guidox / PC
Open **Task Manager > Performance > GPU** and sort the Processes view by GPU, or read the per-process counters with **Get-Counter '\GPU Engine(*)\Utilization Percentage'**.
A laptop has at least two adapters, and the counters name them by LUID, not by marketing name. Mapping the LUID to the adapter prevents reading the wrong number.
Get-CimInstance Win32_VideoController | Select-Object Name,DriverVersion,AdapterRAM,Status
Get-Counter '\GPU Adapter Memory(*)\Dedicated Usage' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -ExpandProperty CounterSamples | Select-Object InstanceName,CookedValueThe Processes tab has a GPU column per engine, and the header expands into 3D, Copy and Video Decode. That split is what makes a browser with hardware acceleration visible.
taskmgr.exe
:: Processes > right-click the header > select GPU, GPU Engine
:: Performance > GPU > look at the engine breakdown**Get-Counter** returns one sample per process per engine, with the process id inside the instance name. Grouping by pid gives the top consumer in one table.
$c = (Get-Counter '\GPU Engine(*)\Utilization Percentage' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).CounterSamples
$c | Where-Object CookedValue -gt 1 | ForEach-Object { $pid2 = [int]($_.InstanceName -replace '.*pid_([0-9]+).*','$1'); [pscustomobject]@{ Pid=$pid2; Name=(Get-Process -Id $pid2 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Name; Engine=($_.InstanceName -split 'engtype_')[1]; Pct=[math]::Round($_.CookedValue,1) } } | Sort-Object Pct -Descending | Select-Object -First 10Utilization is not the same as memory. A program can hold gigabytes of video memory while using almost no compute, which matters on a card with 4 GB.
$m = (Get-Counter '\GPU Process Memory(*)\Dedicated Usage' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).CounterSamples
$m | Where-Object CookedValue -gt 100MB | ForEach-Object { $pid2 = [int]($_.InstanceName -replace '.*pid_([0-9]+).*','$1'); [pscustomobject]@{ Name=(Get-Process -Id $pid2 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Name; Pid=$pid2; MB=[math]::Round($_.CookedValue/1MB,0) } } | Sort-Object MB -Descending | Select-Object -First 10A background app with steady 3D load is a bug or a rendering loop. A browser with high Video Decode is playing a video, which is normal and can be moved to the CPU by disabling hardware acceleration.
Get-Process chrome,msedge -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object Name,Id,CPU,WorkingSet
Get-CimInstance Win32_VideoController | Select-Object Name,CurrentHorizontalResolution,CurrentRefreshRate
# browser: Settings > System > Use graphics acceleration when availableRepeat the counter sample after closing the process. The total should drop by roughly the amount that process used, which proves the mapping was right.
$total = ((Get-Counter '\GPU Engine(*)\Utilization Percentage' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).CounterSamples | Measure-Object CookedValue -Sum).Sum
[math]::Round($total,1)
Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending | Select-Object -First 5 Name,Id,CPUThe driver does not expose performance counters, common on older drivers. Update the graphics driver and retry.
The names come from the driver. Match the adapter by its memory size with Get-CimInstance Win32_VideoController.
Check whether it is a rendering or a crypto workload. Look at its start time and its parent process before terminating it.
A compositor or a wallpaper engine uses the 3D engine. Check the Desktop Window Manager and any animated wallpaper app.
3D is rendering, Copy handles transfers, Video Decode and Video Encode handle media. One app can appear in several engines at once.
The counter is per process per engine. Summing the values for one pid gives its total.
Not directly. Windows lets you choose the preferred GPU per app, which changes which adapter it uses, not how much.
Nothing is changed by reading the counters. If you disabled hardware acceleration in a browser, re-enable it in the browser's system settings.
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