# Plex Media Server not utilizing GPU
**URL:** https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685
**Category:** Plex Media Server
**Tags:** server-linux, server-truenas
**Created:** [October 3, 2023, 7:14pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685 "2023-10-03T19:14:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@misteralexander](https://forums.plex.tv/u/misteralexander)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 7:14pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/1 "2023-10-03T19:14:59Z")
Server Version#: 1.32.7.7571-13cdc68dc
Player Version#: N/A
I have Plex running in a KVM inside TrueNAS. The VM has a PCI Device Passthrough, and I am passing through an Nvidia Quadro P1000 GPU.
The OS picked it up fine, and the drivers are installed. [Plex appears to see it without an issue](https://i.imgur.com/toAvOVw.jpg), however `htop` and `nvtop` seem to wildly disagree about this – as the system is under (_what I think_) is an [extreme load and the GPU isn’t being touched](https://i.imgur.com/RuXal4d.jpg) … any ideas on what I’m missing here would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
---
### Author:  [@misteralexander](https://forums.plex.tv/u/misteralexander)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/2 "2023-10-03T19:26:45Z")
I should add that this is a fresh install using the latest drivers and latest Plex server available.
OS: RHEL 9.2
Nvidia Driver Version: 535.113.01
Its chewing through the libraries, I wouldn’t expect such a high load forever, just this initial gut-punch, but I still think the GPU should be getting in on this load.
---
### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/3 "2023-10-03T19:39:31Z")
Need SERVER DEBUG logs ZIP please which capture the start of a transcoded playback
Can’t diagnose without it. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@misteralexander](https://forums.plex.tv/u/misteralexander)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 7:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/4 "2023-10-03T19:41:51Z")
[Plex Media Server Logs\_2023-10-03\_12-39-55.zip](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/4lx9gRdpilV7pOmWpsEdWACPOh5.zip) (4.8 MB)
Thanks for the help!
---
### Author:  [@misteralexander](https://forums.plex.tv/u/misteralexander)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/5 "2023-10-03T20:02:34Z")
@ChuckPa I downloaded the `NVIDIA VIDEO CODEC SDK` which has provided me with (among others) two files:
`libnvcuvid.so` and `libnvidia-encode.so`, perhaps I should add them to `/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Codecs/a31c019-4614-linux-x86_64` ?
Not sure if that would help, but I didn’t know if it could hurt – so I’m asking before acting.
---
### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 8:07pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/6 "2023-10-03T20:07:03Z")
> [@misteralexander](#):
>
> I downloaded the `NVIDIA VIDEO CODEC SDK` which
Get rid of that. Plex brings what it needs automatically. You manually injecting things will result in failure.
There is only one thing you’ll want for using the Nvidia card in the VM
1. Go to Nvidia site
2. Download their Nvidia GPU drivers for Redhat ( a `.run` file ?? )
3. Install.
4. When complete, restart the VM
5. Verify GPU found with: `nvidia-smi`
6. Start Plex
`nvidia-smi` output:
```auto
[chuck@glockner ~.2001]$ nvidia-smi
Tue Oct 3 16:07:35 2023
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 535.104.12 Driver Version: 535.104.12 CUDA Version: 12.2 |
|-----------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M | Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap | Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|=========================================+======================+======================|
| 0 Quadro P2200 On | 00000000:07:00.0 Off | N/A |
| 49% 40C P8 4W / 75W | 1MiB / 5120MiB | 0% Default |
| | | N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: |
| GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory |
| ID ID Usage |
|=======================================================================================|
| No running processes found |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[chuck@glockner ~.2002]$
```
Confirms card identified and accessible with CUDA
---
### Author:  [@misteralexander](https://forums.plex.tv/u/misteralexander)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/7 "2023-10-03T20:18:49Z")
Yes, I had already downloaded and installed the drivers
> [@misteralexander](#):
>
> The OS picked it up fine, and the drivers are installed.
> [@misteralexander](#):
>
> Nvidia Driver Version: 535.113.01
[Here is the output of `nvidia-smi`](https://i.imgur.com/clmW34L.jpg)
---
### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/8 "2023-10-03T20:21:14Z")
Here is my configuration.
1. I have 256 GB of memory so I can use `/dev/shm` for transcoder temp 🕶
2. Confirm all the options are enabled.
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### Author:  [@misteralexander](https://forums.plex.tv/u/misteralexander)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 8:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/9 "2023-10-03T20:24:33Z")
Yes, I have all the same options.
This is the imgur link to the screenshot: [https://i.imgur.com/toAvOVw.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/toAvOVw.jpg)
---
### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/10 "2023-10-03T20:32:59Z")
Finished reading your logs
1. `Activity: registered new activity 9ce96666-3d4e-4c99-9f11-cb9b28550fc7 - "Generating video chapter thumbnails"`
This is VERY CPU intensive.
