I'm experiencing a frustrating issue where, whenever I boot up games, my GPU usage jumps to 100%, and my FPS plummets. I've tried a bunch of different solutions, like uninstalling and reinstalling Windows updates, running Malwarebytes to quarantine potential threats, but nothing seems to work. The problem just started yesterday, and I haven't made any changes to my gaming laptop that would suggest damage. My GPU drivers are fine (I have an RTX 3060), and everything checks out in device manager. I'm at a loss as to what could be causing this. Any ideas?
3 Answers
To check shader compiling, you can usually find an option in the game's settings under video or graphics. It may show you the shader compilation status while loading the game. If that's the case, just give it some time to finish, and it should improve your performance once it's done!
I usually play Overwatch at 2560x1440 and get around 144 FPS, but now I’m only hitting a maximum of 12 FPS. I also play Expedition 33 at 1920x1080, and it's super laggy. How can I check if shader compiling is the issue?
It's normal for your GPU to hit 100% usage when it's fully engaged in a game—this usually means it's not being bottlenecked by your CPU. What games are you playing exactly, and what's your resolution and FPS looking like? If this is your first time launching a game after recent graphics updates, shader compiling can slow things down until it's finished, so that might be worth checking into.

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