Not 100% CPU Usage while Rendering

Report · Apr 17, 2017

Hi!

I realize that this question was brought up before but never answered, so I ask again:

What could be the reason that I get only 65% max CPU usage while rendering this:

Video captured with Shadow Play (Media Info in spoiler)

[spoiler]

General

Complete name : G:\Material\Video\Dark Souls III\Dark Souls III 04.13.2017 - 23.16.32.04.mp4

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media / Version 2

Codec ID : mp42 (mp41/isom)

File size : 2.28 GiB

Duration : 6 min

Overall bit rate : 50.2 Mb/s

Recorded date : 2017

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : High@L4.2

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame

Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=30

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 6 min

Source duration : 6 min

Bit rate : 50.0 Mb/s

Width : 1 920 pixels

Height : 1 080 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate mode : Variable

Frame rate : 60.000 FPS

Minimum frame rate : 56.711 FPS

Maximum frame rate : 63.694 FPS

Standard : PAL

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.402

Stream size : 2.27 GiB (100%)

Source stream size : 2.27 GiB (100%)

Color range : Limited

Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC

Transfer characteristics : BT.470 System M

Matrix coefficients : BT.601

mdhd_Duration : 390654

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : 40

Duration : 6 min

Source duration : 6 min

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 192 kb/s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz

Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 spf)

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 9.09 MiB (0%)

Source stream size : 9.09 MiB (0%)

mdhd_Duration : 390586

[/spoiler]

There are multiple video files that I wanted to cut together and export from Premiere with h.264 and a very large bitrate because later I will encode it again with Handbrake which supports HEVC.

It was already a bummer to find out that CUDA is not part of Elements but Pro - something in my eyes so rudimentary - but if even my CPU now is somehow not working at full capacity then I kind of want to think that my money was wasted.

I cannot make a screenshot because I'm rendering right now but I set the export settings to match the source manually. The automated "Match Source" function recognized a lot of the settings wrong.

My system:

i7 6550K @ 4.200MHz

4x4 GB RAM 2.400MHz

Windows 7 x64

Sorce files are on a WD Caviar RED HDD 3TB

Destination is a Samsung SM951 M.2

PS: There doesn't seem a way to preview my port here. So I hope the spoiler works

EDIT: No spoiler doesn't work

Report · Apr 17, 2017

I'm going to guess that your rendering speed bottleneck is the read and write speeds of your disks. By comparison, I have my software, project files, source files and output files all on the same SSD. Last time I checked I was getting full use of my i7-3610QM Quad-Core CPU when rendering output.

Regarding the GPU.... When I started with 4K I thought I would probably need "stronger software" with CUDA support. Memory suggests it was Sony (now Magix) software, but I'm not sure. Output rendering was NOT faster. It may be that all recent Intel CPUs have good video graphics built in now. Whatever, Premiers Elements does not need a GPU, even though I have one!

Good luck with your project!

Report · Apr 17, 2017

Thanks for the answer.

That would suggest that my CPU can encode 1080p60 with 60mbps and Max Depth faster than my hard disk can simply read the files.

I don't think that can be the case but I have one more run to do. I will move all remaining files onto a SSD and seed what happens.......only not today.

Report · Apr 17, 2017

Nova_eXelon wrote
Thanks for the answer.
That would suggest that my CPU can encode 1080p60 with 60mbps and Max Depth faster than my hard disk can simply read the files.
........

Yes. None of us know what is really "under the hood" in Premiere Elements. Certainly not me! And, my experience is limited to the few computers I've owned since I started video editing.

Until SSDs, there was an "old school" approach that tried to eliminated bottle necks. The limiting factor was read and write speeds. The buss was faster than the disks. So, if you could have one HDD for the software, one for the source files and one for the output files the buss could keep up while all three did did their reading and writing.

The SSD came along and the buss stopped being the limiting factor. As I understand it, a single SSD and the buss can feed the CPU to its capacity. At least that seems to be how my 5 year old ASUS gaming laptop seems to work. I've never played a game on it, but video editing is a pleasant and speedy experience. For each project I create a dedicated folder (on the same SSD that has the Windows and Premiere Elements) and put the source files, output files and preview files in it.

When complete, the entire folder is transferred to another HDD somewhere for storage. My projects are usually limited to 5 or 10 minutes. I would probably run out of room on my SSD if I were creating hour long blockbusters!

Any "next" computer will have the fastest i7, biggest SSD and most memory I can pay for. The benefit of GPUs seem to be more suited to games than photo or video editing. Turning my GPU off or on seems to have little effect on Premiere Elements, Lightroom or Photoshop.

Good luck with your test!

Bill

Report · Apr 27, 2017

Hi, so due to a lot of work in real life, only now I had the time so encode the rest of my videos and yes: Copying all files to a SSD really did put my CPU to around 85 - 95%. Maybe if I had another SSD with enough space so I can read from one and write to the other it would be more like 95 - 100% but I'll take it.

Nevertheless I am suprised that my CPU/RAM can process video faster than my HDD can deliver.

Thanks!

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Not 100% CPU Usage while Rendering

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