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Thread ID: 28299 2002-12-16 00:43:00 Win MP 9 - cpu usage pluto (2246) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
106456 2002-12-16 00:43:00 I upgraded Windows media player 8 to 9
And now my CPU usage shoots up to 100 % when i am playing music on it. Before, the usage hovered around 70 - 90 % with visualisations turned on.

I have a crappy Celeron 333 and is it because the new version requires more horsepower or is it something else??

Even with then visualisations turned off the cpu usage still stays on 100% all the time.
pluto (2246)
106457 2002-12-16 00:50:00 I don't know the answer to your question. But I have been using WMP for a couple of weeks now on an XP2000+ system with 512mb RAM. Every now and the the music sort of judders for a few seconds before correcting itself. I guess that this will be sorted out when the release candadite is prepared for final release crozier (2004)
106458 2002-12-16 01:15:00 I've been using WMP9 on XP since the beta came out... and no problems. I have settled for having no visualisation, as my graphics card only has 8MB of SGRAM, and I often do other work while I am playing my music. While WMP uses a lot of system resources, either the better processor and more RAM in my computer has fixed this, or it has been decreased in WMP9 - I'll opt for the first theory. However, on a computer with 32MB RAM and a 250MHz processor, while playing songs in WMP7, doing anything else, such as opening the start menu, temporarily created a judder in the playback. agent (30)
106459 2002-12-16 01:22:00 Id say that WMP9 needs a faster PC, dependant on your amount of RAM. On anything less than a 500Mhz with 128MB RAM, I'll use WinAmp 2.x (Latest version is 2.81 I think) or on anything newer, I like WinAmp3. WMP9 does seem to use a lot of resources, but WMP9 and XP make a nice couple with being ablke to play things from the startbar, like small videos etc.

If I was in your situation, I'd try to stick with WinAmp for music and something else for Music Vids (I use Sasami2K)

There's my 2cents worth on WMP9

Cheers


Chilling_Silence
Chilling_Silence (9)
106460 2002-12-16 01:35:00 Yeah... I use WinAmp too, at home as well as at the office.

WMP gives me the shudder *looks over shoulder for M$ spies*
nzStan (440)
106461 2002-12-16 01:47:00 > Yeah... I use WinAmp too, at home as well as at the
> office.
>
> WMP gives me the shudder *looks over shoulder for M$
> spies*

Agreed on both counts :)
Chilling_Silence (9)
106462 2002-12-16 02:08:00 Thankxx guys,

well yeah i agree CS, maybe i need a faster CPU even though MS lists a 233Mhz cpu as minimum req for WMP 9.

I fiddled with some settings and turned the graphic equalizer off, the cpu usage dropped considerably from 100% to hovering on 70% - 80%.
Whats interesting is that the cpu usage stayed on 100% the next time i turned it on and then back to off.

However when i close WMP 9 and restart the application, i can achieve this again. Maybe this beta version has some bugs or something, Hope the final version does not tax my cpu 100%

Anyways i am keen on using WMP 9 as opposed to Winamp which i had been using till MS turned the old crappy WMP into this cool one, shipping with Win XP

Ohh is there anyway i can prevent WMP from turning into that little "remote player" in the taskbar when i minimize the window.
Its annoying when i want to maximize and i end up clicking onto those "play" "forward" ...etc buttons accidently
I like the old button style sitting in the taskbar.

Thankxx :)
pluto (2246)
106463 2002-12-16 04:22:00 The windows kernal monitor is known to be faulty. There are many KB's on it. Goto microsoft for a look.
It will be unlikely that WMP9 is using 100% CPU usage, as this is more likely to cause your system to crash.
If you can still hit the start button and move around your computer while the CPU usage is at 100% then the monitor is lying.

Also note that there is a difference between Kernal usage and CPU usage.
roofus (483)
106464 2002-12-16 04:53:00 Stopping WMP9 from going into the little toolbar in the taskbar is easy. When WMP is minimised (and in toolbar mode), just right click on the taskbar, go to the Toolbars section, and deselect Windows Media Toolbar. This will make it properly minimise. agent (30)
106465 2002-12-16 07:16:00 Thankx roofus,

Yeah i have difficulty when clicking on start button/switching windows on taskbar when WMP 9 is running. It is noticeably slowww. And worse if i am surfing websites which have animations using cpu, music starts distorting/studdering.

And agent thankx for that nice piece of tip.
It solved that stupid little mini mode which i do not like.

Cheers :)
pluto (2246)
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