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**enusbaum** · 08-13-2011, 02:19 PM

Best settings are depending on your overall setup.

An example is that I have a 295GTX and a AMD 1090T Hexcore CPU. The best settings for me is to enable CUDA Decode, but Software encode.

I think a good point to make is that although the GPU is generally faster than the CPU, it does have a finite amount of resources. That being the case, I find a setup that splits the load across ALL system resources is what nets me the best performance results.

For example, going CUDA for both encode/decode only puts my CPU at like, 20% utilization but according to GPU-Z, my GPU's video engine is pegged at 100%. While converting a Blu-Ray with these settings, I can get about 25fps.

But when I set my video decode settings to CUDA and my encoder settings to software, I'm able to get 32-35fps with both my GPU and CPU at 100%.

I think it's also important to note that, in general, CUDA isn't exactly great for encoding. CUDA forces all values to be single precision floating points when h.264 encoding generally only makes use of 8 and 16 bit integers. Meaning that although CUDA has more work units, it's generally less efficient at encoding when compared clock for clock/core for core to CPU's.

That being said, what is IS good for (and has a video engine optimized for) is h.264 decoding. So my thinking (and at least what proof I can find) is let the video card do what it's good at (decoding) and let the CPU do what it's good at and I think you'll get optimal results

Cheers!

**whaleshark** · 08-13-2011, 04:26 PM

Good Stuff --- Thanks for the response - I appreciate your comments

**VideoManiac** · 08-13-2011, 05:13 PM

@enusbaum
Great explanation! Couldn't say better. Thanks.

**whaleshark** · 08-13-2011, 07:04 PM

"But when I set my video decode settings to CUDA and my encoder settings to software, I'm able to get 32-35fps with both my GPU and CPU at 100%"

These settings work great ---- I'm now getting the same speeds as yourself and without any A/V sync problems -

One more question - Now that I have these settings in the profile, is it easy to take a look at the GPU activity? --- CPU is not a problem as I can do that on the task manager but where do I look (curiosity only) to monitor the GPU?

Thanks

**tjkaz** · 08-13-2011, 07:53 PM

Originally posted by whaleshark View Post

One more question - Now that I have these settings in the profile, is it easy to take a look at the GPU activity? --- CPU is not a problem as I can do that on the task manager but where do I look (curiosity only) to monitor the GPU?

Thanks

As he said, GPU-Z.

**whaleshark** · 08-13-2011, 08:50 PM

GPU-Z is meaningless to us less informed mortals - A sort of 'idiots guide' would be very welcome --- Nice easy steps to follow

Thanks

**maineman** · 08-13-2011, 11:34 PM

Originally posted by whaleshark View Post

GPU-Z is meaningless to us less informed mortals - A sort of 'idiots guide' would be very welcome --- Nice easy steps to follow

Thanks

Not a fan of GPU-Z, eh?
Graphic card manufacturers such as EVGA and MSI for eg., offer very decent utilities to monitor and tweak their respective cards.

Since you have an EVGA GTX550, maybe EVGA Precision is more to your liking.
I use it on occasion and have no complaints

http://www.evga.com/precision/

**IPopov50** · 08-14-2011, 01:43 AM

nVIDIA System Monitor should be easy enough for you - simple desktop gadget. Try it from here http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_...ools_6.05.html

**whaleshark** · 08-14-2011, 03:14 AM

Thanks to all of you for the responses (and for your patience... I'm not really dumb, just unfamiliar but learning fast) -- As I'm fairly new to all of this, terms such as GPU-Z really don't mean much on their own and unfortunately, at my stage, I need a bit more of an explanation, such as those provided - I now have GPU-Z and there is a lot of info shown there - I'll also try the other utilities suggested and see how they compare - I'm sure I'll have other questions once I've tried them but I'll probably post under a new thread - Again, my thanks and appreciation for all your time

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