Desktop Window Manager (dwm.exe) High GPU usage on Windows 10/11

Question

I followed some of the instruction outlined in this post: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/high-gpu-usage-of-desktop-window-manager-dwmexe/f4453ddb-31f7-4765-8510-fc4d9cd9807d

My dwm.exe (Desktop Window Manager) was using a lot of GPU for seemingly no reason. I had an idea as to what the problem could be and I seemed to have remedied this strange problem. While the URL above didn't remedy my issue, the following information did seem to fix it.

PC Information

OS Name	Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
Version	10.0.22000 Build 22000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-Core Processor, 3593 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)
BaseBoard Product	PRIME B450M-A
Installed RAM	16.0 GB
Adapter Type	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, NVIDIA compatible

I am running all of the latest drivers. I fully cleaned out all drivers and reinstalled them yesterday. I altered some of Nvidia's Global 3D Settings after I freshly installed all of my drivers.

In the NVIDIA Control Panel → 3D Settings → Manage 3D settings → Global Settings → Click "Restore"

I had adjusted the global settings so that all of my software would use universal settings outlined in this section of the NVIDIA Control Panel. I did this so I wouldn't have to modify several individual programs under the "Program Settings" of this NVIDIA Control Panel.

I changed "Low Latency Mode", "Max Framerate", "Power Management Mode", "Preferred Refresh Rate", "Threaded Optimization", "Vertical Sync" (Specifically to "Fast").

I realized that these global settings are probably affecting the Windows Desktop Rendering, causing spikes of GPU usage as my video card tries to enforce the Global Settings that I arranged.

Simply by clicking the "Restore" button underneath the list of settings, to restore all of the default "Global Settings" parameters, I made the dwm.exe GPU spikes disappear.

Answer 1

After doing this the size of the windows on my monitor has greatly increased, how do I revert this

Answer 2

I know this thread is super old, but I had a similar issue and traced it to Asus Aura Lighting Service. I had accidentally setup adaptive lighting, which was causing Aura to constantly read the state of the screen which was in turn causing about 3% load on the CPU and 20% on GPU. So, if anyone runs into this issue, you may want to take a look at the applications you are running and if any of them are either screen recording or getting state from the window manager.

Answer 3

I was just about to tell you before i read this that i had issues where i was having gpu idle temps that were closer to gpu temps you'd get if it was on load esp while playing a game, however when playing a game, the Temps did not go any higher than what is normal for my setup. The Problem obviously was that my global power management setting was set to "Prefer Maximum Performance". so I changed it to "Normal" and now it's back to the way it should be. I don't really know why anyone would Globally set "power management mode" to "Prefer Maximum Performance". Definitley Set "Prefer Maximum Performance" on a per game profile basis.