topic Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes in Intel® Arc™ Discrete Graphics

Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

TheTRUEKanis — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 05:49:40 GMT

I noticed an issue when I was playing a game full screen windowed on the HP (right screen) and playing a youtube video in Firefox on the LG (left screen). It stutters badly and eventually just stops playing the video even though the sound is fine. If I move away from the game window and click on the youtube window it eventually unfreezes but playback is subpar. I usually have the playback as 1080p in the firefox window (not even full screen).
When I looked at possible issues I couldn’t find anything that I thought stood out. But opening the task manager and going to the B580 tab is showed the Video Decode at 100% even though the 3D and Video Processing sections we active but normal, moving in a range.
When I went to another tab without the youtube playing the Video Decode drops to 0% instantly, but if I go to Instagram and scroll to something that is a video (not just a picture) the Video Decode slams back to 100% use.

I don’t know if there is a correlation between playing a game and having youtube freeze on the other screen and the Video Decode at 100%, but I thought it was strange enough to mention it.

Here is the information I have on the Graphics card, CPU and ram. I also have the Intel SSU file.
I’ll answer any questions that may help with solving this issue. I’m frustrated that my old GTX 970 was able to game and watch videos without issues and that was a ten-year-old graphics card with a measly 4GB of ram. I’m hoping it’s just something that I need to adjust because I have some serious buyers remorse at the moment.

GPU 1
Intel Arc B580
Intel Graphics Software Version           25.10.1253.2
Graphics Driver Version                          32.0.101.6734
D3D API Version                                           12.0
Shader Model Version                              6.7
Vulkan API Version                                     1.4.309
OpenGL API Version                                  4.6.0
OpenCL API Version                                  3.0

GPU 2
Intel UHD Graphics 770
Same as GPU 1

CPU
12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700K

Motherboard
Gigabyte
Z790 AORUS ELITE AX

Ram
Patriot
64 GB DDR5 Ram 6000MT/s

HP27bw (using HDMI to HDMI cable) 1080p
27MP65 (using Display Port to HDMI cable) 1080p

Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

JeanetteC_Intel — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 05:51:55 GMT

Hello TheTRUEKanis,

Thank you for posting in Intel Communities.

I truly appreciate your sharing the details of the issue you're experiencing. It sounds frustrating, especially considering your previous setup handled similar tasks without problems. The high Video Decode usage while playing a game and watching videos simultaneously could indicate a resource allocation issue or a driver-related problem.

Here are a few steps you might consider trying:

Ensure that your graphics card drivers are up to date. Sometimes, driver updates can resolve performance issues. Since it is already on the latest version, you may want to try clean installing the latest driver (ver. 32.0.101.6734 (WHQL Certified)) using DDU.
Use the Task Manager to identify any background processes that might be consuming resources unnecessarily.
Check if hardware acceleration is enabled in Firefox. Sometimes disabling it can improve video playback performance.
Keep an eye on CPU and RAM usage while running both applications to see if there are any spikes or unusual activity.
Try playing the video in a different browser to see if the issue persists.

If these steps don't resolve the problem, please do share your Intel SSU file and any additional system information you have. This could provide more insight into what's happening.

Feel free to reach out with any further questions or updates. Hopefully, we can pinpoint the issue and find a solution that eases your buyer's remorse.

Best regards,

JeanetteC.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

JeanetteC_Intel — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:48:09 GMT

Hello TheTRUEKanis,

Did you have a chance to review the previous post?

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Best regards,

JeanetteC.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re: Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

TheTRUEKanis — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 04:11:29 GMT

I had installed with DDU.
Just downloaded an update for my motherboard from intel today (2025-04-25), but otherwise I had not changed anything else.

I tried changing the hardware acceleration in Firefox off and it had no effect in Youtube. I switched to Chrome and it still froze often and stuttered, but it played a little. I don't use other browsers to test. I did try using VLC to watch a video on my network and to my surprise it work much better, only showing stuttering or a drop in quality about 10% of the time. Noticeably when things got busy in the game.

Now I have a large amount of tabs open, but I also have 64GB of ram and 32 of it is available for use by the card or anything else most of the time.

My concern is that I had a 10 year old graphics card that didn't have a hiccup with everything I'm currently running, and when I upgraded to the Intel Arc B580 I couldn't see the videos on Youtube anymore while playing my game. I know if I use a less intensive game this may not be an issue, but I'm comparing "apples to apples" same game/browser/tabs etc only changing the GPU.

I'm not expecting you to have a fix or a magic bullet, I would just like to have some eyes on this sort of thing(s) going forward to best improve the code(s) for the card. I would love for you to work with the game developer for the game I'm playing, but they are a tiny company.

Thanks for the suggestions. I wish i could get my Youtube back without needing to change how I use my PC, and of course I'm a little disappointed by the B580 for not having enough power for what I'm doing. I really wanted to support this product over Nvidia or AMD.

If you can think of anything else that would be great.

Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

JeanetteC_Intel — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 07:36:29 GMT

Hello TheTRUEKanis,

I completely understand your disappointment. I'll look into this internally and will provide an update as soon as possible.

Best regards,

JeanetteC.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

JeanetteC_Intel — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 10:56:20 GMT

Hello TheTRUEKanis,

Please be informed that I am still continually checking on this issue and hope to request an SSU log file so we have a documentation for the current system configuration. Please download the Intel® System Support Utility for Windows* software. When the download is complete, launch SSU.exe.

