premiere putting heavy load on CPU!
 

I've noticed when working with both pro and elements I have to keep an eye on the cpu usage. It is extremely easy to push the usage to 100% and a error or blue screen usually follows.

Is this to be expected when working with editing software, or is this possibly explained by my setup?

I have an INtel Core 2 duo E4300, 2G memory, video card, 250G hard drive and ASUS motherboard. The op system is XP pro.

Hi Mark..............
 

Premier is a system resource hog of major proportions. 100% CPU is not at all uncommon. That you are experienceing errors/ BSOD's is. I suggest you check out the Adobe web site, where they have a number of extremely in -depth articles on configuring Win systems so as to get the best out of Premier and be more stable.


CS

Thanks, I will do that.

Mark, a couple of questions.
 

Are you running anything else while working in Premiere? Do you have internet/e-mail and antivirus software installed?
Are you reading 100% CPU when rendering or when editing? I would be a nonsense to have anything less than 100% when rendering - why would part of your CPU stay idle?

I suspect you have lots of other programs installed on that PC, programs that at times conflict with PremPro. I have yet to see a blue screen even with complex renders and hours and hours of 100% CPU usage.

With computers so inexpensive today, it is highly recommended that you keep an older PC for general/office use and a dedicated one with video editing software exclusively. You can use a $30 KVM switch to hook up one monitor, one keyboard, and one mouse to two PCs should you need to.

I'm very happy that Premiere Pro CS3 uses up to 100% CPU!

Compared to Premiere Pro 2 only using one CPU of my Dual Core system, it was artificially throttling at 50% - useless.

If you're getting errors or BSOD, then I'd suggest your CPU's getting too hot or some other hardware problem? I presume you're not overclocking your CPU and it might be worth getting a sep system and video hard disk, and keep defragmented.

It goes 100% when I do simple things like erase a transition. So I have to keep an eye on the cpu usage all the time. Very tedious.

I do have a dedicated system, which is why I am so disappointed in the performance. It has 2 gigs memory and 250G hard drive, built from parts.

No I am not overclocking, I am not that experienced in hardware yet.

I am planning to redo the computer, reinstall the op system on a 500 G hard drive, and add a sound card. I did have a few issues installing the drivers the first time around. Finally I plan to check out adobe website on configuring system. Hopefully all this will help.

Hi again.........
 

Mark,

You do not need a 500 gig drive for your system software - not unless you're running the Accounting system for the Department of Defense (in 5 different countries!).

I don't know what your current system build is, but my suggestion is:

System drive: 250 Gig (max) 7200 rpm 16 Mb cache Sata 300 (way more than enough)

Data drive: 1 or 2, 500 Gig 7200 rpm 16 Mb cache Sata 300 [Raid (striped) if Mobo allows].

The 100 % CPU usage indicates you do not have a disk bottleneck, otherwise it couldn't get to 100% for data lack - so only undertake the re - configure if you feel you really have to.

If you had a problem with drivers (what OS are you running?) this could be the root cause, but hey, so could a lot of things.

Maybe if you list the entire build over at -


http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=95335

Mr McGuffin can cast a weary eye over it and give you some pointers (sorry Jon).

Worth a try.


CS

Thanks for the link. I'll keep it for future reference, but I don't have the time or cash to benefit from it right now.

I went ahead and reloaded the XP op system, installed the drivers correctly and modified my setup as specified. Premiere works much better now, fewer errors and no blue screen of death. But it did shutdown the computer a couple of times, and I still have to be careful.

The microsoft error website said that the antivirus software was at fault. I have a pal who did some editing who hated antivirus software, talked about it like it was the root of all evil. Sounds like antivirus software has issues with editing software? Next month I plan to finish the film with virus program off, hopefully that will get rid of the last problem.

My cpu is much less powerful than the one McGuffin mentioned, it is Intel core 2 duo E4300. It is a very popular cpu but maybe really not up to film editing? At any rate I can't change it in the foreseeable future.

IT is certainly best to keep your editing system free of all antivirus and firewall software. Clean system, no baggage, turn off all the services you don't need. Don't allow any auto updates, do it yourself. That way the PC won't suddenly decide to install an update just when its rendering!!! Turn off power management, screen saver etc for the same reason. Keep a cheap PC for communicating with email and browsing the WEB.

Ron Evans

Could you supply a link to such articles? I am not finding anything

Nathan,

Here is a link to xp tweaks by videoguys. I found it very useful.

http://www.videoguys.com/WinXP.html

Part II at the bottom of the page has a lot of good information

That website looks promising.

They are sure right about being careful with drivers!

I thought Premier Elements 4.0 was more than my CPU could handle when capturing or exporting 10+Gigs of video. Then after 6 months of repeated crashing and shut-downs I noticed yesterday that the crashes happened after about 10 minutes and then I found the old PE 2.0 manual told me to turn off everything including screen saver & power management ... Yippee, works like a dream ... my CPU has no problems with 16Gig files today ... wanting to share my brilliant "discovery" I searched "screen saver" just in case someone had been there and look what I found ... among others ...

Also make sure you switch off Auto Save!

Your system is not supposed to crash when you use 100% CPU.
Every video processing program uses 100% CPU: you need a new PC!