PCI Capture Card Causing 100% CPU Load!!?

lettuce

lettuce

lettuce

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I was previously getting this problem with my old PC, but now am getting it with my new Haswell build. Basically i have one of these PCI capture cards....

http://uk.startech.com/AV/Converter...re-Card-1080p-HDMI-DVI-VGA-Component~PEXHDCAP

As soon as i load the program that is used to capture with (i have tired 2 programs, AmaRec and Video Keeper) the CPU usage goes up to 100% and the core temps start to rise!. This must be stressing the CPU a fair bit as the temps im getting from just loading the capture programs is similar to temps i was getting when stress testing with OCCT and AIDA64!!!

Any ideas why a PCI based card would cause the CPU to be stressed this much?
 
It seems to be all cores are being used 100% as the temp readings for all 4 cores rises when I load the program. It happens if I'm capturing or not, just loading the program without even displaying anything causes his to happen. I have noticed when actually capturing it reports in the status bar at the bottom of AmaRec window '60% CPU', yet this is never the case. Also windows task manager doesn't report any CPU usage at all, only program's like Real Temp, CPU-Z etc do!

The funny thing is its causing my system more stress than actually using software like FRAPS or DXtory, even though it's a dedicated PCI capture card, I would have thought it shouldn't really use the CPU at all really due to this
 
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Im not have any problems using it at all, it works perfectly fine, its just throttling my CPU and causing 100% load which it shouldn't be doing. To be fair that might be happening to that guy in that video as he hasn't actually looked at his CPU temps or loads

I have upload a vid of the problem, when you select the StarTech card for AmaRec to use. Take into consideration the only reason my CPU clock speed is at max is because im capturing the Desktop with OBS, just take not of the 'LOAD' value In the RealTemp Window, and see it jump up as soon as i tell AmaRec to use the StarTech card for capture......

http://youtu.be/4riMnZy4S5s

I have this same issue using Video Keeper as well, so sure its not program related??
 
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Ok its been suggested to me that it might be due to me using a Gigabyte mobo, as my old system used a 58X and now im using a 87X and bother were Gigabyte, i would think this would be very unlikely as surely the architecture between the 2 mobo is competely different seeings there around a 4 year gap??

So to try and rule out Gigabyte from being the cause, I have tested the capture card on a, AMD system with a Asus mobo, now I found out that AMD CPU aren't supported by the RealTemp program (bugger!), so I used CoreTemp instead. CoreTemp reported that the clock speeds on all cores went up as soon as I loaded Stream Catcher or told AmaRec to use the startech card, BUT the load levels stayed low. At which point I thought '****!', and was under the impression that it may indeed be related to gigabyte mobos.

Next I tried the card on a Gigabyte mini ITX mobo which has a sandy bridge Intel 2500k i5 chip, I had to remove the graphics card as there is only one PCI slot and use the onboard GPU, as this is a Intel CPU I can again use RealTemp to measure the CPU load. Low and behold the CPU Load went up to 100% as soon as Stream Catcher or told AmaRec to use the StarTech card. I then decided to load up CoreTemp, and much to my surprise the clock speeds were maxed out on all cores but the Load levels on all cores was low!.

Now you might be saying well its RealTemp that's at fault here and there's nothing wrong with the StarTech card, but the spike in temps on all cores as soon as the startech card is initialised suggests that infact there is 100% load on all cores, if it was just the clock speeds being maxed out it still wouldn't produce this much heat, only when there is 100% loads do you get the sort of high temps that I'm seeing, clock speed alone will not produce high temps

To try and prove RealTemps readings are validated i have done another test. I have disabled all the Power Saving functions so my CPU will run at its max speed all the time (4.7Ghz), as its running full speed there is a slight increase on the temps, with power saving on my idle temps are usually 30c on all cores but here they are around 40c. With CoreTemp and RealTemp Both loaded and left running for a few seconds i then loaded Stream Catcher, CoreTemp reported no extra load on the CPU cores whilst RealTemp reported 100% Load, take notice of the temps as they increase as soon as i load Stream Catcher, which backs up the reading of RealTemp over CoreTemp as the 100% load is causing more heat, if CoreTemp was to be believe then the temps wouldn't increase when i load Stream Catcher, but they do.....

http://youtu.be/1GzBjOSM68M

What are peoples thoughts, do you think Gigabyte mobos are to blame, or that this capture card is indeed faulty?. Is there any settings in the BIOS which cause cause such issues??
 
Ok i have kind of figured out the issue but as of yet dont know how to stop it from happening. Basically watch this video.....

http://youtu.be/S9jplXLGECM

It would appear whatever Power Plan is enabled when the StarTech card is initialised it puts 100% Load on the CPU.
If you select any of the other 2 power plans then the CPU Load drops to 1 or 2%
Upon closing the Capture program it seems to enable the next power plan, (for what reason or how i dont understand but you can see it do it in the video)

So the way to stop 100% Load is change the power plan to any of the other 2 when you start capturing.

Im guessing this happens for everyone and it a bug/conflict with every card, the fact that i manage to stumble across this is just pure luck, as it can only be detected with RealTemp, im betting if everyone downloaded and use RealTemp they would see the same results as me.

Now is Windows at fault here or the card hardware itself, as something defiantly isnt right here? Not sure how or why its able to change the windows power plan on exiting the program either!?
 
lettuce said:
It would appear whatever Power Plan is enabled when the StarTech card is initialised it puts 100% Load on the CPU.
If you select any of the other 2 power plans then the CPU Load drops to 1 or 2%
Click to expand...
Thank you! This helped a lot.
Restoring the default of the power plan works too.

I've just trying to find something about cleaning the registry hoping to do it.
My story - I've got old StarTech capture a couple of years back and tried it on different computers, at least on a 2 different Win 10 installations, but the same 100% even after uninstalling it software and hardware wise.
Only when I've moved the win disk on Dell Precision T5600 2 CPU that's 16 cores 32 threads I've got something under 80% after some days working constantly.

At the second installation before restoring default reviewed every single setting - but it was with the same values.
Someday I'll try to install it again and use it to see what happens with this settings.
 
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