Introduction
Each time Adobe or Blackmagic updates an application, we assess it to determine any changes affecting our Puget Bench benchmarks. The results are important for several reasons:
- Determining if a new benchmark group is needed for result comparison
- Identifying unexpected performance changes or bugs that need reporting
- Deciding if we require further testing or changes in the hardware we recommend in our workstations
Recently, Adobe released After Effects version 26.2. Although no performance changes were noted, our evaluation revealed significant improvements, particularly in 3D-based workflows using the Advanced 3D renderer. Apple observed the largest gains, followed by AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA, with performance improvements up to 3.8x.
Example Benchmark Results
When testing updates with Puget Bench, we use various platforms to ensure older hardware works well. Our previous testing focused on the latest hardware, but here’s a comparison of AE 26.2 against 26.0:
The first chart shows the “3D Score (Extended)” from Puget Bench for After Effects, with blue bars for version 26.0 and green for 26.2. NVIDIA GeForce systems had slight improvements, while AMD Radeon, Intel Arc, and Apple M3/M5 Max showed substantial performance jumps.
The second chart quantifies this improvement, using data from the first chart to calculate the performance increase from v26.0 to v26.2. Apple saw around a 3.8x performance boost with M3 and M5 Max, greatly enhancing competitiveness with NVIDIA for 3D workflows in After Effects.
AMD GPUs also saw notable gains, with the Radeon™ 7900 XTX showing about a 2.5x increase, while Intel GPUs followed closely with a 2.3x improvement on the Arc™ B580 GPU.
NVIDIA saw smaller gains, with the GeForce RTX™ 3080 improving by about 1.1x and the RTX™ 5080 by 1.04x. Despite this, NVIDIA is still a strong choice for 3D in After Effects, and the update levels the field, allowing AMD, Intel, and Apple to better compete with NVIDIA.
Our Puget Bench QA platforms are not designed for direct comparisons between CPUs and GPUs, but more for understanding how updates affect different components. Further testing will explore this, but NVIDIA remains a top choice for After Effects 3D workloads. Apple is catching up with the M5 Max, and Intel’s Arc cards offer a good budget choice.
Conclusion
Seeing performance gains is always positive, showing companies like Adobe’s ongoing efforts to benefit users. Interestingly, this significant update wasn’t mentioned in the After Effects 26.2 update notes. Adobe explained these improvements are due to optimizations in the 3D engine for AMD, Intel, and Mac GPUs.
We’ll soon explore how this update influences hardware choices in After Effects workstations, but it’s a boon for users without NVIDIA GPUs!
For powerful After Effects workstations, check the Puget Systems workstations on our solutions page. For a custom configuration, visit our <a href="https://www.pugetsystems.com/products/workstations/configure