100% CPU usage, and it's NOT the hardware

I had this same issue the other day as well.  After tearing my hair out for a few hours, I did eventually find a solution.  The issue isn't your hardware, it's the source file you're editing.  If it's a file Premiere accepts but doesn't like, it will 100% the CPU and make you go mad.  The solution is to transcode your source file to a more acceptable format first. 

One explanation I read was that this is due to VFR (variable frame rate), which Premiere hates, and transcoding to SFR (single frame rate) fixes the problem. I haven't tested if that's true, but I do know that exporting the source file to MP4 and then editing that file stopped the issue completely. 

I've also had this issue since purchasing my new MacBookPro in July 2020 - it's a:

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)

2.3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB

Premiere Pro is a no go these days. Seems to throttle around 1440% and then it crawls.
Could Adobe fix this?

Depressing after spending £3300 on a new computer for editing and discovering that it can barely do this.

So what's up then? I don't understand how this is happening to so many and its basically crickets.  I can't use Premiere now and I am about to bail. I might have to use DaVinci even though it is not ideal in the least and I work slower but at least I have full control of my workflow and not stuttering in playback and basically unable to work at all. 

Did you ever figure out what your issue was? I'm currently experiencing this and it's extremely frustrating.

My build:

Ryzen 9 3950x (16 cores) 3.85ghz
RTX 3090 Founders Edition

64gb of DDR4 4000hz RAM

MSI X570 Carbon Pro Motherboard

1200w PSU

My boot drive is a 500gb m.2 SSD 

My working drive is a 2TB m.2 SSD

My external drives are just used for storage once I finish a project so they shouldn't impact anything.

Running Nvidia Studio Drivers v462.31

Premiere Pro 2021 v15.0.0 (Build 41)

Windows 10 Pro Version 1909

I had a PC that was much weaker than this and had no issues. Now I spent almost $5k on a build that can't run premiere without ramping my CPU up to 100% and forcing me to quit the program. 

I'm shooting with an a7s iii so I know that the files can be a little rough to edit but I haven't had any issues until recently and now I simply can't use premiere. 

If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears! I have already tried turning GPU Acceleration on and off and it doesn't seem to matter. This is also happening to me every single time I try to use the program. Doesn't matter if I start with a brand new project and import the footage directly from the working drive, it ramps the CPU up to 100% and then I'm unable to use my computer until it quits the program. 

Your point about the newer AMD cards offering H.264/265 decoding assistance is a good one. And Premiere doesn't use that, which sucks. It would sure work a lot better if it did. The last bit of decision on my 'new' machine before I send 'em money is which v-card. And it's between an Nvidia and an AMD. I want them both used fully.

The reason for the suggestions to go to the UserVoice system is two-fold.

First, every post over there and every comment added to a 'current' post is read by an engineer. That is the system they use for users to communicate to the engineering staff ... this forum is for primarily user-to-user help, which for many things is a fast way to get something working again.

Second ... every post and comment there is collated and delivered to the upper managers ... those above "team" level ... who are the ones that determine budgets and such. Those folks live by metrics. Posting something on the UserVoice system gives them metrics. And I do mean, at Adobe ... metrics are almost everything for upper-manager decisions. Frustrating but true.

And at MAX, what we ACP's heard from the engineering team was that they need more metrics ... more detailed posts ... of user difficulties. Again, two reasons.

First ... they only have X number of machines in-house, and Y number of beta-testers. Premiere runs on the widest array of gear/media of any major NLE, and they simply don't have enough machines to nearly duplicate every combo of gear bits, other installed apps/utilities, media, and such that can be a part of a problem. What they can't replicate, they can't see, they can't fix.

And second, it shows the upper managers that though the general user base numbers for performance are good, they still have a ton of serious things affecting smaller groups that need attention. Which means ... budgeted engineer time.

Is it a right royal pain to go file things on U-V? Yep.

Is it necessary?  Yep.

Does it have an affect on things? Yep.

This app is used daily by many thousands of users. When it ain't working right, it's best to squeak where squeaking can do something.

Neil

tobiq may also be having the same problems, but ... not nearly everyone else. Premiere is used by thousands of people, including a lot of broadcast shops and posthouses daily. So a lot of folks are doing fine.

Which is not your case. Something very odd is going on to cause the app to go full-on with the CPU yet crawl.

To start even guessing, it's always useful to have the full data ... system, OS, version of Premiere, where Premiere is 'housed' on your system, storage and connections of storage to computer, media used, effects, any third-party software touch the media, all that. Troubleshooting involves a bit of tedious data study and wrangling especially at the start.

Neil

Hi there, me and everyone else has the same issue i'm afraid..