bays (including the optical bay) I have a selection of rotational hard drives and SSD – but these speeds are largely determined by the slow SATA interface.

I boot from the NVMe M.2 blade (in slot 2) and that has OS and all apps (including photoshop). I use the SSD in slot 3 as a ‘work’ folder. Current projects get stored there and files opened into PS from there.

But where should I put scratch disk?

Will more RAM help?

Why is it so slow?

I don’t really care about opening times – my main concern is once the file is open in PS and I am adding adjustments and layers and resizing and using various plug-ins etc – how to make that as fast as possible?

Thanks!!!
Click to expand...

I also use Photoshop (V. 6) with large files (D-850 raws). I presently have 24 GB of RAM in a 2017 base-model iMac, and memory only starts to become a minor issue if I have a dozen or so of these files open at once. All operations are quite fast. (My old 3,1 was a dog, even though I was working with mostly 12 MP files at the time.)

Your machine is already well optimized, and there's little more you can do. Scratch should be on your fastest drive. Look at the "memory pressure." Is it staying mostly green? If so, more memory will not help (including scratch). Using the third memory channel will not provide a real-world noticeable boost either.

Sadly, I'd suggest your basic problem is that by now the 5,1 is just an older and slower machine. A 2019 I9 iMac, or likely any new one, would wipe the floor with it.
 
Last edited:
willowthewisp said:
Hello Joe,

what about maxing out the RAM ?
Optimal will be a 3 x 16GB configuration. You get a speed gain because of the triple-channel-ram@ 1333MHz.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this
[doublepost=1568098673][/doublepost]
Ph.D. said:
Sadly, I'd suggest your basic problem is that by now the 5,1 is just an older and slower machine. A 2019 I9 iMac, or likely any new one, would wipe the floor with it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. The big plus for me about the 5.1 is that I get to use a standalone colour accurate monitor!
 
JoeStrummer said:
Slot 3 - Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500GB (work)
Click to expand...
I would suggest to keep the projects, you are working on on the NVMe disk with only backing them up to the storage location from time to time. This should give a nice boost in performance on your otherwise allmost maxed out machine.
[doublepost=1568110565][/doublepost]
JoeStrummer said:
But where should I put scratch disk?
Click to expand...
Don't know about the size of your projects, but i doubt that with 32 gigs of ram, a scratch disk is in use too much. But, if you are really out for performance, maybe a smaller 128 gig or so secondary PCIe drive will do. Does your app sit on the NVMe or the "work" disk?
 
Last edited:
use activity monitor and watch what happens when Photoshop is slow

find a task you do often that is 'to slow' and use it as a benchmark as you do things
can you say what tasks are to slow

check you have optimal Photoshop preferences set up (most people don't)

Photoshop has a ram meter thing ! idk why most people dont seem to know about it
Screen Shot 2019-09-10 at 3.18.32 pm.png

if it's plugins watch what they do in activity monitor

have a look at
https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/kb/optimize-photoshop-cc-performance.html
and
https://www.pugetsystems.com/all_articles.php?filter[]=Photoshop

most people do not have optimal settings for Photoshop so there is speed to gain, maybe a NVME scratch disc but you will hit a point where the Photoshop is only using 1-2 cores for a lot of tasks and the only real upgrade is a new high MHz CPU.

im making blind guesses and im not sure what you are doing that is to slow so there may be some big gains you can get ;)

edit
'I don’t really care about opening times – my main concern is once the file is open in PS and I am adding adjustments and layers and resizing and using various plug-ins etc – how to make that as fast as possible?'

hard for me to relay tell what your doing but for me a lot of time was saved by batch workflows so may be worth looking at that.

last time i worked in Photoshop a lot mine was something like

ACR - edit raw files and make my looks
photoshop - batch process files with resizing etc

walk of and make coffee

job done

there is a few ways to work with batch processing in PS and some are faster, lots of options to look at from automating of a filter to automating all stages of work.

has saved me a massive amount of time
 
Last edited:
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orph said:
use activity monitor and watch what happens when Photoshop is slow

find a task you do often that is 'to slow' and use it as a benchmark as you do things
can you say what tasks are to slow

check you have optimal Photoshop preferences set up (most people don't)

Photoshop has a ram meter thing ! idk why most people dont seem to know about it
View attachment 856975

if it's plugins watch what they do in activity monitor

have a look at
https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/kb/optimize-photoshop-cc-performance.html
and
https://www.pugetsystems.com/all_articles.php?filter[]=Photoshop
Click to expand...

Thanks for this! Will try your suggestions
 
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