M2 Ultra poor performance After Effects

etresoft wrote:

Obviously, this is where the problem lies. Maybe it's the cable. Maybe it's the drive.

Or maybe it's not the drive at all. The more I think about this, the more I think it could be something else.

However, in order to find out where the problem actually lies, you do need to remove the external drive from the equation. There is a long thread (Extremely slow file transfer speeds on OS Ventura) about problems with slow external drives. I didn't notice any problem with my 2017 MBP running Ventura. But when I got my M2, which can only run Ventura, I noticed that just having an external plugged in made the drive extremely hot. I wasn't even copying any data. I didn't test any transfer speeds, but it definitely shouldn't have been smoking hot like that.

Also, there are a couple of long threads about Ventura video problems (Sony 100 fps and 120 fps XAVC-S 10-bit 4:2:2 on Ventura 13.4 on Apple Silicon). Supposedly, version 13.5 fixes the problem. (If only someone could have predicted that!). But clearly, Ventura has problems with video processing.

Additionally, you are using After Effects. Maybe this is just a problem with After Effects on either the M2 and/or Ventura.

Just be careful about upgrading. You are essentially doing what I recommended a couple of months ago. You have a stable production computer running a stable operating system and a working configuration. But you are having problems with the latest OS version. Whatever you do, don't upgrade the Monterey machine until you are happy with the M2. You will likely have to wait until macOS 14 Sonoma before you can do that. But once the M2 is working, stop upgrading it. Instead, start upgrading the old M1. Use that to test each and every Sonoma upgrade. That way, when the M1 breaks, you'll still have the M2 to use, just like you still have the M1 to use right now.

You are doing everything correctly. Just stop worrying about where the problem is. That is irreverent because you can't fix that. Your only option is to wait until it magically fixes itself, or you find a new way of working.

Well here we go- I today ran into the exact same issue on my new Mac Studio, with two XDR displays. This machine runs the exact same software versions ans my M1 Max MacBook Pro which has zero issues like this.

I‘m glad I found this and another similar thread on the adobe forums. With one monitor, it‘s fine, with two, unusable. It only affects after effects in my case though, resolve works fine, so does Premiere (but only after a re-install)….

I found out three things:

-Setting up a new user account seems to resolve the issue on that user.

-when u set each monitor to use its own SPACE in system preferences, the problem also goes away. This is the solution for me right now, even though I don‘t really like this mode of using Mac OS.

- When you do a screen recording, while the recording is running, everything plays back smoothly.

This last one is the oddest one - but it strongly points to some sort of software bug either on adobe‘s or apple‘s side. I reached out to someone from the adobe after effects dev team who helped me in the past, I hope it get their attention.

2infuse wrote:

the same external OWC ssd drive in both computers.

Obviously, this is where the problem lies. Maybe it's the cable. Maybe it's the drive.

If you want to do a comparison between the two computers, you'll need to copy the project to the local drive on each and do your comparison that way.

Edit: Could be the Thunderbolt bandwidth too. Using an external and 2 displays, you have to move all the data to the CPU and then move it back across two displays over the same bus. It could be a problem with the M2 device, but you have to narrow down the problem space by cutting the external data cord.

2infuse wrote:

Of course I ran the same tests with the files copied to the internal ssd drive of the Mac Studio. But it did not solve the problem.

There is no "of course" here in the forums. If you don't mention something, and it seems like a likely probability, then that is what people are going to suggest. You are very familiar with your problem, so you might skip details that you think are irrelevant. We are not familiar with your problem, but we do see many other problems, so we are going to make assumptions based on what we have seen.

And for some reason, people with modern M1 and M2 Macs, especially Mac Studios, have an unnatural obsession with external drives. The internal SSD runs at 4500 MB/s, but they refuse to use it. They will only use externals at one half to 1/10th the speed.

