After Effects
Adobe’s professional motion graphics and visual effects compositing application. RAM is the defining hardware component — After Effects renders frames into memory before playback.
Adobe After Effects is the industry-standard application for motion graphics, visual effects compositing, and animation. AE must render every frame before you can preview it — frames are stored in a RAM Preview cache, making RAM the most critical hardware component.
Category: Motion Graphics | Developer: Adobe | Platform: Windows, macOS
- RAM: The most critical component. 32 GB minimum; 64–128 GB for complex comps and multiple Adobe apps open.
- CPU: Multi-core for background rendering; fast single-core for interactive preview.
- GPU: 8 GB VRAM accelerates specific effects. Less GPU-dependent than Premiere Pro.
- Storage: NVMe SSD as disk cache drive — set in AE preferences.
What is RAM Preview in After Effects? +
RAM Preview is After Effects’ playback system. AE renders each frame and stores it in system RAM. More RAM means more frames cached and longer smooth previews before re-rendering is needed.
What is the disk cache in After Effects? +
When RAM fills up, AE writes rendered frames to disk. If this cache is on an NVMe SSD, playback remains fairly smooth. Always set your AE disk cache to an NVMe drive in Edit → Preferences → Media & Disk Cache.
We build AE workstations with 64–128 GB RAM, fast multi-core CPUs, and NVMe disk cache drives — built for long RAM previews and fast final renders.
