Mac Studio - M1 Max: 24 or 32 core GPU for Adobe After Effects?

[MXBY]

I am considering which Mac Studio with M1 Max to buy, and I'm wondering what makes best sense between a 24 vs 32 core GPU.

Specifically, I'm considering what the impact will be for Adobe After Effects. I won't use the GPU for much else, to be honest. I don't use After Effects professionally (every day), but often enough so that I would like to shave off an hour or so per month in saved time if possible.

My surface level impression is that that AE operations may not be very optimized for multi-core GPUs to begin with. It's not a huge price difference between the 24 and 32 core, but if the difference really is negligible I might as well save the money.

I am likely intending to go for 64 GB RAM and definitely more than plenty of SSD storage.

NB: AE is now optimized for M-series chips to some degree since April 2022, where it wasn't before.

 

[xy-maps]

Unfortunately, I can't say much about the GPU yet, since our Mac Studios aren't there yet. For simple stuff, the entry-level GPU should probably be enough.

As you already wrote, you should use at least 64 GB RAM for AE. In addition, 1TB is recommended as an SSD. Complex AE projects in 4K can consume well over 100GB of RAM. MacOS then stores the missing memory on the internal System SSD. (If there is not enough space, you can no longer save project and the system crashes in the worst case).

For the Project files I would use a external NVME with a Thunderbolt enclouse, that better than spending more money on a internal SSD.

 

[xy-maps]

One more addition. My Mac Studio has arrived (M1 Max 24 GPU and 64GB RAM). And the tests in AE are more than promising. I came from a maxed out Mac Pro 4.1 and the performance difference to the M1 is huge even with the smallest configuration. I work frequently with 6K BRAW files -> keying and many plugins from BorisFX and Videocopilot (all M1 native) and it is now much better to work on them. It's amazing how fast the RAM preview is rendered now. (What took 10-15 minutes on the Mac Pro now only takes a few seconds on the Mac Studio).
For simple purposes in AE, the M1 Max with 24 core GPU is more than enough.

 

[Xiao_Xi]

I am considering which Mac Studio with M1 Max to buy, and I'm wondering what makes best sense between a 24 vs 32 core GPU.

Linus Tech Tips made a comparison between M1 Max and M1 Ultra for After Effects.