I’m completely stuck with a critical After Effects issue and I really hope someone here can help.Here are the exact technical facts....The main issueAfter Effects crashes with:“Unable to allocate XXX MB of memory”Or random GPU/CPU errors during preview or renderThis happens even on very small projects, sometimes after 1–5 minutes.Hardware diagnostics already doneI tested absolutely everything on the hardware side:MemTest86 — 4 passes — 0 errors → RAM is 100% stableMotherboard BIOS updated (MSI B550 Gaming Plus – latest version)AMD chipset drivers updatedAMD Radeon 6700 XT → clean driver install (Factory Reset)XMP disabled for testingTemps are normal (no thermal throttling)After Effects troubleshooting already doneReset AE preferences (Ctrl + Alt + Shift)Disabled GPU acceleration (Mercury Software Only)Cleaned media cache (manual + preferences)Deleted all Adobe cache folders in AppDataMemory & Performance: multi-frame render disabledMemory virtualized by OS (auto)Fresh installation of AE using Adobe Cleaner ToolTried different RAM slot combinationsNothing fixes the issue.System infoCPU: Ryzen 7 5800XGPU: Radeon RX 6700 XTRAM: 32 GB DDR4 (MemTest86 PASS)Motherboard: MSI B550 Gaming PlusOS: Windows 11 Thanks in advance — I’m blocked from working right now because of this, and any insight would help a lot !!!

Participant

Question

After Effects keeps crashing with “Unable to allocate XXX MB of memory” + random GPU/CPU errors

Forum|Forum|2 months ago
November 20, 2025
3 replies
88 views

I’m completely stuck with a critical After Effects issue and I really hope someone here can help.
Here are the exact technical facts....

The main issue

After Effects crashes with:

“Unable to allocate XXX MB of memory”
Or random GPU/CPU errors during preview or render

This happens even on very small projects, sometimes after 1–5 minutes.

Hardware diagnostics already done

I tested absolutely everything on the hardware side:

MemTest86 — 4 passes — 0 errors → RAM is 100% stable
Motherboard BIOS updated (MSI B550 Gaming Plus – latest version)
AMD chipset drivers updated
AMD Radeon 6700 XT → clean driver install (Factory Reset)
XMP disabled for testing
Temps are normal (no thermal throttling)

After Effects troubleshooting already done

Reset AE preferences (Ctrl + Alt + Shift)
Disabled GPU acceleration (Mercury Software Only)
Cleaned media cache (manual + preferences)
Deleted all Adobe cache folders in AppData
Memory & Performance: multi-frame render disabled
Memory virtualized by OS (auto)
Fresh installation of AE using Adobe Cleaner Tool
Tried different RAM slot combinations

Nothing fixes the issue.

System info

CPU: Ryzen 7 5800X
GPU: Radeon RX 6700 XT
RAM: 32 GB DDR4 (MemTest86 PASS)
Motherboard: MSI B550 Gaming Plus
OS: Windows 11

Thanks in advance — I’m blocked from working right now because of this, and any insight would help a lot !!!

R

real_5081

Known Participant

I have 128gb of RAM and I get this message about every 20-30 minutes. If I open task manager I can see my system is nowhere near full. Like my entire system is using about 40% of the overall ram capacity. Doesn't seem to be affected by how full the cache is either. I've never had this problem until 2025.

I guess it's just something I'll have to live with until I can remove Adobe from my workflow.

W

Warren Heaton10841144

Community Expert

That looks like a real out of memory error.

Are you able to open the project on a system with 64GB of RAM.

S

sofiane_5251Author

Participant

That conclusion is incorrect. This is not a “not enough RAM” situation.

I already ran MemTest86 (4 passes – 0 errors) → RAM is 100% healthy.
I also tested the project with:

Multi-Frame Rendering OFF, Mercury Software Only, Clean GPU drivers (Factory Reset), Clean AE installation (Adobe Cleaner Tool), XMP OFF, Cache fully purged, Different RAM slot combinations, Minimal compositions

The crash occurs even with only one solid, no effects, and no footage. If it were a simple capacity issue, AE wouldn’t crash on an empty timeline. This is not a RAM quantity limitation it is an allocation failure, not a lack of available memory. Recommending “try with 64 GB” does not diagnose the problem. It just avoids it. I need an actual fix for the allocation bug, not a hardware upgrade suggestion.