There are quite some factors to consider when building a new PC that is mainly targeted at After Effects use.
This article is about building the best bang-for-the-buck Adobe After Effects PC/Workstation Computer and what Hardware parts are the best picks for your intended use:
Best Processor (CPU) for After Effects
We have to differentiate between two use cases to find the best possible CPU for our needs:
1. Actively Working in After Effects
If you are planning on actively working heavily with this Computer I recommend a maximum single Core-Clock CPU such as the Intel i9 9900K or AMD Ryzen 9 3900X.
This 12-Core AMD Ryzen 9 3900X clocks at 3,8 GHz base and has 4,6 GHz single-core turbo-clock and the i9 9900K even boosts up to 5GHz but only sports 8 Cores, 16 Threads total.
The interface and frame updates in After Effects heavily benefit from high core clocks. Take a look at these benchmarks from Pugetsystems, where it becomes clear very quickly how superior high-clocking CPUs are in After Effects CC.
| CPU Name | Cores | Ghz | After Effects Score | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU Name | Cores | GHz | After Effects Score | Price | Value |
| AMD Ryzen 7 3800X | 8 | 3.9 | 983 | 399 | |
| AMD Ryzen 5 3600X | 6 | 3.8 | 922 | 249 | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 3900X | 12 | 3.8 | 1019 | 499 | |
| Intel i9 9800X | 8 | 3.8 | 885 | 589 | |
| AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | 8 | 3.7 | 850 | 251 | |
| Intel i5 9600K | 6 | 3.7 | 882 | 262 | |
| AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | 6 | 3.6 | 816 | 149 | |
| AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | 6 | 3.6 | 912 | 199 | |
| AMD Ryzen 7 3700X | 8 | 3.6 | 970 | 329 | |
| Intel i9 9900K | 8 | 3.6 | 1047 | 488 | |
| Intel i9 9700K | 8 | 3.6 | 926 | 362 | |
| AMD Threadripper 2950X | 16 | 3.5 | 900 | 729 | |
| Intel i9 9900X | 10 | 3.5 | 909 | 989 | |
| AMD Threadripper 2920X | 12 | 3.5 | 876 | 369 | |
| Intel i9 9920X | 12 | 3.5 | 939 | 1189 | |
| Intel i9 9940X | 14 | 3.3 | 931 | 1387 | |
| Intel i9 9820X | 10 | 3.3 | 871 | 889 | |
| Intel i9 9960X | 16 | 3.1 | 944 | 1684 | |
| AMD Threadripper 2990WX | 32 | 3.0 | 818 | 1699 | |
| AMD Threadripper 2970WX | 24 | 3.0 | 797 | 1300 | |
| Intel i9 9980XE | 18 | 3.0 | 948 | 1979 |
This is true for lots of other Creative Tasks such as 3D Modeling and Animation or Video Editing too, having high Core-Clocks will make your Computer or Laptop much more responsive and snappy.
2. Using the Machine mainly as a Render-Node
Now if you are using this Computer mainly to render out projects that you have already set-up on a different workstation, you would want to go “max CPU-core count” x “CPU-core clock” or in other words max CPU-Multi-Core Performance (similar as for 3D Rendering).
This means the more cores you have and the higher those cores are clocked, the better.
Unfortunately, there are no CPUs with more than 8 cores that have Turbo-Boost frequencies as high as an i9 9900K, meaning you will have to trade clock speeds for core-count.
Excellent options here are:
- AMD Ryzen 9 3900X (12 Cores), AMD Threadripper 2990WX(32 cores), 2970WX(24 Cores), 2950X(16 Cores)
- Intel i9 Series 9920X (12 cores), 9940X (14 cores), 9960X (16 cores), 9980XE (18 cores)
These don’t clock quite as high as an Intel i9 9900K Processor but are a lot faster in Multi-Processing demanding tasks.
After Effects used to make great use of all of your Cores, but since a few versions the renderer has been re-written, unfortunately for the worse.
This means, to entirely utilize all of your cores you will have to use a Render-Manager such as Thinkbox Deadline, which can launch multiple render-instances and saturate your Cores much better.
The best After Effects Performance Value is offered by AMD with its lower-end Ryzen CPUs such as the Ryzen 5 2600X or Ryzen 5 3600X.
How much Memory (RAM) for After Effects?
I recommend going with at least 16-32 GB DDR4 RAM for 4-core CPUs and to go up to 64+ GB of RAM for 16+ cores.
