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$1,600 Ryzen based PC has double the performance in Photoshop than a $5,200 Mac Pro.

by 49 Comments

Much of the software that is available for both Mac & Windows is largely identical for both. If you can use it on one, you can use it on the other. This is certainly true of Adobe’s range of software, including Photoshop. Regardless of the platform, though, one of the biggest issues many photographers and other imaging professionals face is performance.

The recent MacBook Pro limitations have already seen quite a few start to make the shift over to Windows based PCs. The lack of upgrade options, and limited RAM just doesn’t keep up with their needs. But how does Apple’s flagship desktop system compare to new, much less expensive, AMD Ryzen based systems? Well, according to this test from Tech Guy, not so well.

Specs-wise, both systems are quite comparable. The cost, however, is drastically different between the two.

Mac Pro ($5,199 + Tax)

  • 8 Core, 3.0Ghz CPU
  • 64GB RAM
  • 2x AMD FirePro D700 GPU

AMD Ryzen 1700 based PC (Approx $1,550)

To upgrade the PC to the 64GB RAM contained within the Mac Pro would add about an extra $250 to that price.

Comparing performance between the two systems, was done with the assistance of Keith Simonian’s Photoshop Benchmark CPU speed tests.

Tech Guy starts with the Mac Pro with GPU acceleration enabled. He runs the benchmark action linked above, and receives a time of 15.0 seconds. Without GPU acceleration, 14.9 seconds. This indicates that the GPU plays little-to-no part in the processing of the image for these tests.

He next went on to test the same action on the AMD Ryzen based PC running windows. Again, he ran the tests with and without GPU acceleration enabled, and saw the same results each time. So, the PC isn’t using the GPU for these functions, either. Here, however, the speed is dramatically improved, receiving a time of 8.8 seconds.

With the Ryzen overclocked to 3.5Ghz, the results get even better. It brings that time down to 7.7 seconds. Without OBS using resources to capture the screen, Tech Guy says that time gets as low as 7.4 seconds. That’s half the time it took for the Mac Pro to perform the same operations.

Now, a saving of 7 or 8 seconds on a couple of processes doesn’t sound like a massive deal. But when you’re working on possibly hundreds of images from a shoot, that time adds up very quickly.

Of course, despite still (in theory) being Apple’s top of the line desktop, the Mac Pro is a little over 3 years old now. It’s coming up due for a refresh, but right now, it looks like there wiser ways to spend your money if performance is important.

Tech Guy says he’ll be running more tests, putting the two systems head to head for a variety of professional software. I’m curious to see how well it performs for video. Although, the GPU should play a bigger part in things there.

Related posts:

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  • yeah, powervise, yes. but no PC is powerful enough to make me use that **** peace of unreliable crap that is windows! and thats it. The most powerful car is not allways the best car.

    • Or maybe you just don’t know how to use it correctly?:)

    • everybody has their own ways. win just does not work for me. and speed is not the most important thing here. feeling is.

    • I know someone who has had no end of problems with his iMac – and Windoze is far better than it has ever been.

    • Since win10 i didnt had a single crash. Meanwhile we have a lab full of imacs and each week ine of them has to repeirs. Not to mention having a top of the line mac pro who had been to service multiple times over the last 2 years.

    • Tough luck. But it happens with anything.

  • Care to add the study done by IBM showing its more expensive to maintain a PC than it is a Mac?

  • As a sole Mac user I do feel that in the past 4 years Apple has gradually put more emphasis on appeasing shareholders and boosting profits. I have no problem paying a premium for evenly matched product if the service/reliability offers more value but I draw the line at having to pay over 2 times the amount for product that is half as good. I genuinely feel that’s how far off the mark Apple is at present with their products.
    With the only hint of new products due in 2018 I am slowly running out of time with a MBP from 2009. I recently sold my last 2015 13″ MBP because it wasn’t up to the tasks I required from it and the SSD was a pithy 128GB.
    For me this was a big wake up call and it looking more likely I will probably return to widows after a 10 year hiatus.

    • I agree with you here, and QA is sooo bad.. and the design is a flap… I will not buy the latest MBP just for one reason, no magnet on the power cable, it sound silly but it’s a must have for me!! Too many kids running in the house

    • Alexander Kumlin

      Welcome to the dark side

    • LarryBundyJr

      Of course, Steve Jobs was the only one keeping the company together.

