Question Very High GPU Utilization when using 3 monitors. Not 2, but definitely 3.

[Daamh]

Evening all. Running an EVGA 3080 FTW with 3x mag274qrf-qd. All three monitors are connected via display port. GPU sits around 85-100% full time. Now, when I turn off one of the monitors and the display drops, GPU drops down to ~0% utilization. It doesn't matter which of the three monitors I turn off or which display port they are using. Looking for help here as having the GPU pegged at 100% all day cannot be good.
I looked into the whole GPU mining and the possibility of something running in the background and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. This is 100% repeatable whenever I turn off 1 of my 3 monitors and I really can't seem to figure out why it's doing this.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[phantomXD]

Full specs?

 

[Daamh]

Full specs?

10900k
3080 FTW
Z590
Don't recall the exact ram.. but 32GB Ripjaw running at 3200.
Samsung 980 Pro NvME

 

[phantomXD]

10900k
3080 FTW
Z590
Don't recall the exact ram.. but 32GB Ripjaw running at 3200.
Samsung 980 Pro NvME

Display specs as well include resolution and everything you remember in it

 

[Daamh]

Display specs as well include resolution and everything you remember in it

Driver Version 522.25
I know I am running 2560x1440 on all three monitors.
164Hz.
HDR off.

Anything else?

 

[PsychoPsyops]

This seems like it might be normal for running that resolution and refresh rate three fold, and that the 0% utilization read specifically is incorrect.
Are you running any applications while testing this, or is it just idling on desktop?
Have you tested with other resolutions and refresh rates?

 

[Daamh]

This is idle on the desk with every application I could clean up killed from the task manager. I tried dropping all 3 of them down to 1920x1080. Same results. 90-100% utilization and turning off a single monitor and GPU goes idle 0-5%.
At 2560x1440, 120Hz still had 85-100% GPU Utilization. However, dropping all 3 monitors to 60Hz does drop idle down to 0%. It only worked when all 3 of them were set to 60Hz.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I haven't seen utilization go up in my multi-monitor configurations. However I've seen the card not go down to idle clocks when the refresh rate is not the same or divisible by each other (so like 60 and 120, 72 and 144)

 

[Karadjgne]

DP 1.4a supports upto 7680x4320 @ 60Hz or 32.4Gbps.

3x 1440p = 7680x4320. So for the gpu to behave normally will require all 3 @ 60Hz. Anything over that is pretty much pushing the card into overdrive conditions, which is why it's seeing high usage %.

Try using the center monitor with the hdmi cable as hdmi 2.1 is capable of 48Gbps. Most likely need to keep the supporting monitors at 60Hz, but the gaming center monitor may go to 120/144Hz or 165Hz. You'll need to experiment, looking to keep that '0%'

 

[Daamh]

DP 1.4a supports upto 7680x4320 @ 60Hz or 32.4Gbps.

3x 1440p = 7680x4320. So for the gpu to behave normally will require all 3 @ 60Hz. Anything over that is pretty much pushing the card into overdrive conditions, which is why it's seeing high usage %.

Try using the center monitor with the hdmi cable as hdmi 2.1 is capable of 48Gbps. Most likely need to keep the supporting monitors at 60Hz, but the gaming center monitor may go to 120/144Hz or 165Hz. You'll need to experiment, looking to keep that '0%'

Really appreciate the post explaining the DP1.4a caps. Really helped.
I now have center monitor on HDMI@144 with the other 2 running DP at 120 and that seems to have solved my GPU high idle. Thanks!

 

[Karadjgne]

Welcome. I had to actually look all that up, turns out 30 series gpus have only 2 output controllers, 1x DP and 1x HDMI. Having 3 DP ports, but 1 controller means that bandwidth gets split 3-ways, which was the issue. Having the center on HDMI avoids that.