Best Graphics Card (GPU) for After Effects
The most important features here are the CUDA Cores since After Effects can make use of these in 3D viewport rendering, as well as in speeding up some effects-calculations that might be applied to your footage.
Great choices here are the Nvidia 2070 RTX and 2080 RTX since these have a great price/performance ratio. If you have some cash left over, consider the Nvidia RTX 2080 TI for that extra bit of performance.
After Effects doesn’t natively make use of Multiple GPUs, but for tasks such as GPU rendering in Render-Engines such as Octane or Redshift, having Multiple GPUs will greatly increase your performance.
Best Hard-Drive (HDD/SSD) for After Effects
The new M.2 SSD Drives such as the Samsung 970 EVO PLUS or PRO have excellent performance and outperform any SATA SSD by far. Highly recommended for Footage, Cache and Software Drives.
Best Monitor for After Effects
Buying Monitors is an extremely interesting area in itself. Definitely check out this in-depth Guide to buying the best Monitors for visually demanding work, which has all the information you need for getting the best Monitor for After Effects.
After Effects Custom Computer Builds
Head on over to the Web-Based CG-Director PC-Builder Tool, that will let you configure a Motion-Design & After Effects build in less than 4 clicks.
An excellent Build, that I recommend often, would consist of the following parts:
What kind of Computer for After Effects are you building?
Hi Alex,
What would be the best build for DaVinci Resolve studio 16 and Fusion ?
Thank you!
Hi Alexandra,
Thanks for dropping a line!
If you will be using DaVinci Resolve Studio 16 and Fusion, you want a build with a high-clocking CPU at the heart of your system. Also, you might want to have multiple hard drives to serve as storage space for the files you will be working on.
If I may ask, how much is your budget?
Say foor example, you are working on a $1,500 budget, you can get a build like the one I put together below:
Parts List:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6GHz 8-Core Processor ($327.98)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock AM4 ($36.90)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 Gaming X ATX AM4 ($169.99)
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1660TI 6GB – Gigabyte Windforce ($279.99)
Memory: 32GB (2 x 16GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2666 CL16 ($129.99)
Storage SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 1TB 2.5″ Solid State Drive ($129.99)
Storage PCIe-SSD: Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 500GB M.2 Solid State Drive ($119.98)
Storage HDD: Western Digital 4TB Blue, 3.5″ ($87.37)
Power Supply: Corsair CX Series CX550 550W ATX 2.4 Power Supply ($64.99)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($148.50)
The total of the build comes up to around $1495.68. With this build, you get a high-clocking Ryzen 7 3700X CPU. With its 3.6 GHz base clock and Max Boost of up to 4.4 GHz, you can expect the 3700X to deliver task responsiveness when you’re working actively inside the software. You also get three separate hard drives for your files. You can use the 2.5-inch SATA SSD for your OS and commonly used software while the M.2 SSD and 4TB HDD can be used for your files and backing up your data and you’re good to go.
If you haven’t done so, please check the site’s PC Builder Tool at https://www.cgdirector.com/pc-builder/ for build recommendations based on budget and use case scenario.
Cheers,
Alex
Thank you Alex! Would I get a much better performance if I get an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and Nvidia RTX 2080? Budget around $2,200
Hi Alex.
I use proffesionally adobe suite and especially Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and InDesign.
I use this pc build for 3 years but i use AE increasingly and the preview sometimes is slow.
Could you please tell me if i could upgrade something in my build or should i buy a new pc? Thank you in advance for your time.
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700
RAM: Kingston KHX2400C15/8G KHX2400C15D4/8G KHX2400C15/8G KHX2400C15D4/8G 32GB
GPU: Nvidia GTX 750-Ti
SSD: Corsair Force MP300 NVMe PCIe M.2 240GB
MBD: Gigabyte Z170X-GAMING 3
HDD: Toshiba DT01ACA100 1TB
HDD: Intenso External USB 3.0 1TB
OS: Windows 10
Hey Anos,
That build actually doesn’t look too bad. How complex are your projects? With that motherboard you could upgrade to an i7 7700k, which will be a bit faster, but not as big a jump as when you change your motherboard and get an i9 9900k for example.
The GPU doesn’t get used as much by after effects (unless you do lots of 3d comps or use accelerated effects ) but the Nvidia GTX 750-Ti isn’t all that fast, so maybe an upgrade to a GPU with more VRAM and higher clock and CUDA speed would do the trick for you. A RTX 2060 Super comes to mind here.
