What makes the best system for Photoshop?

Photoshop itself is not a particularly demanding application to run, but it is often used in conjunction with other applications as part of creating a project. The below recommendations and guidance focus primarily on the requirements for Photoshop software alone, so you may want to read other application pages to understand how systems specifications may be impacted if multiple applications are used together.

What GPU do I need for Photoshop?

Photoshop has minor benefits with a GPU, so it is not worth investing in a high-end card. If you are considering a dedicated workstation for Photoshop then we recommend consumer-grade NVIDIA GeForce cards thanks to their outstanding value for money. However, if you're also planning on modelling on the same workstation then it's worth considering an entry level professional NVIDIA RTX GPU thanks to their larger memory buffer and certified drivers.

What storage does Photoshop need?

We always recommend using an SSD for the boot drive that will host your OS, Photoshop itself, and any active projects you are working on. The high speed of SSDs allows your system to boot, launch applications, and load files many times faster than any traditional hard drive. Alternatively, as your work projects increase you may want to consider a second SSD or higher capacity HDD - depending on your budget - so your OS, Photoshop and live projects benefit from SSD speed, but your archived work uses the HDD where speed isn't a necessity and costs can be lowered. Another archive solution could be to employ an external NAS device allowing sharing and RAID protection.

When it comes to deciding on drive capacity, this will very much depend on your number of files and the model sizes. You should also consider the space required by other applications and their associated files too.