Arch Linux

starch2021

Member

Registered: 2021-01-21

Posts: 19

High CPU load with video and video conferencing software

Hello,

I have a Thinkpad T14s with AMD Ryzen7 PRO 4750U and AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 shared.
My system uses kernel module amdgpu. uname -a: 5.11.2-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT.

I wonder why some applications like Google Meet, MS Teams, Zoom, Netflix etc cause a high CPU load which causes the Thinkpad's fan to run (default settings for fan).
For video conferencing, that typically occurs when somebody shared his desktop or webcams are used in the call by others.

Is it sth. like missing drivers?

Imho, the CPU shouldn't have much to do while running those applications.
That view is supported by the fact that the same applications typically run just fine on a slow tablet (Huawei MediaPad M3 lite).

It's bothering me for two reasons:

• one is the sound caused by the noise

• the other is that it wears the fan

I still have the option to optimise the fan via fan speed control, but the high CPU load imho shouldn't occur in the first place.

What's the experience of other users here? Do others have the same issues?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,650

Re: High CPU load with video and video conferencing software

That can be normal, you are underestimating the load high resolution screen sharing/video decoding produces. Coupled with the fact that GPU decoding acceleration is really not all that widespread on linux and "just" being implemented in the last few months/years most of the load here will be on the CPU. You could try to give https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ch … celeration a shot to see if that can help offload some of the work here to the GPU

Last edited by V1del (2021-03-10 10:16:41)

starch2021

Member

Registered: 2021-01-21

Posts: 19

Re: High CPU load with video and video conferencing software

Okay, that makes sense. I somehow assumed that the video acceleration is by now pretty much available out-of-the-box, last time I've installed prop. drivers is a while ago.

So I'll start at the Arch Wiki page for Hardware video acceleration.