Extremly Slow Export Times

For the past 5 updates of MediaEncoder 2025, I've had extremely long export times for basic sequences. For a 1920x1080 sequence around 2:30 exporting to H264, I'm getting export times in excess of 30 minutes. There are no effects, no titles or graphics, just a basic stringout of 1080p clips. The only difference is the updated MediaEncoder. I had one project that after restarting my computer, the render time went back to normal, maybe less than 30 seconds for a similar sequence with titles, lumetri color, and the works. 

I've tried restarting the computer this time but I'm still getting these extremely slow export times, all this in time with a huge increase in the annual cost of the software. Why do we keep getting huge increases in annual cost while the software gets worse and worse.
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ME Version 25.6

Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 22H2
OS Build 19045.6466
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-7900X CPU @ 3.30GHz 3.30 GHz
Installed RAM 64.0 GB (63.7 GB usable)
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (11 GB)
System Type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor