xbmc.exe high cpu usage?

Is this a normal behaviour?



50% cpu usage for xbmc.exe when idling, just minimized, around 100% in fullscreen.

CPU: Intel E6600 3.2GHz, Vista x86

XBMC runs a gameloop, and will be constantly rendering whether it's on screen or not, so yes, it will use processor even if it's idling. Remember: It came from the xbox where all that runs is XBMC, so it'll take some time before it conforms with the regular expectations of "normal" windows programs. Basically it's not designed for a multitasking environment - if you are running it minimized (for music playback or something I presume?) then to be honest you're not using it how it was it intended.

Cheers,
Jonathan

jmarshall Wrote:XBMC runs a gameloop, and will be constantly rendering whether it's on screen or not, so yes, it will use processor even if it's idling. Remember: It came from the xbox where all that runs is XBMC, so it'll take some time before it conforms with the regular expectations of "normal" windows programs. Basically it's not designed for a multitasking environment - if you are running it minimized (for music playback or something I presume?) then to be honest you're not using it how it was it intended.

Cheers,
Jonathan

Thanks for explanation, that's what I've been thinking, just needed a confirmation. And yes, it was discovered while I was just listenening a music. XBMC surpasses quality of Winamp in this aspect

Also does it mean, that VGA is running at 100% all the time as well? I didn't check that.

jmarshall Wrote:It came from the xbox where all that runs is XBMC, so it'll take some time before it conforms with the regular expectations of "normal" windows programs.

Which means that a solution to this could be coming in the future? I think it would be worth it even just for the power saving aspects... this behaviour would stop Cool 'n' Quiet and EIST from working correctly.

It's not really my place to make a comment on that front at this point. It's somewhat up to those working on the win32 version.

Hehe I hoped jmarshall would answer those things but now he played the ball back
I'll put this on our road map but don't expect anything soon since we still have too less devs for the win32 port and my time is limited.
Patches are welcome

Hi WiSo, I just wish to stress that I am too happy about this slowly taking shape to be "pressuring" for dates or anything.
I think, in a computing environment, that a correct CPU usage is useful to not "scare away" potential users. But I definitely recognize that we (you)'re in the early stages and there are more important things to take care of.

It depends on what screen is active, when playing music it's using ~14% on my E6600 + intel X3000, ~5% on my E5345 + nvidia quadro nvs 285 @work, but i've noticed cpu usage goes skyhigh when there is either a 3D list on the active window or a visualisation is active (projectM in this case).

Charly Wrote:It depends on what screen is active, when playing music it's using ~14% on my E6600 + intel X3000, ~5% on my E5345 + nvidia quadro nvs 285 @work, but i've noticed cpu usage goes skyhigh when there is either a 3D list on the active window or a visualisation is active (projectM in this case).

interesting... wonder what can be the difference , it's always one (minimized) or both cores (fullscreen) with full usage here at 1920x1080p no matter what's on screen.

Tested it at home and have also not this kind of problem.
When playing music even with projectM activated both cores at ~16% (AMD XP 3800).
Both cores at ~56% when playing hd content (with frame drops though)