Discovering and Observing GPU Usage in Windows 10

Hey there! Today, we’re delving into the world of Windows 10 GPU usage. It might sound technical, but fear not! I’ll guide you through the process in a way that’s easy to understand.

When it comes to your computer’s graphics processing unit (GPU), it’s important to keep an eye on its usage. By doing so, you can better understand how your system is performing and detect any potential issues that may arise.

To begin, I’ll show you a couple of different methods you can use to monitor your GPU usage. Remember, knowledge is power, and being in the know about your computer’s GPU activity can help you make informed decisions regarding your system’s performance and optimization.

Method 1: Task Manager

First up, we have the good ol’ Task Manager. You might already be familiar with this handy tool, but did you know it can also show you GPU usage? Yes, indeed!

All you need to do is right-click on your taskbar and select “Task Manager” from the pop-up menu. Once it’s open, click on the “Performance” tab. Now, take a look at the left sidebar and click on “GPU.” Voila! You now have access to the GPU usage details, including the percentage of its utilization.

Method 2: Third-Party Applications

If you’re looking for more in-depth information about your GPU usage, you can turn to third-party applications. These nifty tools offer additional features and insights that can help you better analyze your GPU’s performance.

One popular third-party app is GPU-Z. It provides you with detailed information on your GPU, including its usage, clock speed, temperature, and more. Another excellent option is MSI Afterburner, which not only monitors your GPU but also allows you to overclock it for that extra power boost.

Now that you know how to monitor your GPU usage, let’s briefly discuss why it’s essential to keep an eye on it. By knowing how your GPU is performing, you can identify any bottlenecks that could be hindering your system’s overall speed and efficiency.

Additionally, being aware of your GPU usage can help you diagnose and troubleshoot any potential issues. If you notice unusually high usage without any demanding tasks running, it could indicate a problem that needs investigating.

In conclusion, being able to see and watch your GPU usage in Windows 10 is an invaluable skill. By utilizing the Task Manager or third-party applications like GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner, you can stay on top of your system’s performance and ensure it’s running smoothly.

With this newfound knowledge, I encourage you to explore and experiment with your GPU monitoring options. Remember, the more you understand about your computer’s inner workings, the better equipped you’ll be to optimize its performance. Happy GPU monitoring!

I cannot emphasize enough how crucial it is to keep an eye on your GPU usage. The ability to monitor it not only helps with troubleshooting, which is of utmost importance, but it also allows you to see how much power your video games are using. This way, you can easily determine if it’s time for a video card upgrade or if you need to keep an eye on overclocking.

Traditionally, users would download a third-party application to monitor GPU usage. However, Microsoft has now made it possible to monitor GPU usage more accurately through Task Manager, eliminating the need for third-party software.

How Does It Work?

First things first, in order to use the built-in GPU monitoring feature, you need to have upgraded to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, also known as Windows 10 version 1709. To check which version of Windows 10 you’re currently using, just follow these steps: Go to Settings, then click on “System” and select “About” from the left navigation bar. This will provide you with information about your system, including the Windows version you’re on. Alternatively, you can simply ensure that you have the latest Windows update by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.

Now, assuming you’re on the latest version of Windows 10, you should be able to monitor your GPU usage in Task Manager without any issues. However, there is one condition – your graphics card needs to be new enough to support WDDM 2.0. Unfortunately, many older cards don’t meet this requirement. You can determine if your card supports WDDM 2.0 by using the DirectX Diagnostic Tool. Simply open it up and go to the “Display” tab, where you’ll find a section called “Driver Model.” If it doesn’t say WDDM 2.0 or newer, then you won’t be able to monitor GPU usage within Task Manager.

If you meet all of these requirements, you should be good to go. Windows is able to provide accurate GPU usage readings by utilizing the new models and features found in the Windows Display Driver Model. It can access information from the GPU Scheduler and the video memory manager, both of which allocate GPU resources. This allows Windows to give you the most precise GPU usage reading.

How to Monitor GPU Usage

Now, monitoring GPU usage is (almost) as easy as opening Task Manager. Here’s what you need to do: Right-click on your task bar and select Task Manager from the menu that appears. Once Task Manager is open, you’ll notice that GPU usage isn’t displayed by default. So, to enable it, follow these steps:

Within Task Manager, go to the “Processes” tab. Right-click anywhere on the column headers (such as CPU, Memory, and Disk) and make sure “GPU” is selected from the drop-down menu.

Now, you can easily see what is using up the GPU resources and how much they are consuming. The column will show you the total GPU resources being used. You can sort the column by clicking on the GPU column to see which applications are using the most GPU resources.

If you want more stats, you can right-click near the columns and enable GPU Engine viewing. This will show you if your application or process is using the 3D engine or the video codec. However, GPU Engine data is just interesting information and not as crucial as knowing how much of the total GPU resources are being used.

Real-Time Statistics

The Task Manager also lets you monitor GPU performance and demand in real-time. To do this, go to the “Performance” tab in Task Manager. Click on the “GPU” column in the left sidebar to specifically monitor GPU performance.

Hey there! When you’re using Windows, it’s got this cool feature where it prioritizes showing you the most fascinating and helpful graphs. For example, if you’re deep in a video game, it’ll show you a real-time 3D Engine graph that’s way more interesting than a graph that’s not doing anything. Plus, you can check out graphs about dedicated and shared video memory, the video codec, and even more. How awesome is that?

When troubleshooting or keeping an eye on utilization rates, it’s helpful to have a graph-only view. This allows for easy monitoring while playing a game in windowed mode or on another screen. To switch to graph-only view, simply right-click anywhere within the GPU column and choose the “Graph Summary” view.

You might want to keep the window open at all times to prevent it from minimizing when you open a game for testing. To do this, click on the Options tab at the top of Task Manager and select Always on top. To undo these changes, just follow the same steps and deselect the options.

Checking Video Memory

Hey there! I’ve got a neat trick for you – you can find out which applications are hogging up all your video memory. It’s really easy, I promise. But here’s the thing, you won’t find this information in the Processes or Performance tabs. Nope! You gotta check out the Details tab. Just right-click on a tab and select Select Columns.

In the new window, all you have to do is check the boxes next to Dedicated GPU Memory and Shared GPU Memory. The first one shows you how much video memory an app is using, while the second one shows you how much regular system RAM an app is using for graphics or videos (not the RAM on your GPU). Pretty cool, right? Take a look at the picture above for a visual.

Wrapping it up

As you can see, setting up Task Manager to monitor your GPU usage is a breeze. This kind of information can come in handy when you’re trying to figure out why your videos are running slow, doing general troubleshooting, or even deciding if you need to upgrade your video card (like when a new game is gobbling up way too many resources).