Handbreak uses 90% of CPU

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Throbbert
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Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 8:23 pm

Handbreak uses 90% of CPU

Post by Throbbert »

Is there a way to limit Handbreak CPU usage?

I'm running Handbreak 0.10.5.0 on Windows 10 with a 3.5ghz AMD fx-6300 Six core and 8 gigs of ram, built the computer about a month ago so everything is fresh and clean, and the program basically brings my entire computer to a halt. It uses on average 85+ percent of my CPU when encoding and may times is at 100%

Any ideas on what I can change here to get it to use less CPU or just make performance better in general?
rollin_eng
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Re: Handbreak uses 90% of CPU

Post by rollin_eng »

It should use that much cpu, why would you not want it to?
Woodstock
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Re: Handbreak uses 90% of CPU

Post by Woodstock »

You want it to have better performance, but you want it to run slower... If you need the desktop to remain responsive while doing an encode, you can look at the priority Windows assigns to handbrake. Handbrake normally asks for "below normal" priority, to give more CPU to other tasks as needed.

The only way to reduce the CPU load on CPU-intensive tasks is to have a supported coprocessor that can do the intensive task. Intel has QSV, but it is only available on Intel processors, and it does not encode as well as the software encoder. It is blazingly fast, though.

The AMD and nVidia equivalents are not supported in handbrake at this time.

Make sure your cooling system is up to the task - a lot of motherboards will cut the clock speed if the CPU temp gets up above 70C. If your build did not include a LARGE CPU cooler and fans to move heat out of the case, you may see "90% of half speed" after a while.
DrXenos
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Re: Handbreak uses 90% of CPU

Post by DrXenos »

I am constantly flabbergasted that people get upset when software actually makes use of the computer resources they've paid good money for.
Woodstock
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Re: Handbreak uses 90% of CPU

Post by Woodstock »

Yes, but sometimes it is a valid complaint - typing in a word processor should never run the CPU up to 90%, for example. :)
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s55
HandBrake Team
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Re: Handbreak uses 90% of CPU

Post by s55 »

By Default, the Windows GUI sets the process priorty to a lower level, so it doesn't matter if it's using 100%. Anything else you do will take priority on the system, thus you should usually get minimal to no noticable slowdown.
david3
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Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 5:46 am

Re: Handbreak uses 90% of CPU

Post by david3 »

When I want to use my computer for other things while also running Handbrake (and not in a big hurry for it to finish quickly), I add "threads=4" under Video -> Extra Options.

On my system, this results in Handbrake using about 50% of the CPU, so other applications running are still relatively snappy.

I've also set the Priority Level in the preferences to "Low" (the lowest level).

You could try that (and adjust it as necessary to get the results you want). I've got an i7 with 4 cores (8 with hyperthreading).
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