iPad app maxes CPU to the point of overheating

[William-S]

I've just bought a new iPad, and installed the Boxee application on it. The problem is that it's maxing out the i7 CPU on my PC when streaming, causing the PC to shutdown due to overheating.

I've done several tests, and there's absolutely no doubt that the Boxee app is causing this problem.

Has anyone seen the same, and could help with a solution?

[darcilicious]

Boxee Media Manager is transcoding your video files on your computer in order for them to be displayed on your iPad. Depending on the video encoding, that can take some horsepower; however, it shouldn't cause overheating/shutdowns.

What kind of files are you streaming to your iPad? How long does the video stream before the PC shuts down?

[William-S]

Thanks for responding.

I've tried .avi and .mkv files and it happens with both. The PC has an i7 processor and 16GB of RAM, so it should be able to transcode any video file without thinking too much about it - looking at processor usage when playing an mkv file with VLC proves this point. The video stream plays on the iPad for a few minutes before I get the warning about processor temperature. As soon as the iPad app starts transcoding\streaming all processor cores jump to 100% utilisation. Once it's stopped, utilisation returns to normal immediately.

[darcilicious]

Strange. I have an older quad AMD processor and have never had this happen.

Are these 1080p mkv files? What bit rates? (download and run "media info lite" on one of your mkv files and post the output here).

I wonder if there's some kind of BIOS or similar that's causing this to happen? I'm assuming this on Windows 7?

I'll see if I can replicate this on my husband's i7 box tonight.

[haveringcottage]

maxing out the i7 CPU on my PC when streaming, causing the PC to shutdown due to overheating.

what you should be more concerned about is that your PC cooling solution is inadequate.

Your PC should be able to run 24/7 at 100% without it overheating.

I would suggest replacing your cooler.

But yes, the bmm software is rather resource intensive

[Catherine22]

As far i know Boxee has no sign of excessive heating issue on PC. So, I also think that you should do replace the your cooler. It is necessary to provide your PC proper cooling effect.

[Techgeek32]

Yes I think your cooler is the problem.

[William-S]

Thanks for responding everyone.

Cooling is not the issue- the CPU has a dedicated fan, and I also use this PC for gaming, which is more intensive than streaming a movie. I leave the same PC powered up 24x7.

I use the "ALL CPU Meter" gadget for Windows 7, and as soon as I start using the Boxee app I see all cores max out at 100%.

Darci - I've tried .mkv 1080P movies, and also .avi TV shows in standard definition, and the CPU usage maxes regardless.

Sounds like I'm a one off here. Maybe I'll uninstall and reinstall the app to see if it makes any difference. I'll also look for video card driver updates.

[Catherine22]

Hmm then better try with reinstalling the app. I have never faced this type of issue. But see then what happens.

[Techgeek32]

Yep, try the reinstall. I hope it will work for you.

[Ingjald]

Thanks for responding everyone.

Cooling is not the issue- the CPU has a dedicated fan, and I also use this PC for gaming, which is more intensive than streaming a movie. I leave the same PC powered up 24x7.

I use the "ALL CPU Meter" gadget for Windows 7, and as soon as I start using the Boxee app I see all cores max out at 100%.

Darci - I've tried .mkv 1080P movies, and also .avi TV shows in standard definition, and the CPU usage maxes regardless.

Sounds like I'm a one off here. Maybe I'll uninstall and reinstall the app to see if it makes any difference. I'll also look for video card driver updates.

If your computer is overheating, cooling absolutely is the issue. The presence of the CPU fan does not mean the cooling is adequate.

Transcoding is more CPU-intensive than gaming; the reason you don't have this problem when gaming is that it's the GPU, not the CPU, that is being stressed the most when gaming. In particular, most games can only take full advantage of one or two cores, whereas transcoding can use all of your cores.

Make sure all the case fans are working properly and are clear of dust. Also, make sure there's adequate ventilation around the computer. If that all checks out, you should re-seat the CPU's heat sink (and apply new thermal paste), as it may have come loose or have inadequate/too much thermal paste applied to it.

To test to make sure your cooling is adequate, you should download and run Prime95, start the "Torture Test" with 8 threads, and let it run overnight. Then download FurMark, which will test the GPU in the same way. Any computer that overheats while running either program does NOT have sufficient cooling. Adequate cooling means that no software should ever be able to cause your computer to overheat; these two programs are designed to make your CPU and GPU as hot as possible to ensure your cooling is adequate.

[haveringcottage]

Welcome to the forum Ingjald, and great first post!

[William-S]

I appreciate your response Ingjald, and you obviously know what you're talking about. Really, thanks for taking the time. I've learned from the knowledge you've shared, and I'm sure others will too. However, even if I had multiple fans focused on a CPU, and it didn't overheat, what I'm seeing shouldn't be happening

The issue is that all cores on my i7 CPU will bounce from almost idle to sustained 100% utilisation as soon as I launch the Boxee app on the iPad and start streaming. Even SD video. This just should not happen, I know you'll agree. I can play 1080P movies directly on the PC (which I know can (and probably does) use the GPU), and also stream 1080P movies to a Boxee Box (which uses the CPU only) with no issues whatsoever. Both cause barely a bump in CPU utilisation, as you would expect from a new i7.

[darcilicious]

Well, the Boxee Box is using its own hardware decoder, the only thing your PC is doing is shipping out bits ;) so that's not really the same as what BMM does/requires.

I'll definitely play with this later today (just need to get the hubby to install BMM on his i7).

[darcilicious]

Okay, just installed BMM on his 12-core i7 (Windows 7 Ultimate) and didn't see anything like what the OP has described. When the movies are first started about 8 of the cores hit 60-70% for a few seconds then settle down and CPU usage is relatively low after that.

There's something not right obviously -- it might be a bug in BMM that's triggered in the OP's specific environment but offhand I can't think of what it might be...

[Nysoss]

Could you perhaps lock the Boxee process to 1 core using the Windows Task Manager and see if that helps?