Ways to Fix Desktop Window Manager High GPU Usage (2023)

Windows 11/10 PC users can often experience Desktop Window Manager high GPU issues. Desktop Window Manager or DWM.exe is the system manager that generates each element visible on your PC/Laptop. Additionally, it is in charge of stimulating all the visual effects in Windows’ menus, transparency components, wallpapers, themes, thumbnails, and system animations. The inbuilt graphics card is often used by Desktop Window Manager to meet all the needs.

In layman’s terms, “the system function DWM or Desktop Windo ws Manager uses the graphics hardware of your PC/Laptop to display each component of the User Interface you’re interacting with on your monitor/display.”

Also Read: How to fix NVIDIA Container high CPU usage on Windows

According to many users, lately, DWM is consuming a lot of GPU resources even when no resource-intensive applications are active…

Having said that, it can be beneficial to learn the causes of the problem before moving further.

Causes Behind DWM High GPU Usage

Although DWM high GPU consumption is more software-related problem, your PC can experience the issue for a variety of different reasons. Following is a list of the most frequent reasons:

Hardware-Accelerated GPU scheduling is On.
The Windows version is outdated.
The Graphics driver is corrupted or outdated.
Damaged/Corrupt System files.
Incorrect settings in the NVIDIAControl Panel.

Even when the PC/Laptop is inactive, users have reported seeing GPU consumption of more than 70%, which is abnormal. DWM typically uses the GPU between 1% and 3% of the total.

Now that you know what’s causing this continue reading to learn how to fix the Desktop Window Manager High GPU usage problem on your computer.

Fix Desktop Windows Manager High GPU Usage

No matter what is causing DWM’s high GPU consumption issue, there’re ways to fix it.

1. Keep Your Windows OS Updated

If you haven’t updated your computer in a while, there’s a good chance that a straightforward update may solve your issue.

Press the Windows key with the key I to open Windows Settings.
From the left side of the pane, look down and click on the Windows Update option.

Now hit the Download & Install option for downloading any major or minor updates.

Then check to see if the problem was solved.

2. Disable Visual Effects

Turning off all visual effects is a useful cure for Desktop Windows Manager using a lot of GPU resources. As a result, your PC should operate more smoothly.

Press the Search icon from the Taskbar and type Performance of Windows and click on the first option from the results.
Under the Visual Effects tab, choose the option Adjust for best performance to lower the DWM high GPU usage.

Then press the Apply button and choose ok.

3. Use Task Manager

The task level is set to “High Priority” which is one of the recognized reasons why DWM consumes all of the GPU memory. You only need to switch the task level to “Efficiency Mode.”

Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esckeys together to open the Task Manager.
Under the Processes tab, look for Desktop Window Manager and right-click on it.
Now from the context menu choose Efficiency mode.

Image Credit: Allthingshow

Restart your computer to see whether the problem has been fixed.

4. Turn Off GPU Hardware-Accelerated GPU scheduling

DWM uses the GPU heavily when GPU Hardware-Accelerated GPU scheduling is on your PC/Laptop. Simply turning off this via Windows Settings has helped many users fix the problem. To do so follow the steps below:

Press the Windows key with the key I to open Windows Settings.
From the left side of the pane, look down and click on the System button and then click on Display.

Now hit the Graphics option under the Related settings options from the left side of the screen.

To turn off Hardware-Accelerated GPU scheduling, click on the toggle button.

Image Credit: Technewstoday

To apply the modifications, restart your PC.

Image Credit: Technewstoday

5. Update Your Graphics Driver

The high GPU consumption could be brought on by outdated or corrupted drivers. In this situation, updating the GPU driver will fix the issue. Follow the steps below:

Press the Windows key with the key X to open the WinX Tap on Device Manager.

Now double-click on the Display adapter option and right-click on your graphics card.

Tap on Update driver and then choose Search automatically for drivers.

Using specialized software, such as Advanced Driver Updater, can help you avoid taking the steps listed above and maintain regular driver updates for your PC. Follow these steps to use it:

Download & Install Advanced Driver Updater.

Open the application and tap on Start Scan Now.

Now choose your graphics driver and tap on the Update Driver button against it.

Restart your computer to see whether the DWM high GPU usage has been fixed.

To Wrap This Up

So that’s it for today. You can quickly fix the Desktop Window Manager High GPU Usage problem on your Windows 11 PC by using the solutions listed above. Also, if you know o any other workarounds to resolve the discussed issue then do tell us in the comments below. And for more such troubleshooting guides and tips & tricks related to Windows, Android, iOS, and macOS, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Next Read: How to Fix Desktop Window Manager High CPU (DWM.exe)

People Who Read This Post Also Like

January 22, 2023

Simple & quick Tech solutions!