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PushPull · 2014-09-17, 18:00

Hey guys, I've managed to get XBMC running on my Windows Home server 2011, with the sole intention to update the local mySQL library. I'm doing so since there are no Windows based stand-alone library updaters. However my hardware is rather poor (HP Microserver N36L) and XBMC is running on 20-30 % cpu usage even when it's idle.

The server is stored away in a different room and I will never use the XBMC installation for anything but the library updates, so I'd be grateful for input on settings or other tweaks I can do to strip it down and make it drag as little system resources as possible.

In advance, thanks.

~~Ned Scott~~ · 2014-09-18, 04:26

Off the top of my head, I'd turn off navigation sounds and RSS feeds in the Appearance settings. I'm not sure how significant those are these days, but they've shown a difference in the past on some low-powered hardware.

PushPull · 2014-09-22, 10:10

Thanks Ned, these were the first options I fixed. Anyone else have other tweaks I can do to reduce resource usage of XBMC ? All input appreciated.

**Martijn** · 2014-09-22, 10:18

nope

~~Ned Scott~~ · 2014-09-22, 11:56

Oh, turn off extracting thumbnails in Settings -> Videos -> File list (I think that's where it is). That should have some effect, at least on initial loading of directories. You can also play around with dirty regions (wiki).

During actual video playback, if you have an audio receiver that can handle passthrough for either DTS or AC3, that will also reduce CPU usage.

PushPull · 2014-09-22, 12:10

Hi, I've turned off things like RSS, navigation sounds etc - but like I mentioned this XBMC installation is only running to update my library since there is no Windows based stand-alone library updater available. The server is stored away in a storage room and is only accessed through the network. So I'm looking for more overall tweaks, or possibly suggestions on how to set the CPU priority within Windows etc. Thanks for the input so far though Smile

**black_eagle** · 2014-09-22, 12:51

If all you want to do is update the libraries, you could set XBMC to update on start-up and exit when idle. Then start it every so often using task scheduler.

PushPull · 2014-09-22, 13:02

(2014-09-22, 12:51)black_eagle Wrote: If all you want to do is update the libraries, you could set XBMC to update on start-up and exit when idle. Then start it every so often using task scheduler.

Not a bad idea, if only XBMC could start without me being logged in. For those of us with Windows based storage systems like me we need to start TeamViewer, UltraVNC or something like that to even be able to start XBMC, then log out. Once started I am able to manage XBMC in Window mode through remote desktop. Bottom line is that XBMC wont start from within a remote desktop session and it won't start as a service or scheduled task.

I'm badly hoping someone will eventually code a windows-based stand-alone library updater. Meanwhile I appreciate all suggestions on how to tweak XBMC to use as little resources as possible Smile

Thanks again!

**BigNoid** · 2014-09-22, 18:56

Afaik minimize to taskbar stops rendering of the gui, while the webserver and json are still running. Cpu should be minimal and it allows for running tasks in the background like updating library.