1. Scanner is running and updating / ingesting media & metadata “Something changed”
2. Please play a file, known NOT to have subtitles, and force a transcode
– From a terminal window - `nvidia-smi` an observe the transcoder active
```auto
[chuck@glockner ~.2002]$ nvidia-smi
Tue Oct 3 16:32:45 2023
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 535.104.12 Driver Version: 535.104.12 CUDA Version: 12.2 |
|-----------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M | Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap | Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|=========================================+======================+======================|
| 0 Quadro P2200 On | 00000000:07:00.0 Off | N/A |
| 49% 42C P0 21W / 75W | 368MiB / 5120MiB | 0% Default |
| | | N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: |
| GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory |
| ID ID Usage |
|=======================================================================================|
| 0 N/A N/A 3608004 C ...lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Transcoder 364MiB |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[chuck@glockner ~.2002]$
```
---
### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 8:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/11 "2023-10-03T20:34:59Z")
> [@misteralexander](#):
>
> Nvidia Quadro P1000
Be advised: Limited HEVC HDR
```auto
Quadro P600 / P620/ P1000 Pascal 3rd Gen D/M 1 1 YES YES YES NO YES YES YES YES YES YES YES NO NO NO NO NO
```
> **[Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix](https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-support-matrix-new)**
>
> Find the related video encoding and decoding support for all NVIDIA GPU products.
---
### Author:  [@misteralexander](https://forums.plex.tv/u/misteralexander)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 8:50pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/12 "2023-10-03T20:50:42Z")
So, oddly – [I see the transcode pop up on `nvidia-smi` during the Preview-Roll](https://i.imgur.com/SLpW8jF.jpg), but when the actual movie starts, there is nothing on `nvidia-smi`, although [Tautulli reports that I am indeed transcoding the file](https://i.imgur.com/rdQBnRa.jpg), without subtitles.
---
### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2023, 10:39pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/13 "2023-10-03T22:39:12Z")
138 MB is largely from the probing tests.
Give this a shot
> **[LG New York HDR UHD 4K Demo.zip](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Io0BJs3Tlog3EqPYQsdC6EwY5fijEik4/view?usp=sharing)**
>
> Google Drive file.
---
### Author:  [@misteralexander](https://forums.plex.tv/u/misteralexander)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2023, 12:05am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/14 "2023-10-04T00:05:44Z")
Yeah, that worked great. [I was able to see it Transcoding the file in `nvidia-smi`](https://i.imgur.com/GD7WqBq.jpg) – curious though, why doesn’t Plex offload the scene indexing and thumbnailing?! Also, why would some things not use the GPU (_American Gangster, in this example_) but this would? Just because it was 4k? Which, BTW, I think is the first time I’ve ever played 4k through Plex – that picture quality was out of this world!
---
### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2023, 12:55am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/15 "2023-10-04T00:55:48Z")
> [@misteralexander](#):
>
> why doesn’t Plex offload the scene indexing and thumbnailing?! Also, why would some things not use the GPU (_American Gangster, in this example_) but this would?
HW use is suppressed when there are subtitles because, at any time, the player might want to enable subtitle burning. (EMPHASIS on burning)
I am very careful (A\*\*\*-retentive to some hahaha) in that I strip subtitles unless I absolutely need them. Media curation (removing unused junk) is something everyone should be doing. Plex is good but garbage is garbage 🙂 lol
Here’s another 4K I think you’ll love.
> **[LG Colors of Journey HDR UHD 4K Demo.zip](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YImayApVMhSjtAl3xU6ZVXUzB3-aLmJ-/view?usp=sharing)**
>
> Google Drive file.
---
### Author:  [@misteralexander](https://forums.plex.tv/u/misteralexander)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2023, 12:56am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/16 "2023-10-04T00:56:55Z")
Thanks, @ChuckPa , I really appreciate the swift and definitive help!
---
### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2023, 1:00am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/17 "2023-10-04T01:00:43Z")
Supplemental: (I forgot)
Scene indexing / thumbnail generation could be done with the GPU —
## IF and ONLY IF
the system were totally idle.
Otherwise, you have the risk of this scenario:
1. User has a system which can handle only one transcode slot
2. The scanner is generating thumbnails
3. A user hits “Play”
4. What do you say ?
– “We’re sorry, all system resources are busy right now, please wait …”
-or-
– “Insufficient resources, unable to transcode video”
-or-
– Kill the thumbnails and then launch playback ?
– (doable but could take an extra 10+ seconds to start playback)
Engineering decided to make thumbnail generation a ‘background’ task and relegate to the CPU at lowered CPU priority ( `nice 20` on Linux )
---
### Author:  [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2024, 1:00am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-utilizing-gpu/855685/18 "2024-01-02T01:00:50Z")
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