What is this? Won't go away.

[kol12]

I have this little icon at the right hand corner of the task bar that I cannot get rid of. I think it may have something to do with Nvidia and it's being rather persistent as of trying different drivers today.

I had to take a pic on my phone as screen capture won't capture it

 

[kol12]

I got the above info from HWiNFO64 you don't have that?

This is what the latest drivers processes look like in the Task Manager:

 

[Colif]

I forget what i have installed until someone asks, have HWINFO, speccy and a few other things I don't use on here.

My GPU is factory overclocked and I haven't messed with it myself so currently, my gpu is asleep as its gpu clock is 135 and since i don't run it at all, all my scores are the same in HWINFO, so i can't tell you what its max is

Yeah, i have the container version, and about 11 nvidia processes running

 

[kol12]

I'm am certain that the Nvidia Capture Server service is using GPU resources at idle. I idle with a clock speed of 135 MHz as well. Here is a comparison pic between a normal idle and when the Nvidia Capture Server service is running:

The far left column is the current usage.

 

[Colif]

Easy way to tell, in Process Explorer, click on view/Select columns
choose Process GPU
choose from:
GPU Usage
GPU Dedicated Bytes
GPU Committed Bytes
GPU System Bytes (this likely to stay low as its shared memory and you won't need it on desktop I expect)

this way you can see what process is using it - you can also make a dump of processes but I have no idea how to look at them as never tried it. I watched a video on PE but it goes for 40 minutes and I don't remember it all, they went way indepth as it was made by guys who make PE.

 

[kol12]

I've enabled those columns in Process explorer, you just have to keep an eye on the GPU usage column which only shows the amount of usage as it occurs. I haven't found the culprit yet but out of the processes that are currently dedicated to the GPU I think it has to be either Corsair Link, Corsair Utility Engine or Chrome.

I've updated to the latest Nvidia 375.86 drivers and the Capture Service still consumes GPU resources at idle if running. I'm trying to make a noise about it at Nvidia forums but don't have a response yet.

 

[Colif]

chrome uses hardware acceleration so perhaps.

is corsair software for your water cooling? seems odd it would randomly use gpu unless its to make a 3d holographic interface just cause they can

 

[kol12]

Yeah, Corsair Link shows info about the cooler, water temp, pump speed and control, fan control profiles and readings on different components like cpu fans etc.

Corsair Utility Engine is a software for customizing corsair peripherals for which I have a Corsair Sabre mouse. If the program is closed I cannot change profiles including colour profiles from the mouse.

Both of these programs consume unusual amounts of idle cpu anywhere up to 5% and it's these two programs that consume the most of my idle cpu usage. I still have not yet found the answer as to why that is.

I sat and stared at Process Explorer and HWiNFO for 15 mins or so trying to catch the culprit but gave up not finding it and then came back to find whatever it is had triggered again. I'll have to see if I can find the patience to do this again. I found a feature in Nvidia control panel Desktop - Display GPU activity icon in notification area that gives a list of currently active apps being used by the gpu but it's not as detailed as Process Explorer.

 

[kol12]

I can see that whatever it is triggers right away after a restart so it could be a startup program. Corsair Link doesn't start with windows so I might have to rule that one out. Corsair Utility Engine does so I might have to disable a few startup programs and see if I can find it that way.

 

[Colif]

If the link software has to check the temps and sensors then its going to use CPU whenever it does so, my GPU software uses about .2% at idle as its managing the fan. 5% seems a bit high, I started speedfan to add more sensors to mix and even it only uses .1% at idle. is it 5% or .5%?

Only way to avoid that is shut down software and I suspect its useful to have running.

 

[kol12]

Yes Corsair Link and Corsair utility engine both use anywhere up to 5.0% not 0.5%... It's still on my checklist to inquire about the cpu usage in these apps but it's most likely to do with the temp and sensor checking like you mention. I do find having them running to be useful.

I've ruled out both of these apps as the one's causing the intermittent high GPU usage and I'm suspecting another startup app Microsoft EMET but can't confirm yet. Will report back soon.

 

[Colif]

Microsoft's Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) is a freeware security toolkit for Microsoft Windows . It provides a unified interface to enable and fine-tune Windows security features. It can be used as an extra layer of defence against malware attacks, after the firewall and before antivirus software.

I suspect its part of Defender again

 

[kol12]

The GPU usage?

 

[Colif]

what if, you try a free av and see if your gpu usage goes down. I don't have any clue why that process would use gpu, all I did was look to see what it was.

 

[kol12]

I just haven't got around to it yet but there's some more startup programs I'm going to disable to further determine whether it is a startup program. Whatever it is triggers straight away at startup or reboot that's why I suspected a startup program.

Remaining startup programs are Logitech gaming software, Windows Defender, EMET and One Drive.

Should have some outcomes tomorrow...

 

[Colif]

look in task scheduler as well, the latest trick is to load programs at start up from there instead, its how Bitdefender works as it isn't in the start up folder at all.

 

[kol12]

Yes I'm familiar with that, I don't think this issue is really critical I'm just curious to find out. What is critical is the Nvidia capture server that's using GPU resources constantly during idle time, the capture service I think is part of ShadowPlay the video capture app and as I've discovered installing the drivers without the Geforce Experience app you don't have the capture service. Doesn't look like anyone's interested at the Nvidia forums, may have to contact Nvidia directly...

 

[kol12]

I can't really figure this out. I don't think it's related to any startup programs. As it triggers right on loading the desktop at startup or reboot I think it may just be the general loading of the desktop that requires the extra GPU resources. The subsequent usage during idle time may be linked to Chrome and other apps dedicated to the GPU?

 

[Colif]

chrome is what uses gpu on my PC, if you open system information on process explorer and look at gpu tab it will show you what uses it if you highlight the peaks or line in the graph. csrss also uses some, that is the user manager so probably just the desktop

 

[kol12]

Interesting maybe I can spot the offender that way (process explorer graph) I can't fully work the graph out though as there is a lot of timeline with usage but no indication of the app? Chrome.exe is popping up a lot though.

 

[Colif]

yeah, have to put mouse on the line to see what is using the resources, apart from the add columns to main view I already mentioned - but idling all it shows for me is csrss which is windows user services, waste of time adding a column for a field that only has 2 lines that use it (unless I play a game). .2% usage isn't worth me looking at it.