Playback lag and Resolve not using full resources

Hello everyone,

I am having trouble playing back my (proxied) footage in Davinci Resolve (free version), although using a capable PC. The audio is very choppy and I have a solid 0-1 FPS playing back (no joke). It tells me there are more FPS (with a red dot) but this number only matches the audio's FPS. The audio plays back fine in the fairlight tab - the cut and edit tabs are where the problem occurs.

These are my specs:
Memory PC 2021
B450M PRO-M2 MAX (MS-7B84)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600x
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (6 GB of memory), Studio-Driver Version 462.59 (latest version)
32 GB DDR4 RAM (2x16 GB)
480GB SSD with 116 GB space

Windows 10
Davinci Resolve 17.2.1 Build 12 (latest version).

During my choppy playback the task manager shows following workload (while also operating google chrome as I am writing this, there is basically no difference when I close chrome):
20% CPU
34% RAM
13% GPU maximum, most of the time around 5%.

It just seems odd to me that the resources are not fully used even though the playback is super choppy.

Now to the footage and settings:
This particular footage is 1280x1440 and I have cropped it to a 1280x720 canvas resolution. I inserted the clip twice and used the top part of my clip for gameplay and the bottom part for my camera. I cropped the camera into place to sit nicely in a corner of my gameplay. So basically I use two clips.
I have had this problem with regular 720p footage (without weird cropping and using the clip twice) as well, it was still kind of possible to work with it but this time (due to the larger size?) it is plain impossible, which is why I am seeking help here.
My footage is recorded in 60 fps, the timeline fps are also set to 60 fps. I have created proxy media and enabled "Use proxy media if available".
I have not edited anything yet in this case at all - No color effects, no text - Just cropping the two clips into place. I have roughly 20 minutes of footage. In other projects the problems were getting worse with more effects and it would not even play back in half speed when I had things like adjustment clips or text on the timeline.

Things I have tried:
- Run as administrator
- Pre render files (Playback gets a tiny bit better but is still awful, and as soon as I make a cut it has to render again)
- Switch from "game ready" driver of GPU to "studio" version (Version 462.59)

Preferences:
- Use GPU for Blackmagic RAW decode is enabled
- GPU processing mode CUDA

I hope that someone can help me out here, I am driving insane trying to edit my projects... If I have forgotten any information please let me know, I will deliver ASAP!

Thank you so much in advance,
Katharina Lammers

Small Update:

I have checked the task manager and found that the CPU is not using its full potential at all. I have attached a screenshot of what the CPU power looks like while
1) Just having the Resolve Project (and Chrome) open
2) Skipping through the timeline with the cursor
3) Trying to play back
in the first, second and third third of the 60 seconds window displayed.

Why is Resolve not using my CPU fully?

Hi

Maybe little more info about your recordings ! Download the free app: Mediainfo and post the full specs of your recordings !

you need the studio version to use the potential of the GPU

I have the same issue here.
What happened is: I worked on 30th of June until around noon on a project without any problems and absolutely smooth playback.
Then there was a Windows Update that has been installed during reboot and obviously the Netskope Client from our company updated.
Yesterday I reopened the project and I am experiencing a totally laggy interface while playback. So far our Admins couldn't help me and I am the only one using Resolve in our company.

Maybe there are parallels between your and my lagging.

Dirk

I am having a really, really bad lag (user interface) ever since a Windows update kicked in. In the morning it was fine, then Windows update happened. And now I can't use DR as the lag is so bad. I tried rolling back the Windows update but no such luck. Still the same. Hope to find a resolution soon.