  • BatayaRulZ

    Wow just wow!

  • last time I used a PC I had to wipe it and reinstall Windows after about a year of use, as it slowed down that much. And that was my experience with all the PC’s I have used over the years. Switched to Mac and they just work, no slow downs, no reinstalls necessary

    • I love my Mac but a PAC slows done because people add things to their PC. The more things that people add that take CPU cycles the slower a machine will get. Simply put a pic has way more options to add things than a Mac does. I have and use both. Again I love my Mac Air but it is true that you can buy a super fast pc right now.

      • The only things that have kept me on a mac have been a unixy core, and the touchpad on the rmbp… If another system comes out with a similar touchpad for cheaper, I’m jumping out. I use a windows desktop at home, a mac at work, a ubuntu htpc… so I touch all three daily. I actually prefer the Windows 10 taskbar, Ubuntu/Unity start menu (I liked win7’s more), macos Preferences/config interface… ubuntu and macos both have a unified menu, which I also prefer.

        Most of what I use (outside some VS work) can be done in any of the three, so I usually don’t care.

    • Molon Labe!

      That’s not true. Macs have just as many of these type issues.

      • Obviously you have not used mac 🙂 Heavily used Macbook Air for 4 years now. Crashed twice! I am not even gonna start how many times a week my Toshiba was crashing :/

        • Molon Labe!

          Certified Apple tech for 12 years… I know macs very well and they have lots of issues.

          • Sure man. Judging that because people come to fix their macs to you? How does that stack up with those people that don’t even know places you work for even exist? How does that stack up with windows issues?
            Because i don’t know if you noticed, i dont say anything bad about hardware. They have the same guts. But if you tell me windows is as reliable operating system as Mac OS, then you live in alternative facts universe 😉 Cheers mate

          • Molon Labe!

            I state that because you are clueless and have no idea what youre talking about when I, on the other hand, have years of experience on a professional level repairing macs and pcs. You are incorrect sir now tuck your tail between your legs and realize you don’t know as much as you think you do. Macs are not that great and cost more to boot without any benefit.

          • Ahh. Now you are not only oracle of repair world. You are also clairvoyant, knowing what i do and know. Good for you man. Now go back to your screwdriver and spare me more of your wisdom.

          • Molon Labe!

            With over 50k repairs I sure know far more than you. Seems in your haste to spout off your view you forgot you told us that you based your incorrect opinion on two computers…. Youre just one more fanboy that thinks Apple walks on water when they are a dying company that is no longer innovative or on top of the game. Welcome to reality.

          • Jeremy Lawrence

            Of course OSX is much better. If it wasn’t it wouldn’t get bug fixes and patches all the time. Oh wait, that exactly what happens. As well as beachballs of doom and white screens of death.

            I’ve used both systems and there’s no practical difference in my long experience.

          • dahauns

            “Sure. Judging that because people come to fix their macs to you? How does that stack up with those people that don’t even know places you work for even exist? How does that stack up with windows issues?”

            Yeah, of course. What a weak argument, compared to your humonguous sample size of…one.

            “Because i don’t know if you noticed, i dont say anything bad about hardware.”

            _You_ might not have noticed, but you rather did. Toshibas are unreliable crap, and it’s _all_ in their hardware design.

          • Yet it was software that was giving me nightmares not the hardware. Anyway. I am not sales rep here. I don’t sell macs. I honestly don’t give a rats ass which platform are you using. I know how much easier my life is because of using mac instead of PC and neither your experience nor 50k repairs of the other guy will make me regret my decision to switch. Even tho PC machines tempt me with some cool hardware solutions, that system is a deal breaker.
            You guys enjoy whatever windows PC works for you. I am happy camper with my no stress mac.

          • Kristaps Pūtelis

            You are just a funny Apple fan… And Mac OS even looks more like a childs toy, than an actual operating system. Also, I have worked with both, and actually, mostly Mac’s are just slower by default unless you buy the most expensive one.

        • vogonp 42

          I have had both. I have had much more problems with my Macs.

