Final Cut Pro - high RAM use?

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Level 1

4 points

Final Cut Pro - high RAM use?

Seems like a number of users have experienced high RAM usage over the years with FCP, yet I've not found any recent issues which is strange as we're experiencing astronomical RAM use on v11.2 with an M3 MacBook Pro on certain projects.

Looking at Activity Monitor the RAM use just keeps increasing beyond the physical RAM so the memory pressure goes up turning yellow.

Like I say, this is on certain projects. One example is an 8GB library with full HD clips. After time, the editing process starts to stutter with the occasional rainbow wheel. On this particular project we're seeing the same issue on v11.1.1 also.

We're closing all other apps to keep the system processes to a minimum but as I say it's FCP's RAM use that Activity Monitor reports is the culprit.

Any ideas or other folk having the same problem?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: High RAM use?

MacBook Pro 14″

Posted on Nov 4, 2025 12:59 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 4, 2025 8:41 AM in response to thehobbo

Brave is fine.

Download and run the free version of etrecheck and post the results here.

It is perfectly safe, does not collect any private information and was created for trouble-shooting by a respected member of the Apple Support forums.

https://etrecheck.com/en/index.html

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Answer 2

Nov 4, 2025 1:38 AM in response to thehobbo

The hesitant behaviour of your Macs is probably caused by something other than RAM.

I have never had more than 8GB RAM on a computer (until last May) and have never encountered slowdowns even with 4K.

Going into the yellow should not be a problem . . . red might be another matter.

Are your drives more than 80% full or do you have Chrome, CleanMyMac or any of the other usual suspects installed?

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Answer 3

thehobbo Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 4, 2025 2:32 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Thanks for your reply Ian.

Don't have CleanMyMac or Chrome (do have Brave though).

Primary drive is on the cusp of being 80% full - I will look into that and try to reduce.

Since writing this I've found diagnostic reports in Console for FCP that show high CPU usage '90 seconds cpu time over 105 seconds (86% cpu average), exceeding limit of 50% cpu over 180 seconds'.

Not sure of the importance of the message as there are a number of other processes that also have CPU related diagnostic reports.

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Answer 4

BenB

Level 6

13,142 points

Nov 4, 2025 9:27 AM in response to thehobbo

I'd like to see screen shots of that Activity Monitor. What are you calling and "astronomical RAM use"?

Once those 8GB of RAM are used up, or close to it, the system uses your system drive for additional RAM, which can in fact slow you down a bit. Could that be happening?

89% CPU usage is not much, really. Depends on how many cores your CPU has, but each equals 100%. So a 10 core system, 1 core filled up is nothing.

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