After Effects 2025 Crashes on Launch When Using RTX 5090 – Works Only with Intel Integrated Graphics

Description 

I’m using an Alienware Area 51 system with an Intel Ultra 9 275 CPU, 64GB RAM, and an NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU running on Windows 11.

After Effects 2025 consistently crashes on startup when using the RTX 5090 GPU. However, when I force the app to use Intel integrated graphics via Windows Graphics Preferences, the application launches and functions correctly.

I have tried:

• Clean reinstalling After Effects 2025

• Reinstalling NVIDIA drivers (latest Game Ready and Studio versions)

• Using the latest Windows updates

• Resetting preferences and plugins

• Disabling hardware acceleration (when accessible)

This issue affects both After Effects 2025 and Premiere Pro 2025, while other Adobe apps like Photoshop and InDesign work fine.

This appears to be a critical compatibility issue between AE 2025 and RTX 5090 or its driver layer (likely CUDA-related), as it happens even on a fresh install with no projects loaded.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Launch After Effects 2025 with RTX 5090 enabled as the GPU.

2. Observe crash dialog: AfterFX.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.

3. Switch GPU preference to Power Saving (Intel Graphics) in Windows.

4. Relaunch AE — the app opens and works normally.

System Info:

• CPU: Intel Ultra 9 275

• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 5090 (Dedicated)

• RAM: 64 GB

• OS: Windows 11 Pro (Latest updates)

• Adobe After Effects Version: 2025.0

• NVIDIA Driver: Game Ready 577

PLEASE HELP!