    • Robert Williams

      Buuuuuutttt, if you get 2x the performance for 12 months, let’s say you get 50% more work done as a result of not waiting for the computer.
      So, that’s 500 hours saved in 12 months, figuring 20 hours a week in front of the monitor.
      At the end of that, you can afford to take off 8 hours to reinstall windows. 🙂

    • And if I calculate the time I spent re-installing my Pc, it cost me 6k 🙂

      • phaed

        First I reject the premise. Windows 10 @ 2017 isn’t Windows XP @ 2001, it doesn’t slow down with the junk you keep installing on it. Third, if you did want to reinstall the OS and softwares, and re-configure them to your liking, that is a thing you do in a day or two. There is no way that will cost you the extra 4k.

    • Why would you need to reinstall a OS that many times? Let’s one put in doubt each ones skills when it comes to using a pc lol…

  • St Ooges

    If your action is just applying filters, the GPU plays a major role, and that’s when the gtx1080 makes a lot of difference.

    • Max

      Hardware acceleration was turned off on both tests

  • Humm.. a Frankenstein power beast that will run on Windows AND that will randomly restart for no reason whatsoever AND that I’ll have to periodical format and install everything again… or something that simply works for years with no hassle whatsoever?

    Decisions, decisions….

    • GasPoweredCat

      is a reformat really that much of a hassle? like 4 grands worth? in fact you could pay someone to reformat it once or twice a year for you and still have change probably!

    • Srecko Micic

      That is BS. I have WIn and Ubuntu on PC and did not had to reinstall for more than 3 years. Changed Graphic card few times in that period…

    • Quintox

      Those arguments would’ve worked 10 years ago.. Acronis backup is pretty much free and a Win10 format literally takes 15min. And you’re seriously comparing that to a limited piece of aluminum that’s “worth” 5k? xD Whatever you need to tell yourself in order to justify your purchase, right? 😉

      You know.. Ryzen isn’t limited to Win10 either if that’s your biggest concern. It also runs fine with Ubuntu or even a Hackintosh.. your non-arguments are invalid.

  • Molon Labe!

    #appleisdead

  • JoeFunny30

    But does Ryzen have courage?

    • Kristaps Pūtelis

      Courage The Cowardly Dog?

    • NothingUnknown

      It also doesn’t innovate my ass.

  • while mac just reduces the factors for a end-user to “let it crash” windows just shows us who is able to keep a pc working for more than 1 year without having to reinstall anything…in 4 years i had one reinstall – just because i wanted…im working on almost a daily basis on pictures (LR,PS) and video (ME,PR and AE)…on a win machine…16gb ram ddr3, 256gb ssd, 1tb hdd for files…a nvidia geforce 650m -> works flawless, had not one bluescreen nor one crash…so in the end it comes down to how you mantain your machine, keep it clean (digitally and physically), dont install bs…keep it CLEAN! and theres no need to promote another brand like Apple, which has just proven to us that it gives a f**** bs about the pro’s opinions & needs

  • mbw

    Did John pirate Windows 10?

  • Reed Radcliffe

    I’d like to see the benchmarks in Adobe Lightroom CC as in my experience that application runs so much more slowly than Photoshop. I have an MSI Dominator Pro Windows laptop – it is a beast and runs every application I own effortlessly – except Adobe Lightroom. When I edit in LR it is like I came off the superhighway onto a muddy and rutted dirt backroad. It’s very frustrating – there are many threads on Adobe’s forums regarding how LR is such a dog on high-end Intel processors.

    I have been using Lightroom since Version 2, and this performance hit started a couple years ago with version 5. I am very familiar with all the methods to speed up LR with cache adjustments, turn off the GPU support, etc. etc. and the only thing that really helps is to re-start LR. It will then run ok for about 10 or 15 minutes before bogging down again. Could it be the processor? I have a AMD Phenom-based desktop that only runs as my server now – it’s over 3 years old and is a hulking monster of a machine – I much prefer to edit in my LazyBoy recliner in the comfort of my living room these days. It seems to have similar performance to my laptop in LR, but it’s hard to tell for sure.

    In any event, Photoshop runs really well for my use on my Windows laptop. I only recommend MacBooks to users who have consistent problems managing their Windows PCs as the Mac OS is much simpler and more restrictive.

  • Jurgen Lobert

    The performance comparison is nice, but the pricing comparison is apples (!) to oranges. Unless you can buy that off the shelf, you need to factor in the cost to build that Ryzen system!

  • Silvestro Crino

    Hum… I’m curious what would happen if you did the exact same test…but using bootcamp to boot into Windows 10 on the Mac Pro…. and then running the same Windows version of Photoshop on Windows 10 on both platforms..

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