I am not an engineer, but keeping in mind that the exact same work system has no issues in my M1 Ultra for the past year, my guess is that the problems comes from the way Ventura manages the TB ports, or M2 Ultra architecture design issue.

There are other possibilities. It's good that you've eliminated the external as a possibility, but you have to make sure. If you haven't already done that, you must unplug the external before doing the test.

And you didn't mention the Wacom device either. Wacom has been problematic with recent versions of macOS. You have to keep that unplugged and completely uninstall the drivers. Having fun yet?

Speaking of uninstallations, you don't have any other system modifications installed do you? 3rd party antivirus or "security" apps? Memory "cleaners"? Other kinds of "clean up" tools? Any of those system hacks that are oh so popular? In short, the only valid test is no external devices and no 3rd party software - including After Effects because that could be the problem too.

I understand that isn't what you want to hear. Users expect their software to work the same way when they upgrade system software and change hardware. Users expect applications vendors and operating system vendors to work together. All of those assumptions are wrong. None of that happens.

If your livelihood depends on these computers, it is your responsibility to make sure they work. Adobe isn't going to do it. Apple isn't going to do it. Once Sonoma is released, and Adobe has a new version of After Effects to sell, then you can expect good performance using that specific version combination of macOS/After Effects running on the Mac hardware that is being sold at that time. Then you can't change any of that for any reason. If you want to apply updates for "security" or to get pretty new features, then you'll need to use the 2 computer method I described above. Most of the time, it will work fine and you'll feel like you are wasting your time and money. Most of the time.

2infuse wrote:

My native language is not English and I am not sure if your comment above it's because my previous post sounded like a complain, but it wasn't, I m just sharing my experience.

Not at all. You're one of the most gracious and polite people that I've encountered in the forums.

Now is the time, for me, to ask myself if I want and I am able to invest more time trying to make it work, or maybe it´s more clever, in my currrent work situation, to ask for a refund and look for a second hand M1 Ultra to have a work system stable and reliable.

My concern is that you've only tested this with 3rd party software. You would be surprised how poor most 3rd party software really is. With something like this that demands a lot from the hardware, I would not be surprised if it was simply a software problem. And to be honest, it could also be an Apple software problem. Apple struggles with Ventura just as much as 3rd party developers do.

The only guaranteed test would be to upgrade the M1 machine to Ventura and see if it displays the same problem. My guess is that it would. Apple is very good at marketing, but the reality is significantly worse. If you could find some other way of demonstrating the problem using only Apple software, then you would be able to test that on another M2 machine. If you see the same problem, which I think you would, then you would know that it is a Ventura problem. You could try the public beta of Sonoma. If it works there, then you definitely know it is a Ventura problem and that you have a path forward with the M2. I don't have much confidence that it would be any better in Sonoma.

I don't have any better answer for you. Remember that modern Macs are little more than iPads. People assume that multiple display support should be solid after 20 years. But multiple display support on the iPad is brand new, so these kinds of bugs are to be expected. This is totally new hardware.

I'm running a Mac mini m2 pro with multiple monitors and can honestly say it's causing the issue with choppy performance which it shouldn't. I hate to say it but this is what happens when they integrated everything all in one board and say it's better when it's not. My 2017 MBP doesn't have an issue and that's because it has an actual GPU in it. Now with this new chipset they say it has one but some of the Adobe software doesn't recognize it at all. I've also tried looking up what the M-chips GPU is equivalent to and it's not good. I have a 2060 in my PC and use the same monitors and no issues with choppy playback or slow rendering. I recommend for anyone moving forward not to bank on using their Mac with multiple monitors using Adobe software that requires rendering until they come out with a solid OS that can support the work we do. Besides Apple was known for their superiority in the design field but now after Jobs left the earth I'm not so sure anymore

I read your post completely. What are you asking for in terms of responses?

ku4hx wrote:

I read your post completely. What are you asking for in terms of responses?

They are asking why there is a difference with their M1 and M2 Macs.