HIGH CPU Usage Problem

country0129 · 06-14-2012, 07:07 AM

I have around 10200 books in my library. All are up to date with metadata and appropriate editing. The library is approximately 10GB in size. I was trying to bulk convert about 3000 books from *.pdf to *.mobi, to read on our Kindles, and I kept getting a high cpu and handle usage notification. The program (Calibre) seemed to stick or freeze regularly. The program most always resumes after a while. I have the preferences set to use 4 CPU's. I opened the task manger, resource monitor, and all 4 cpu's were maxed out. I alternatively reassigned priority in the process manager from low to high to all 4 helper and the main Calibre processes to no avail. I have an AMD quad processor at 2.00 MHZ, 16GB RAM, and the RAM consistantly is stable at about 2GB of usage during this process. The CPU fan stays on constantly, revving up and down raggedly, and I'm a bit afraid of frying the CPU. It pretty well stays off during any other Calibre or other program utilization. By the way, this same thing occurs with a smaller batch of books being converted. Anything over 4 produces the same effects. And, during the process, if any exceptions, such as a book with DRM that can't be converted, occur, it causes at least a temporary freeze.

I'm using Win7 64 bit, and all 16GB of RAM is available to use. From what I've researched, I can find no way to allocate more RAM to specific programs to alleviate high CPU usage. Is there a way to do so with Calibre or the Win7 64bit OS?

kovidgoyal · 06-14-2012, 07:40 AM

Look under preferences->miscellenaeous in calibre.

country0129 · 06-14-2012, 12:21 PM

I have looked there, Sir, but other than setting the CPU's to 4, I see no other tweak that I can recognize to allocate more RAM to assist the CPU/Disk Write slowdown.

kiwidude · 06-14-2012, 12:32 PM

I could be wrong but AFAIK calibre is compiled as a 32-bit Windows app - there is no 64-bit version. So you aren't going to be able to use more than 2GB.

kovidgoyal · 06-14-2012, 12:32 PM

Set the number of worker processes to 1. Your CPU wont get loaded. Though really, if you have a computer where you are afraid of running the CPU at 100% you should saw off half the CPU and put it on your mantelpiece.

country0129 · 06-14-2012, 12:45 PM

Sorry, Sir, no mantle here.

That may be the problem, though, that the program is compiled 32 bit; so it won't take advantage of the additional, available, RAM.

I can use software pretty well, but I'm nowhere as adept with programming and hardware knowledge as you gurus.

I did start the program in "DEBUG" mode, made a couple of screen captures of it in action. Perhaps it will surface something to you, but, if not, I appreciate the timely responses each of you have made.

theducks · 06-14-2012, 01:22 PM

Hop over to BOINC. These folk run 100% 24/7.

Variable speed CPU fans run wide open under these loads (I have worn out 2 on a CELERON that BOINC adds 100 Watts to the Computers power consumption over idle).

The down side is the room gets warm

without A/C

Keep your fan blades clean, Grills and fins (mostly) lint free.
Most modern Motherboards have CPU overheat protections (clock throttle, then shutdown).

BTW you are wasting CPU cycles if you are not using 100% of them

Manichean · 06-15-2012, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by country0129

I have looked there, Sir, but other than setting the CPU's to 4, I see no other tweak that I can recognize to allocate more RAM to assist the CPU/Disk Write slowdown.

Just as a side note: More RAM used does not equal less CPU used.

mrmikel · 06-15-2012, 07:24 AM

Nobody has said it, but conversion from PDF to anything can be very time and CPU consuming. PDF is the very worst input format because everything is specified in fixed position on a page, which is no use at all when trying to convert to an ereader format.

You might be happier trying to convert only a few at a time....even one, if badly constructed from the ebook perspective can be a real drain. Unfortunately for you, calibre for supercomputers hasn't come out yet!

country0129 · 06-16-2012, 08:10 AM

You folks have alleviated my suspicions of something amiss with the problems I cited. However, I did surface what I think is a glitch with the new upgrade: I "X'd" out of the program after trying to convert one of those pesky *.pdf books, crunched it for about 45 minutes, and I gave it up for a lost cause.

I abandoned anything I was doing with Calibre and started doing something else simple, like checking email or something, I forget. I noticed that the 'puter was a little sluggish; so I opened the task manager to peruse open applications. Nothing amiss. However, when I opened the process manager, I found two Calibre applications still running though I'd closed the program. Each of them was still trying to render the *.pdf I'd been working earlier. Wish I'd have jotted down the name of the process, but I do remember it was something like, "pdfconvhlpr" but don't quote me about that. Just it was weird that Calibre still had a process going after the progam had been "closed."