Scan: Check the box Everything.
Click Scan.
Review: When finished scanning, click Next.
Click Save (.txt).
Attach the SSU log file as you reply.

I will await this information to proceed with the investigation.

Best regards,

JeanetteC.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re: Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

TheTRUEKanis — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:03:51 GMT

Sorry I must have missed the initial request for the SSU. I had made one the day I initially posted, so I'm including that one. I you need another or more information please let me know.

Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

JeanetteC_Intel — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 09:28:11 GMT

Hello TheTRUEKanis,

Thank you for providing this crucial log file. I'll conduct further internal checks and will share an update as soon as it's ready.

Best regards,

JeanetteC.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

JeanetteC_Intel — Thu, 01 May 2025 01:35:04 GMT

Hello TheTRUEKanis,

I am currently working on replicating the issue you encountered. To gain a better understanding, I would appreciate your assistance with the following:

Could you tell me which game you were playing when the freezing began? Additionally, could you provide screenshots of the game settings for that particular game?
Could you also share the link to the video you were watching when the freezing started, along with its resolution?
Please confirm whether YouTube's ambient mode is enabled. If it is:

YouTube ambient mode uses a lighting effect to make watching videos in Dark theme more immersive by casting gentle colors from the video, into your screen’s background, but this may cause performance issues on low-end graphics card or integrated graphics card systems.

If you notice a drop in performance while watching high-resolution HDR videos, consider disabling ambient mode.

To do so:

In the watch page, click Settings.
Click Ambient mode.
Toggle to turn off Ambient mode for all videos.

Let me know how it goes.

Best regards,

JeanetteC.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

JeanetteC_Intel — Mon, 05 May 2025 23:41:41 GMT

Hello TheTRUEKanis,

Did you have a chance to review the previous post?

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Best regards,

JeanetteC.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re: Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

TheTRUEKanis — Tue, 06 May 2025 23:16:56 GMT

Sorry for the delay in replying Jeanette

I hadn’t been gaming much in the last week. I did an update today, but as of the prior update I no longer had the stutter or freezing of YouTube. I’m running two 1080p monitors, Firefox with 80tabs open on one screen and 15 tabs on the other screen including Youtube.
I can now open the game on the opposite monitor to Youtube and play videos without issues.
As ridiculous as this may sound, this was the issue I had comparing the new ARC graphics card to the ten year old Nvidia GFX 970. I had no issues with that old card and yet the new ARC card stuttered and froze the video each time I opened the game. I will still answer the questions since I appreciate the work that has been done on this topic.

1. Could you tell me which game you were playing when the freezing began? Additionally, could you provide screenshots of the game settings for that particular game?
As I mentioned it is an game currently in 'Alpha' called ‘Voyafers of Nera’ by the company Treehouse Games (treehousegames.com). It will be release on Steam and there is currently a demo, but I don't know if it was causing issues.
I am providing screenshots of the game settings, but regardless of the level I set when playing it was still causing issues with video playback freezing. I’m currently playing at Epic level detail which doesn’t stay above 60fps, but I love the graphic details and they have yet to include more granular control over field and depth of view, reflections, transparency etc.

2. Could you also share the link to the video you were watching when the freezing started, along with its resolution?
I can not cause the freezing anymore, so a video wouldn’t show anything unfortunately

Please confirm whether YouTube's ambient mode is enabled. If it is:
Ambient mode was not turned on, as much as I thought it was a neat feature it didn’t do much in the method that I consumed videos. The only two resolutions I watched were 1080p and some times 720p when the video didn’t have a higher resolution

I’m sorry at this point that this email won’t be helping you find the bug, or help others since my issue was resolved by one of the last two updates. It would be fantastic if you could help TreeHouse the publishers or ‘Voyagers of Nera’ in any way.

Regardless, Thank you for your input and guidance.
Kevin

Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

VonM_Intel — Thu, 08 May 2025 02:59:12 GMT

Hello TheTRUEKanis,

Thank you so much for your detailed update, and no worries at all about the delay. We genuinely appreciate you taking the time to follow up, especially with such helpful context. It's great to hear that the stuttering and video playback issues have been resolved following the most recent updates. While it's always difficult to pinpoint an exact root cause when the issue no longer occurs, your observations regarding the difference in behavior between the ARC card and your previous GTX 970 are insightful, and your feedback will still be valuable for ongoing optimization efforts.

We appreciate you sharing the game details, settings, and your experience with Voyagers of Nera, especially considering it's still in early development. Understanding how ARC performs with early-access or alpha-stage titles helps us better anticipate compatibility scenarios.

Even though you can’t reproduce the video freezing at this point, the detail you've provided about your viewing habits, resolutions used, and confirmation that ambient mode was disabled helps close the loop on our investigation from a software and configuration standpoint.

Lastly, we’ll keep your recommendation about Treehouse Games in mind and share any relevant insights we gain internally with the appropriate channels.

Thanks again for your patience, input, and collaboration throughout this process. If you encounter any further issues or have questions down the line, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re:Video Decode 100% - Youtube while gaming freezes

JeanetteC_Intel — Fri, 09 May 2025 06:01:22 GMT

Hello TheTRUEKanis,

We're pleased to hear that the stuttering and video playback issues have been resolved with the latest updates. With that in mind, we'll be closing this thread now.

Feel free to share your feedback with the game developer, and they can reach us directly at https://community.intel.com/t5/Developing-Games-on-Intel/bd-p/developing-games-graphics.

If you require assistance in the future, please submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Sincerely,

JeanetteC.

Intel Customer Support Technician