# Plex Transcoding and CPU Usage

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-transcoding-and-cpu-usage/177427>\
**Category:** General Discussions\
**Created:** [January 27, 2017, 3:36am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-transcoding-and-cpu-usage/177427 "2017-01-27T03:36:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![theramsplex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@theramsplex](https://forums.plex.tv/u/theramsplex)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 3:36am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-transcoding-and-cpu-usage/177427/1 "2017-01-27T03:36:39Z")

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Hi all,

Finally got Plex up and running and now have a few questions.

**My Setup** :  
**Plex Media Server** : running on Windows 10 Pro on a NUC6i7KYK  
**Plex Clients** : Roku 3 connected to 720p TV (home network), Roku Streaming Stick connected to 1080p TV (remote); PS3 connected to 1080p TV (remote)  
**Media** : on networked drives; mostly from DVDs (480p), with some BD (1080p); files are all in MKV (which should be compatible with Roku 3)

1. I have DirectPlay enabled on the Roku Plex app. But when I play a 480p file on my 720p TV, transcoding occurs on my PMS. **Is this simply because the files are 480p and are being played back on a 720p TV (even if the file formats are otherwise compatible)?**

2. I also notice that the transcoding hits my CPU pretty hard (i.e. ~100% CPU usage) for about 60-90 seconds at first before slowing down. I take it that this is to establish the transcoding buffer. **Is it possible to limit the CPU % usage?** My CPU temps hit 80-95 degrees during the initial transcoding (mainly because the NUC6i7KYK has a constrained cooling solution). I wouldn’t mind a longer initial loading screen if it meant my CPU temps wouldn’t hit 90 degrees.

3. When testing with the two remote clients, I noticed that the initial transcoding hammering on my CPU only really happened once, even when playing different files on each client (I started streaming one remote client about 5 minutes after the other). So **the transcoding throttling is not affected by multiple concurrent streams?**

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 10:39pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-transcoding-and-cpu-usage/177427/3 "2020-01-07T22:39:13Z")

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