After Effects Minimum Requirements -

In 2024/2025, After Effects uses the GPU for dozens of effects (Lumetri Color, Gaussian Blur, Sharpening, and the new AI tools). Without a decent GPU, those effects render via CPU—which is 10x slower.

Pro tip: NVIDIA is historically more stable with AE than AMD due to CUDA support. Most people buy a fast CPU and forget the hard drive. Big mistake. After Effects creates thousands of temporary cache files. If you are writing those to a slow mechanical hard drive (HDD), your computer will stutter even if you have a supercomputer for a CPU. after effects minimum requirements

You’ve just had a brilliant idea for a video. It involves a 3D spinning logo, some kinetic typography that punches the screen, and a particle effect that rains glitter on a dystopian cityscape. In 2024/2025, After Effects uses the GPU for

16GB. The Sweet Spot: 32GB. The "Time is Money" Pro: 64GB+. The Processor Paradox (Single Core vs. The World) Most software loves many cores. Premiere Pro will happily use 16 cores to export video. After Effects? It’s a diva. Most people buy a fast CPU and forget the hard drive

Now go make that glitter dystopia without the crash.

We’ve all been there.

You open Adobe After Effects. You drag in a clip. You add one effect. The fan on your laptop roars to life like a jet engine. The playback stutters. A beach ball of death appears. Then, the crash.