[SOLVED] CPU at 100% usage when encoding with nvenc

[vincentliu9816]

Firstly, my specs: I'm using a Alienware m15 r6 laptop, equipped with an i7-11800H and a RTX 3060 Laptop, 16GB RAM.

I currently have a bunch of video to encode using HandBrake, during the process, I discovered that even using H.264(NVEnc) encoder, my CPU is still at a 100% usage in the task manager while the GPU's encode usage is at around 30%-35%.

Is this normal utlization ratio for H.264 with NVEnc? Should I use H.265 with NVEnc, and if so, would that makes the process faster?

The video I'm encoding is mostly 4K(3840*2160)@60 or 55fps, and I'm compressing them to 1080P@30fps for storage space, I've been using HandBrake for a while, have some very basic knowledge about the software.

 

[Ralston18]

What apps, utilities, etc. are consuming the CPU resource?

For example: how much CPU % is being used by HandBrake?

Three other tools to help look for more information about what may be happening:

1) Resource Monitor

2) Task Scheduler

3) Process Explorer (Microsoft, free)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Look for unexpected or unknown apps that are being launched or triggered.

Do not immediately start disabling and/or uninstalling anything. Find out what it is beforehand.

That said: if Handbrake seems to be the culprit then reinstall HandBrake. The current installation may be buggy or corrupt.

 

[Karadjgne]

Handbrake uses cpu to encode. Unless deliberately set for gpu. Nvenc uses gpu. So if you just run Nvenc and tell it to use handbrake, it'll use the cpu.
https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/latest/technical/performance.html

 

[vincentliu9816]

What apps, utilities, etc. are consuming the CPU resource?

For example: how much CPU % is being used by HandBrake?

Three other tools to help look for more information about what may be happening:

1) Resource Monitor

2) Task Scheduler

3) Process Explorer (Microsoft, free)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Look for unexpected or unknown apps that are being launched or triggered.

Do not immediately start disabling and/or uninstalling anything. Find out what it is beforehand.

That said: if Handbrake seems to be the culprit then reinstall HandBrake. The current installation may be buggy or corrupt.

Thank you for the reply, bit of testing today show that HandBrake would use CPU DESPITE indicated using GPU encoding. There is an automatic update today(essentially a re-installation) and the update changed nothing,

Same test with Format Factory, with specified encoding and GPU, the GPU runs hot while CPU is only at around 13%.

I can't recall why did I start to use HandBarke initially, but for the case in my question, I'm going to use Format Factory.

 

[Karadjgne]

There are benefits to both methods, much depends on strength of components. Someone with a 6/12 cpu and 3080ti because of 4k monitor requirements would benefit from gpu encode, whereas someone with a 10/11/12900k and 3060 would obviously benefit from cpu encode.

For ppl in between those extremes, it's more a matter of which works better for the user, sometimes it's about speed, sometimes it's about continual usage of the pc while the gpu is encoding. Sometimes it's about format or compression requirements.

 

[kerberos_20]

that high cpu usage is when you encode to 4k or when you decoding 4k and encoding it as 1080p?