High CPU Usage in Adobe Premiere Pro While GPU is Underutilized

[znaczek]

Hello everyone,

I'm experiencing an issue with Adobe Premiere Pro where my CPU usage reaches 100%, while the GPU remains underutilized (around 35%), even when working on older projects. This has never happened before, and I’m not sure what’s causing it. Premiere Pro should be utilizing the GPU more efficiently, but it's not.

My System Specs:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
• GPU: Gigabyte RTX 3070 (Using latest NVIDIA Studio drivers)
• RAM: 32GB
• Motherboard: ASRock B550 Extreme4 (BIOS version P3.40)
• Storage: 2x SSD in RAID 0
• OS: Windows 11

Details of My Video Files:

• Format: MPEG-4
• Codec: HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding)
• Resolution: 3840x2160 (4K)
• Bit depth: 8-bit
• Chroma subsampling: 4:2:0
• Overall bit rate: 25.2 Mb/s
• Frame rate: 25.000 fps
• Audio: AAC LC, 159 kb/s, 48.0 kHz, 2 channels

I never had such issues before, and even on older projects, CPU usage wasn’t this high while GPU remained underutilized.

What I've Tried So Far:

- Updated NVIDIA drivers (using Studio drivers instead of Game Ready)
- Reinstalled Adobe Premiere Pro (now using version 25.0)
- Checked disk health (SSDs are in good condition)
- Forced Premiere Pro to use the dedicated GPU in Windows Graphics Settings
- Created a new test project with 4K 25fps sample files (CPU usage dropped to 66%)
- Analyzed the sample files (25.2 Mb/s bitrate, 4:2:0 chroma subsampling, HEVC codec)
- Enabled proxy files to improve editing performance

Even with proxy files enabled, my CPU is still working at 100% while the GPU remains underused.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance! 😊

[R Neil Haugen]

My first question, is what are you expecting? The GPU is not simply an additional part of the CPU, but an entirely different processing system, with different coding and parts of the process sent to the GPU instead of, not alongside, the CPU.

So ... do you have any GPU accelerated effects on the clips? Or is there resizing going on?

As if the answer is yes, you'd be getting more GPU for certain. As it looks like you're just doing playback of long-GOP files, there might not be that much sent to the GPU for work. 

Premiere does use some GPU processing for some long-GOP files under certain specific circumstances. @RjL190365 would have the most technical data for your situation.

[znaczek]

Thanks for your response!

To clarify, I’m testing this on a clean file, with no effects, no adjustments, and no resizing—just straight playback in a new project (one of several I've tested). Despite this, Adobe Premiere Pro is still dropping frames. 

Given that this is a fresh project with a standard 4K HEVC file (25.2 Mb/s, 25fps, 4:2:0), I would expect Premiere Pro to handle playback more smoothly, especially since I never had this issue before.

Do you think this could be an issue with long-GOP playback, or is there something else I should check? Any insight would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[Kevin-Monahan]

Thanks, Neil. These symptoms also point to the prospect that this project or sequence might be corrupt. Copy and paste the contents of the sequence into a new sequence. If the issue remains, then import these assets into a brand-new project and see how it goes. Finally, try the same with a transcoded file to an editing codec in a new project and test the results. In my opinion, many performance issues are related to the media. Once media is in an editing codec, the project will have fewer issues. That's my experience anyway. Let the community know if this advice helps.

Thanks,
Kevin

[bbb_999]

Neil's right.

> To clarify, I’m testing this on a clean file, with no effects, no adjustments, and no resizing—
> just straight playback in a new project (one of several I've tested). Despite this, Adobe
> Premiere Pro is still dropping frames. 

Not every action can be performed on a GPU; with the possible exception of media file format-specific GPU acceleration (I'm not sure which codec/format combinations are accelerated), none of the things you've mentioned would involve GPU usage. 🙂

[MyerPj]

@R Neil Haugen 

Yes, this brilliant: "The GPU is not simply an additional part of the CPU"

I believe that's where the confusion is. It may have been awhile ago, but I had hoped it was at some point myself.

Good explanation Neil. 🙂

[R Neil Haugen]

And the workload Pr25.x puts on a system is heavier, and somewhat different, than previous series builds. Which means some kit does not perform as well.

So just like in past years, some newer gear does better, some not so hot or newish gear ... struggles more than with the previous build series. That can also be an issue.