Render pause doesn't relieve the processor

Question

Ever since I started using AE (from version CS to CS4 now) I remember having that problem: the pause button in the render queue stops rendering but it DOES NOT relieve your processor in anyway nor does it free up any memory consumed. So I wonder what's the point in stopping your rendering without getting any gains in your system's performance? The button is absolutely useless in that state of work it has had for many years.
One expects it to free up processor and memory but i doesn't.

Answer 1

I'm running a 4 core Phenom II with 8 GB RAM
As per the help's recommendation: 1x 4GB for AE main + 3x2GB per process = 10GB. Where does your operating system reside then? Your web browser? Any other programs? If you realyl render heavy projects you can easily reach these limits, so you still could have a problem there. The whole thing not working without MP and hugging so much processor power in idle mode however suggests something else. I would suspect that you have a leaky CoDec or are using an effect that is not MP save, but does not disable it (effects can do that behind your back). This would then lead into an infinite loop where specific routines are constantly loaded, terminated by the operating system (invisible crash), then again re-initialized. This consumes considerable resources up to a point where you have none left at all... I would investigate that. Also, some third-party plug-ins require additional DLLs, so maybe update your MSVC and .NET runtimes manually? This would be even more relevant for AMD processors, as they often require slightly different versions of some DLLs or patches...
Mylenium