But here is the hard truth most spec sheets won't tell you: While your CPU cores are now working overtime, your GPU’s VRAM has become the silent gatekeeper of your render speed.
When your GPU runs out of VRAM, the system does not crash gracefully. It via the PCIe bus. That pipeline is roughly 10x slower than native VRAM. But here is the hard truth most spec
Let’s cut through the Adobe system requirements and talk about the real physics of MFR. Old AE (Legacy): One CPU core renders one frame. GPU handles a few blurs and blends. You could almost get away with integrated graphics. MFR (Now): Eight, twelve, or sixteen CPU cores each grab a frame simultaneously. The GPU must hold all those textures, effects buffers, and previews in VRAM simultaneously. The VRAM Cliff (And Why 8GB is the New Minimum) Adobe’s official "Recommended" spec often lists 4GB of VRAM. Ignore that. In an MFR workflow, 4GB is a bottleneck. That pipeline is roughly 10x slower than native VRAM
If you have upgraded to After Effects 2020 or later, you have heard the buzzword: Multi-Frame Rendering (MFR) . Adobe promised to finally unlock your CPU’s potential, rendering multiple frames simultaneously just like a 3D application. GPU handles a few blurs and blends
If it is maxed out (red line), you are not CPU bottlenecked. You are VRAM bottlenecked. The only fix is a bigger graphics card—not a faster CPU.