SteamVR eats up CPU and GPU resources when idle

[HunDread]

Right after I start SteamVR and nothing else, the CPU usage is up to 40% and GPU usage is up to 94%.

 

Is there a fix for this?

 

I have an oculus.

 

CPU: 4790K

GPU: GTX 1070

 

Thanks

[mrvile]

Check your processes in task manager. Is it showing "VR Compositor" and "VR Server" both using a lot of CPU?

 

Mine has VR Compositor using 35-40% and VR Server using around 10% when SteamVR is idling.

 

A quick google search leads me to believe that this is a long-standing issue since the beginning of SteamVR and I don't think it has ever been resolved.

 

I wish those of us who use Rifts and standalone keys didn't have to run BoX through SteamVR. The Rift client seems to run pretty lean.

[dburne]

Check your processes in task manager. Is it showing "VR Compositor" and "VR Server" both using a lot of CPU?

 

Mine has VR Compositor using 35-40% and VR Server using around 10% when SteamVR is idling.

 

A quick google search leads me to believe that this is a long-standing issue since the beginning of SteamVR and I don't think it has ever been resolved.

 

I wish those of us who use Rifts and standalone keys didn't have to run BoX through SteamVR. The Rift client seems to run pretty lean.

 

I was somewhat concerned when I learned that the VR implementation for BoS was going to be going through Steam VR only as I have a Rift. I had never used it before with my Rift till now.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how well the game performs in the Rift for me - much better than I had anticipated.

I don't know if this makes any difference , but you guys do know you do not need to launch Steam or Steam VR prior to launching BOS?

Just launch the game and it will run and connect through Steam VR for you.

 

Having said that though, I do hope at some point down the road when they have the time and resources to do so, they can go ahead and implement native Oculus support through the Oculus runtime. It would just be one less layer for us to have running, as we certainly have to have Oculus Home running as well when playing the game.

[mrvile]

Yeah I never have SteamVR idling, but I'm concerned that the amount of CPU power it needs while idling might be affecting performance in-game, but of course I have no idea how any of this stuff works. BoX seems to perform very well regardless, a bit better than DCS (which doesn't use SteamVR) so I've just been playing and not worrying about it too much. But it does seem weird to me that SteamVR is so crunchy even at idle.

[dburne]

You got me curious so I went in and checked mine.

 

I launched BOS which then connected to Steam VR. Once in the BOS Menu I exited the game and left Steam VR running.

Viewing in Task Manager, Steam VR was using 0% CPU and 22MB of Ram for me. I monitored it for 2-3 minutes and it stayed there.

Edited April 13, 2017 by dburne

[mrvile]

You got me curious so I went in and checked mine.

 

I launched BOS which then connected to Steam VR. Once in the BOS Menu I exited the game and left Steam VR running.

Viewing in Task Manager, it was using 0% CPU and 22MB of Ram for me. I monitored it for 2-3 minutes and it stayed there.

 

Hmm interesting. When you launch SteamVR by itself and leave it idling, does it use a lot of CPU? I'll have to try it for myself later tonight.

[dburne]

Hmm interesting. When you launch SteamVR by itself and leave it idling, does it use a lot of CPU? I'll have to try it for myself later tonight.

 

No, just checked it - I logged into Steam and then launched Steam VR from there and let it idle.

 

Results were the same - 0% CPU and 22MB of ram usage.

[mrvile]

Hmm, my computer seems to run VR Compositor at 35% and VR Server at 10% while SteamVR is idle, but as soon as BoS starts up, both processes drop down to ~2% CPU load. When I exit BoS, SteamVR goes back to its idle state and CPU usage goes back up. It's weird. At least I know that it doesn't hog CPU while the game is actually running, and otherwise I never need it idling so whatever.

[HunDread]

I noticed too that its only using high cpu and gpu resources when idle and as soon as I start the game it's gone. Seems not causing any issues, just weird. Good news anyway.