06-14-2012, 07:07 AM	#1
country0129 Country0129 Posts: 55 Karma: 506306 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Louisiana Device: Kindle, Kindle Fire, PC	HIGH CPU Usage Problem I have around 10200 books in my library. All are up to date with metadata and appropriate editing. The library is approximately 10GB in size. I was trying to bulk convert about 3000 books from .pdf to .mobi, to read on our Kindles, and I kept getting a high cpu and handle usage notification. The program (Calibre) seemed to stick or freeze regularly. The program most always resumes after a while. I have the preferences set to use 4 CPU's. I opened the task manger, resource monitor, and all 4 cpu's were maxed out. I alternatively reassigned priority in the process manager from low to high to all 4 helper and the main Calibre processes to no avail. I have an AMD quad processor at 2.00 MHZ, 16GB RAM, and the RAM consistantly is stable at about 2GB of usage during this process. The CPU fan stays on constantly, revving up and down raggedly, and I'm a bit afraid of frying the CPU. It pretty well stays off during any other Calibre or other program utilization. By the way, this same thing occurs with a smaller batch of books being converted. Anything over 4 produces the same effects. And, during the process, if any exceptions, such as a book with DRM that can't be converted, occur, it causes at least a temporary freeze. I'm using Win7 64 bit, and all 16GB of RAM is available to use. From what I've researched, I can find no way to allocate more RAM to specific programs to alleviate high CPU usage. Is there a way to do so with Calibre or the Win7 64bit OS?

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06-14-2012, 07:40 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,345 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Look under preferences->miscellenaeous in calibre.

06-14-2012, 12:21 PM	#3
country0129 Country0129 Posts: 55 Karma: 506306 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Louisiana Device: Kindle, Kindle Fire, PC	I have looked there, Sir, but other than setting the CPU's to 4, I see no other tweak that I can recognize to allocate more RAM to assist the CPU/Disk Write slowdown.

06-14-2012, 12:32 PM	#4
kiwidude Calibre Plugins Developer Posts: 4,729 Karma: 2197770 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Oasis	I could be wrong but AFAIK calibre is compiled as a 32-bit Windows app - there is no 64-bit version. So you aren't going to be able to use more than 2GB.

06-14-2012, 01:22 PM	#7
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,047 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Hop over to BOINC. These folk run 100% 24/7. Variable speed CPU fans run wide open under these loads (I have worn out 2 on a CELERON that BOINC adds 100 Watts to the Computers power consumption over idle). The down side is the room gets warm without A/C Keep your fan blades clean, Grills and fins (mostly) lint free. Most modern Motherboards have CPU overheat protections (clock throttle, then shutdown). BTW you are wasting CPU cycles if you are not using 100% of them

06-15-2012, 07:24 AM	#9
mrmikel Color me gone Posts: 2,089 Karma: 1445295 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Central Oregon Coast Device: PRS-300	Nobody has said it, but conversion from PDF to anything can be very time and CPU consuming. PDF is the very worst input format because everything is specified in fixed position on a page, which is no use at all when trying to convert to an ereader format. You might be happier trying to convert only a few at a time....even one, if badly constructed from the ebook perspective can be a real drain. Unfortunately for you, calibre for supercomputers hasn't come out yet!

06-16-2012, 08:10 AM	#10
country0129 Country0129 Posts: 55 Karma: 506306 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Louisiana Device: Kindle, Kindle Fire, PC	You folks have alleviated my suspicions of something amiss with the problems I cited. However, I did surface what I think is a glitch with the new upgrade: I "X'd" out of the program after trying to convert one of those pesky .pdf books, crunched it for about 45 minutes, and I gave it up for a lost cause. I abandoned anything I was doing with Calibre and started doing something else simple, like checking email or something, I forget. I noticed that the 'puter was a little sluggish; so I opened the task manager to peruse open applications. Nothing amiss. However, when I opened the process manager, I found two Calibre applications still running though I'd closed the program. Each of them was still trying to render the .pdf I'd been working earlier. Wish I'd have jotted down the name of the process, but I do remember it was something like, "pdfconvhlpr" but don't quote me about that. Just it was weird that Calibre still had a process going after the progam had been "closed."

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