Massive slow down with PL5 performance

DxO PhotoLab
1

Hi all,

I’ve just experienced a massive slow down in performance with PL5 on my Windows machine.

Images now take many seconds to render on screen (ie the swirling circle is taking 15-16s to disappear) for an image that has had a few global adjustments, a few local adjustments and a perspective adjustment applied. Previously they would render in under 5s.

In addition, exporting a single image now takes 25-28s (edit 6: turns out I had HQ NR enabled, not DP - DP actually exports more quickly than HQ on my laptop because it is GPU accelerated), but previously it took approx. 8s (all with DeepPrime enabled).

I’m running PL5.8.0 Elite, build 4838

I have been using this version for a while, so it has run more quickly previously on the same PL version and hardware.

The only thing I can think of that has changed is the OS, as that recently updated with this feature release of Windows:

Has anyone else updated to this release and experienced a change in perfirmance?

Edit 1: found the Microsoft knowledgebase article on the update:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/topic/february-28-2023-kb5022913-os-build-22621-1344-preview-3e38c0d9-924d-4f3f-b0b6-3bd49b2657b9

Edit 2: I’m curretnly uninstalling this update, so will report back.

Edit 3: Unfortunately rolling back the update hasn’t resolved this. I’m going to see if any drivers have updated in Windows Update…

Edit 4: Exporting 4 images without DeepPrime enabled just took 3min 38s. This previoulsy would have taken 20-25s. I have no idea what is going on here, but it is really frustrating. Editing speed is still very slow too.

Edit 5: I’ve rolled back my PL installation to version 5.7.0 which I’d used for a longwhile without issue and with very positive performance. However, everything PL relateds is still running slowly. I’m now certain this is a system issue rather than PL. However, it seems PL is the app most affected by this system slow down, presumably because it uses every availlable resource to run as smoothly as possible.

2

Not on a Windows machine here but I have noticed that the UI is very slow and lacks smoothness in operation. Animations and such. Stutters a lot. Images don’t load and comparing before and after will just stay on the ‘after/current edit’ sometimes until I select a different image and come back.

This is on a Mac with the most up to date OS and the most up to date version of PL5.

It’s that bad now that once I set an image to export I can no longer use PL5 until it’s finished said export.

For me my machine is now (and if honest has been for a while) right at its limit specs wise but until the most recent update it was useable. Now, less so smooth an experience.

All that to say though that it may not be OS related and something on DxOs end.

3

Hi @Lost_Manc,

I use a Mac too as my desktop machine. PL definitely runs best on modern hardware imo. With my old machine, like you, I found the UI to lag and export to take ages. After I’d updated to a M1 Mac Mini it absolutely flew along (in use editing images and exporting files).

I only updated my Windows laptop 3 months ago and was getting very similar performance from it compared to the M1 Mac until this slow down issue started today.

4

OK, mystery solved…

On my Mac I’m able to leave DeepPrime enabled on the files and the images still render quickly. It would seem that on a Windows machine the DeepPrime preview is re-rendered every time an image is opened, which makes switching between images very slow. Switching off DeepPrime until just before export solved the editing slow down I had experienced.

I’m now going to test on my Mac to see if switching off DeepPrime during editing makes a noticeable difference whilst moving from one image to the other whilst editing.

5

Is OpenCL still enabled? DeepPRIME acceleration?

6

Hi @RichardMH

Yes, Open CL is still enabled, and Nvidea GeForce RTX 3050 (laptop GPU) selected for DeepPrime acceleration.

No other apps seem to have slowed down, so I think this is the Windows version of PL working differently to how I was used to with the Mac version of PL. ie with Windows, leave DeepPrime disabled on all images until you are ready to export them. On my Mac I can comfortably edit even with DeepPrime enbabled on all the images all the time.

It also turns out my Windows setup was set to have HQ noise reduction on by default, whereas on my Mac I have noise reduction switched off completly by default. With my earlier export test with the laptop I thought I had NR switched off altogether. HQ actually takes longer to export on my Windows laptop than having DeepPrime enabled (I’m guessing because HQ is CPU only, whereas DP uses the GPU for export), so that squewed my export times to be longer than I expected.

Switching off NR completley or enabling DP has brought export times back down to more familer times, and having DP switched off whilst editing has made the editing expereince return to normal.

Not a big issue now that I’ve leant how the two OS versions vary in these regards. I am much more familer with PL on a Mac, so this has been a learning expereince :slight_smile:

7

See that’s the thing. Old/poor hardware by todays standards or not, until the last update I wasn’t experiencing the issues I am currently. It’s usable though and I do need an upgrade but definitely something has changed that is now really showing up my hardware.

Glad you appear to have solved your issues on the windows machine.

8

Hi @Lost_Manc, that sounds very frustrating.

I hope the issue either resolves itself with a future app update, or you are able to find something yourself to improve matters.

1 Like
9

Tbh. I do my main editing in LRc still these days and only certain bits in PL so the slow down whilst not ideal I can live with for now.

I really need to upgrade my computer but it’s down the list of priorities this year so unless it stops working I’ll suffer!