32GB of RAM are quite decent and your nvme ssd is looking good. Just be sure you are not using the HDDs or external HDDs in any of your active projects or disc cache as that will slow them down considerably.
Cheers,
Alex
Hey Alex, this is really useful info, particularly for a novice like me!
We are currently looking to hire a motion graphics designer to our small business – it’s not something we have much experience in so looking to understand what hardware would be required for day 1 plus what the overall costs would be to get Abode and other assets needed. Would the designer need access to an assets bank/library or similar? Is that expensive?
Any help hugely appreciated.
Hey Mike,
For around 30$/month you can get After Effects, but usually it’s wise to get some combination packages as photoshop or Illustrator too are often used by a Motion graphics artist. But you’ll have to ask the Artist what he works with mostly. This also concerns any plugins that are available for after effects. I don’t think a library is needed at first, this depends a lot on what you are trying to create. Maybe accessing different libraries on a per-demand basis is wiser than going for a single subscription based package here that might not have everything you need.
https://www.adobe.com/de/creativecloud/membership.html
As these software packages and online access libraries can be set up in no time, I’d suggest asking the Designer what he works with and then set it up afterwards.
A great PC that will perform excellently is the build in this article:
Parts List:
CPU: Intel i9 9900k 3.6GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 1151
Motherboard: ASUS Prime H370-A/CSM ATX 1151
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2080TI 11GB – Asus Turbo
Memory: 64GB (4 x 16GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 CL16
Storage SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 1TB 2.5″ Solid State Drive
Storage PCIe-SSD: Samsung 970 EVO 1TB M.2 Solid State Drive
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Series Platinum AX760 760W Power Supply
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 275Q ATX Mid Tower Case
Hope this helps,
Alex
why not suggest Ryzen 9 3900x processor for after effects
any issue compare to i9 9900k processor
Hey chandrasekar,
Both the i9 9900k and the 3900X are excellent picks for after effects. The i9 9900k though is still in the top position performance-wise.
I’ll put together an AMD Build for this article too, with a 3900x.
Thanks!,
Alex
Hi Alex,
What do you think about this config? (I would like to work on video editing, motion and Photoshop Illustrator…). Thanks in advance for your feedback and sorry for my english…
+ 1 x Intel Core i7-9700K (3.6 GHz / 4.9 GHz)
+ 1 x ASUS PRIME Z390-A
+ 1 x Noctua NH-U9S
+ 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX Series Low Profile 32 Go (2x 16 Go) DDR4 3200 MHz CL16
+ 1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER GAMING OC 8G
+ 1 x Seagate BarraCuda 4 To (ST4000DM004)
+ 1 x Intel SSD 660p 512 Go
+ 1 x Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500 Go
+ 2 x be quiet! Pure Wings 2 140mm
+ 2 x be quiet! Pure Wings 2 140mm High-Speed
+ 1 x Corsair Carbide 275R (Blanc)
+ 1 x Corsair RM650x V2 80PLUS Gold
+ Monitor : 1 x BenQ 32″ LED – EW3270U
Cheers,
Simon
Hey Simon,
That’s actually a solid build, I see no issues! 🙂 Go for it!
Cheers,
Alex
Thanks a lot Alex, really appreciated!
Hi Alex,
I noticed that your build doesn’t include any additional cooling (e.g. liquid coolers) . Any reason for this?
Hey Frank,
Air Coolers are better at cooling short bursts of heat, vs liquid coolers are usually better at sustained cooling over longer time periods. (Heat Pipes are much faster in transferring heat to the radiators than pumped Water pipes)
As this is a workstation for active work first and rendering out projects second, an air cooler makes more sense for cooling the CPUs activity spikes and turbo boosts. Of course the differences are marginal and you could very well get an AIO Water cooler if you prefer it. Water coolers also tend to have some pump noise in Idle conditions that are a bit noisier than an air cooler in low-fan RPM mode.
Cheers,
Alex
Thanks Alex!
This site is an awesome resource, thanks for taking the time to answer and putting all of this together and up to date!
Thanks, Love to help!
Cheers
Hi Alex, my son and I are building a computer for After Effects and we are stumped on the difference between the intel 9900K and 9900KF. It looks like the KF has an iGPU while the K does not. The KF is also about $40 cheaper. Which would you recommend?
