I7 only using 10%-11% CXPU when converting Videos?

[FatRakoon]

The other day, I fancied a bit of a change. Mainly through boredom than anything.

So, I swapped my main AMD PC with my Server PC.

The System is :-

I7-970 6 Core @ 3.2
Saphire Pure Black Motherboard
24GB G.Skill RAM ( 6x4GB )
C: = Corsair SSD ( Windows 8.1 - 64Bit )
D: = 1TB WB Black ( Apps & Games )
E: = 2TB WD Black ( Media )
F: = 320GB Seagate ( random junk )

I have been using a DVD RIP of my BlueRay of the film Prometheus to get a basic benchmark of how my PCs will convert video files, and whilst I was converting the file into an AVI, I noticed that the CPU % was only at 10% and occasionally flashing to 11%. I had a peek at the task manager and saw that core 4 was running in the 90%-95% area and all the other 11 cores were simply twiddling their thumbs at mostly 0% or 1 or 2% with the odd blip up to at most 10% ?

Ok, sure enough, on closer inspection, I see that there are the sleeping cores and so I sort them out, and give it a restart and check they are all running and I run the App again to re-do the conversion. I also check the useage that the app will give the PC, its only goes up to 8 cores and thats fine, even though its got 12 ( logical I know I know ) but again, its made ZERO difference?

I have tried a couple of heavy loading apps now and they are all doing pretty much the same... The CPU is NEVER really pushed all that much, and its slow as hell, so what am I missing? is it supposed to do this, and can I sort it out so it runs properly?

Anyone able to help?

Thanks in advance.

[tool_462]

What program are you using? I expect software issue or the bottleneck isn't the CPU. I use Handbrake or ConvertXtoDVD which have no issues (nearly) fully loading 12 threads.

[FatRakoon]

I have only recently been informed about Handbrake.
Im warming to it, and I now have it for Linux and thats a good thing... One of the few reasons Im staying with windows is video conversions and some games. and the rate its going, I dont see myself using windows for much longer.

Anyway yes, I have been using ConvertXtoDVD for quite some time now. That does a great job.

I did a couple of tests and I have very much only got more confused?

I mean, Handbrake output as MP4 or MKV and so I decided on MP4, the file in question was 720x400 and when handbrake converted that, sure enough taskmanager showed all 12 cores were in use, but the total CPU usage was still only 50-55% - Big improvement I grant you. and the convert took 7 minutes 23 seconds. Ok, so now I will use Bigasoft Total Video converter ( I have been using this for the last few weeks and prior to that, I used Format Factory - only when converting different file types of course ) and anyway, on converting, I was seeing 21-23% now, doubled up from the last time I used Bigasoft and this time I am converting to MP4, the last time was to AVI... Would that make any difference? But even though it said 21% over the Handbrake's 52%, the times did NOT tally at all. this time it was 8 minutes and 3 seconds????

Im just even more confused than before?

I will just have to keep on doing tweaks etc and give it more time?

[SoulsCollective]

Could be a number of reasons, from the process you're running (eg. first-pass uses only a single thread, some filters are not (or cannot be) fully multi-threaded, deinterlacing, etc) to HDD bottleneck. Also, various app have settings that control their allowed CPU utilization - have you set this to allow maximum usage?

From your OP, it sounds like whatever your current process setup is is single-threaded only - thus you'll see only low overall utilisation.

Edit: "I have been using a DVD RIP of my BlueRay of the film Prometheus" - are you ripping direct from the disk? If so, there's your problem - the bandwidth of your optical drive is going to be a major bottleneck.