Skip to main content
W
Wan Ting
Participant
August 4, 2020
Answered

Premiere Pro CPU increases to over 800% when rendering

  • August 4, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 1232 views

Hello,

I noticed that when I am using Premiere Pro, the % CPU sometimes spikes to over 100% when doing basic edits. When rendering a 5 second HD clip with more complicated transitions such as adding both the "Mirror" Effect and "Transform" Effect, the CPU spiked to over 800%. (Based on the Activity Monitor app) The laptop starts to then heat up and the fans start to turn on at a loud volume which can be quite worrying. When I am not using the Premiere Pro app and doing simple tasks such as browsing Safari, the laptop stays quiet.

 

I am new to using the Premiere Pro editing app so I would like to ask if this is normal occurance?

Will it damage my laptop in the long run? Is this a hardware or software issue?

If this is not normal, please advise me on what I should do. 

 

I am using a 2020 Macbook 13-Inch Pro and I had it for only about a month.

My Macbook specs is the most basic one and it is as follows: 

  • 1.4GHz quad-core 8th‑generation Intel Core i5 processor
  • 8GB RAM
  • 256GB SSD storage

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer John V Knowles

This is normal behavior with the newer Macs and the latest versions of Premiere. The program is using all of the system resources available to it when it renders or exports; this is a good thing, as early versions didn't always take advantage of the hardware. In this case it's utilizing all the cores of your CPU, and the reason it reads higher than 100% is that Activity Monitor doesn't account for multiple CPU cores in its scale. So 800% means each core is running at 100% and it's adding them together (which is odd, I know!)

The reason the fans kick in is that unfortunately the thermal designs on the latest Mac laptops aren't great, and to pack that much power into a thin body means they get really hot under high loads like this. For web browsing the Mac isn't working half as hard and not getting hot. As long as the Mac isn't shutting down due to heat (which would indicate a hardware issue) you'll be okay. I installed a heat monitoring app on mine and keep it on a laptop cooler stand to get more airflow in the vents (you can get those cheaply on Amazon). 

HTH,
WM

1 reply

J
Community Expert
John V KnowlesCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
August 4, 2020

This is normal behavior with the newer Macs and the latest versions of Premiere. The program is using all of the system resources available to it when it renders or exports; this is a good thing, as early versions didn't always take advantage of the hardware. In this case it's utilizing all the cores of your CPU, and the reason it reads higher than 100% is that Activity Monitor doesn't account for multiple CPU cores in its scale. So 800% means each core is running at 100% and it's adding them together (which is odd, I know!)

The reason the fans kick in is that unfortunately the thermal designs on the latest Mac laptops aren't great, and to pack that much power into a thin body means they get really hot under high loads like this. For web browsing the Mac isn't working half as hard and not getting hot. As long as the Mac isn't shutting down due to heat (which would indicate a hardware issue) you'll be okay. I installed a heat monitoring app on mine and keep it on a laptop cooler stand to get more airflow in the vents (you can get those cheaply on Amazon). 

HTH,
WM

-------------------------------------------------------------------------JVK | Editor/Designer/Software Instructor. Pr, Ae, Ch, Ps, Ai, Id
    W
    Wan TingAuthor
    Participant
    August 4, 2020

    Hello,

     

    Thank you very much for replying, this helped a lot.

    Glad to know that this is normal and that I don't have to take any corrective actions.

     

    Cheers!

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices