Skip to main content
beobobb
beobobb
Participant
May 20, 2026
Question

After Effects still forced to crash, even with 32gb RAM. Tried everything, still hanging every 30~40 minutes with a light workload.

  • May 20, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 63 views

I upgraded from 16GB to 32 GB of RAM, but AE still crashes after the 30 minute mark. I have BCC Sapphire 2025 and flow installed and am currently using AE 2025, but i'm not even working with a crazy heavy workflow.

i precompose basically everything i can and have turned off hardware acceleration, ive uninstalled and reinstalled sapphire, ive tried the audio hardware trick, and i purge my memory and cache every 15 minutes, but STILL, my playback will just randomly stop working and i have to manually crash AE. PLEASE HELPPP!!! i need to know if I’m doing something wrong.

 

LAPTOP SPECS

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 9 275HX (2.70 GHz)

Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.4 GB usable)

Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop GPU (8 GB)

Intel(R) Graphics (128 MB)

Storage 663 GB of 954 GB used

Device ID C2693164-56F9-46F5-B554-7DA305981479

Product ID 00342-21497-29339-AAOEM

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch Pen support

AFTER EFFECTS MEMORY USAGE

Installed RAM: 31.43 GB Current RAM Usage: 37.05 GB Allowed RAM Usage: 27.43 GB

Process ID Application Name Min Needed Memory Max Usable Memory Max Allowed Memory Current Memory Current Priority

19080 Team Projects Local Hub 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 3 - Low

19716 After Effects 1.00 31.43 6.86 9.26 1 - High

23756 After Effects 1.00 31.43 6.86 9.26 1 - High

1256 After Effects 1.00 31.43 6.86 9.26 1 - High

30764 After Effects 1.00 31.43 6.86 9.26 1 - High

    2 replies

    ToolfarmJP
    Community Expert
    ToolfarmJPCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 21, 2026

    You check out Nvidia control panel and RTX 5060 is properly set and selected when After Effects is launched.

    beobobb
    beobobbAuthor
    Participant
    May 23, 2026

    How would I go about doing that?

    Nishu Kushwaha
    Community Manager
    Nishu KushwahaCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 20, 2026

    Thanks for writing in, and sorry to hear you’re running into this issue. We’ll need a bit more information to narrow it down properly. Does this only happen in projects that use those plugins?

    Could you also try launching After Effects in Safe Mode with third-party plugins disabled and see if the behavior changes? That’ll help us determine whether the issue is plugin-related.

    Also, on some laptops, power settings are configured for maximum efficiency/battery saving, which can significantly reduce performance. Could you check your system power settings and switch to a High Performance mode to see if that makes any difference? Here's how: https://adobe.ly/4v3oWbZ

    Let me know how it goes.


    Thanks,

    Nishu

      beobobb
      beobobbAuthor
      Participant
      May 23, 2026

      In safe mode with third party plugins off it seems to be working a bit better, but preview waits are still pretty long. Does this just mean my laptop isn’t capable of handling after effects at all? I thought my specs would be enough for it. Battery saving is off and I switch to turbo/high performance mode but still experience lag. Is there anything I can do to make it run faster?

      Nishu Kushwaha
      Community Manager
      Nishu KushwahaCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      May 25, 2026

      Thanks for getting back. Your system should be capable of running After Effects without issues. However, After Effects handles previews differently compared to an NLE like Premiere Pro.

      AE needs to cache frames into RAM first (shown by the green line in the Timeline) before it can play them back smoothly in real time. So when you press the spacebar initially, After Effects starts caching the frames. Once enough frames are cached, depending on your available RAM, you’ll get smooth real-time playback.

      To speed up the caching process, you can:

      • Lower the preview resolution in the Composition panel (Half/Quarter)
      • Use proxies if you’re working with high-resolution or high-bitrate media

      Also, After Effects should not normally crash. If running AE in Safe Mode with third-party plugins disabled prevents the crash, the issue is likely caused by either corrupted preferences or a faulty plugin. Here’s what you can try:

      • Reset the After Effects preferences. This can often fix corrupted settings
      • If the issue persists, go to Effect > Manage Effects, disable all third-party plugins, then re-enable them one at a time to identify which plugin may be causing the crash

      Let me know how it goes.

       

      Thanks,

      Nishu

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices