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DavidJackson
Known Participant
August 26, 2026
Answered

Apple M5 Max/Ultra Vs M2 Ultra – RAM problem/question

  • August 26, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 108 views

With the release of the Mac Studio with M5 Ultra, and Apple’s eye-watering RAM pricing, I’m trying to work out the best upgrade route for overall performance.

I currently have a Mac Studio with the top-spec M2 Ultra and 192GB of unified memory. The comparable upgrade would be the top-spec M5 Ultra, but with only 96GB of memory. The jump to 256GB adds roughly £4,000, which simply isn’t viable.

Would cutting my memory from 192GB to 96GB undermine the performance gains of the M5 Ultra? Would having only 96GB alongside the maxed-out CPU and GPU create a bottleneck, or does that only become an issue if my workloads actually exceed the available memory?

Alternatively, would I be better off choosing the top-spec M5 Max with 128GB of unified memory? It would have less CPU and GPU power than the M5 Ultra, but gives me more memory at a much more reasonable price.

My main work is motion graphics, primarily After Effects, alongside Cinema 4D and other Adobe applications. Which configuration is likely to offer the best balance for this kind of workload? 

 

Grateful of any ideas/thoughts.

    Correct answer Szalam

    Does your system feel like it’s on the slow side now? And in what ways?

    I’m be more concerned with your 3D work as far as performance goes. Is your Cinema 4D work mostly just modeling that you then use in AE via Element 3D, AE’s native 3D, or some other similar method? Or do you do the full 3D workflow including rendering with Redshift (or some other renderer) which you then composite in AE? Also, how large are your Cinema 4D scenes? That is, do you have a lot of different models with high-res textures (that would use a lot of VRAM in Redshift/Octane) or is it more abstract mograph stuff with procedural materials?

    Speaking of VRAM, do you do a lot of simulation stuff? Cinema 4D’s new-ish unified simulation system with rope, cloth, pyro, liquids, particles, soft bodies, rigid bodies all working together all runs on the GPU, so if you do a lot of it, you also need to keep that in mind.

    Also, having an idea of the kind of work you do in After Effects would also help guide suggestions. Do you use plugins like Red Giant, Boris, Video Copilot, etc.?

    1 reply

    Szalam
    Community Expert
    SzalamCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    August 28, 2026

    Does your system feel like it’s on the slow side now? And in what ways?

    I’m be more concerned with your 3D work as far as performance goes. Is your Cinema 4D work mostly just modeling that you then use in AE via Element 3D, AE’s native 3D, or some other similar method? Or do you do the full 3D workflow including rendering with Redshift (or some other renderer) which you then composite in AE? Also, how large are your Cinema 4D scenes? That is, do you have a lot of different models with high-res textures (that would use a lot of VRAM in Redshift/Octane) or is it more abstract mograph stuff with procedural materials?

    Speaking of VRAM, do you do a lot of simulation stuff? Cinema 4D’s new-ish unified simulation system with rope, cloth, pyro, liquids, particles, soft bodies, rigid bodies all working together all runs on the GPU, so if you do a lot of it, you also need to keep that in mind.

    Also, having an idea of the kind of work you do in After Effects would also help guide suggestions. Do you use plugins like Red Giant, Boris, Video Copilot, etc.?

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