Hey Jude,
Actually its the other way around, the K has an integrated graphics chip and the KF does not. As After Effects makes good use of a dedicated GPU such as an Nvidia RTX 2060 Super and you should definitely get such a GPU, you can easily skip the iGPU and go with the KF version, which is also slightly better in turbo-boosting as there is less heat coming from the -missing- igpu.
Cheers,
Alex
Thanks Alex! That was very helpful. For the video card for After Effects we were going to go with the Asus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB ROG. Is that overkill for After Effects? What do you recommend?
h264 midea encoder > hardware render > intel gpu render Fast of Fast
Quick Sync > heaven
Hey Jude,
Check these benchmark results here for a nice overview. As After Effects isn’t very GPU dependent you won’t see huge differences in getting an expensive GPU. The 2080Ti is a great choice if you have the money, but a 2060 SUPER has basically the same performance for a third of the price.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/After-Effects-GPU-Roundup-NVIDIA-SUPER-vs-AMD-RX-5700-XT-1553/
Cheers,
Alex
I am creating a build for premiere and after effects, I do heavy motion graphics and animation and a ton of 3D camera tracking. I took some of the parts from your custom part picker but I have some questions. what could I do to bring this build down to $1600 range and not lose out on performance?
Does the cooler work for overclocking?
Should I get the 2070 super GPU or just the 2070?
Here is my build:
PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/P2twTB
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($329.00 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI X570-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($159.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($162.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($162.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 970 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB 2.5″ Solid State Drive ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB XC GAMING Video Card ($548.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Walmart)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ ModMyMods)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($105.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $2149.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-29 17:00 EDT-0400
Hey Zack,
One thing you could get rid if is the Noctua CPU-Cooler. If you won’t be doing any overclocking, then the stock Cooler that comes with the CPU will be enough. 90$ saved.
If you don’t need pcie-4 or other x570 features you could save some money and go with an MSI Tomahawk b450 Motherboard and save another 40$.
You can also skip out on one of the Storage devices and upgrade later on when you have some more money. Skip the 860EVO for now, as you already have a fast m2 ssd and a backup drive.
As both Premiere and After Effects don’t necessarily need a whoppingly strong GPU, you could go with a 2060 Super instead of the 2070 Super.
That should bring it down a good bit.
Cheers,
Alex
Hi Again Alex hope you are doing Great
I’Am waiting for the update 😀 I mean your review for the R9 3900x-3950X and how it perform in AE ! Woaah
have a nice day 🙂
Hey Brain,
I’ll update all the articles with the new Ryzen CPUs soon! Keep in mind that the 3950X won’t be released until September, but the 3700X, 3800X and 3900X are performing extremely well at great value in After Effects!
Cheers,
Alex
Ouki, Already Saw some benchmarks in generals they are too good just wanted to hear from you and see your review then deciding before buying 3900x and see how it perform in AE vs 9900k because I trust your reviews, I mean you are an Artist not a youtuber or something :D, I love building my own PC and your reviews helps a lot
Thanks man, wish you success and good luck 🙂
just want to echo @brain fx’s sentiments. Stumbling across this site has been HUGE for me and I really appreciate all the time and consideration you put into these posts. I too am very eager to see if you’ll recommend the 3900x over intel for After Effects for use in the program and not just for renders. Thanks again!
Hey Edmond,
Thanks for the Comment! I am still waiting for the new 3rd Ryzens to be delivered, but will definitely update everything across the entire site if they perform as well as we are all hoping! 🙂
Cheers,
Alex
thanks was waiting for this I guess am late ..
Looks like the 9900k still the AE king but the 3900x is so sweet almost same as 9900k performance with extra cores where you can still benefits from it in other 3D softs So no doubt, 3900x way better for both worlds 😀 perfecto
hi. how are you ? thanks for all the info. I have allready all the components of your list. Before i start building the machine, I was wondering if the Rm650x will be enought for the i9, the nvidia board and all the other components? Thanks in advance.
Hey Fabricio,
Yes 650W is most definitely enough for the listed specs. You can go check the wattage on the bequiet site, they have a psu calculator which comes in handy: https://www.bequiet.com/en/psucalculator
That build draws around 500w, so 650 is a good head room. If you plan on upgrading in the future with more gpus for example, of course it would be better to get a stronger psu now already.
Cheers,
Alex