Desktop Window Manager High CPU and Delayed Window Movement


baskhara

Well-known member
Local time
6:19 AM
Posts
7
OS
Windows 11 Pro
Hi there,
I'm quite curious about this, every time I move a window, drag and drop, or scrolling. The Desktop Window Manager (DWM) seem to be taxing the CPU quite a lot, not to mention making the window movement delayed or stuttering. I know that this is a dev build and I am using unsupported CPU, but this problem also happened in Windows 10.

What I've tried so far (both Win10 and Win11):
- Disabling transparency effects, this help with the delay/slow motion but DWM still taxing CPU (about ~10% lower).
- Lowering mouse Polling Rate seem to help a little bit.
- Using GPU driver from the OEM didn't help.
- Upgrading GPU driver to the newest (from Intel) didn't help either.
- Problem also happened in Safe Mode with Networking.
- TBH it's also happened in Clean Installed Windows with nothing installed.

Do you guys have any ideas of what might be causing it or perhaps a way to locate the problem? or does the hardware already at its limit? 🤔
Thanks in advance! :wink:

Here's some video with the problem.

 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer E5-475G
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i3-6006U
    Memory
    8 GB Dual-Channel DDR4 @ 2133MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel® HD Graphics 520 & NVIDIA® GeForce® 940MX
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14.0" HD LED
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    1TB HDD + 320GB HDD ( 2 x Seagate @ 5400RPM)
    PSU
    Acer Power Adapter 65W
    Keyboard
    Built-In Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech G102
    Internet Speed
    Unimaginable
    Browser
    Google Chrome & Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
I tried to replicate it is in a variety of ways on my system, but I only ever saw a spike to 2.6% CPU utilization and then after the spike it would settle in at 0.7-0.8% as I kept moving the window around - regardless of what the window actually was.

However, my desktop is a bit more powerful than your laptop, so it might have to do with the overall specs, particularly since my CPU is newer, my memory is much higher, but most importantly, I'm running off a PCIe 4 enabled NVMe SSD.

My discrete video card, the GTX 970, is more than likely not much more powerful than yours, so I suspect RAM and mechanical HD being the main bottlenecks here. (unless one of those listed in your specs is actually an SSD).
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 23H2 Current build
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HomeBrew
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
    Motherboard
    MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE
    Memory
    4 * 32 GB - Corsair Vengeance 3600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti XC3 ULTRA GAMING (12G-P5-3955-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC1220 Codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x Eve Spectrum ES07D03 4K Gaming Monitor (Matte) | Eve Spectrum ES07DC9 4K Gaming Monitor (Glossy)
    Screen Resolution
    3x 3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    3x Samsung 980 Pro NVMe PCIe 4 M.2 2 TB SSD (MZ-V8P2T0B/AM) } 3x Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 1 TB SSD (USB)
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling’s Silencer Series 1050 Watt, 80 Plus Platinum
    Case
    Fractal Design Define 7 XL Dark ATX Full Tower Case
    Cooling
    NZXT KRAKEN Z73 73.11 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (3x 120 mm push top) + Air 3x 140mm case fans (pull front) + 1x 120 mm (push back) and 1 x 120 mm (pull bottom)
    Keyboard
    SteelSeries Apex Pro Wired Gaming Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3S | MX Master 3 for Business
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex Ftth
    Browser
    Nightly (default) + Firefox (stable), Chrome, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender + MB 5 Beta
  • Operating System
    ChromeOS Flex Dev Channel (current)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Latitude E5470
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2501 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
    Motherboard
    Dell
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel(R) HD Graphics 520
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 + RealTek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell laptop display 15"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 * 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 128GB M.2 22300 drive
    INTEL Cherryville 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SATA III SSD
    PSU
    Dell
    Case
    Dell
    Cooling
    Dell
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3S (shared w. Sys 1) | Dell TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex Ftth
Hi there,
I'm quite curious about this, every time I move a window, drag and drop, or scrolling. The Desktop Window Manager (DWM) seem to be taxing the CPU quite a lot, not to mention making the window movement delayed or stuttering. I know that this is a dev build and I am using unsupported CPU, but this problem also happened in Windows 10.

What I've tried so far (both Win10 and Win11):
- Disabling transparency effects, this help with the delay/slow motion but DWM still taxing CPU (about ~10% lower).
- Lowering mouse Polling Rate seem to help a little bit.
- Using GPU driver from the OEM didn't help.
- Upgrading GPU driver to the newest (from Intel) didn't help either.
- Problem also happened in Safe Mode with Networking.
- TBH it's also happened in Clean Installed Windows with nothing installed.

Do you guys have any ideas of what might be causing it or perhaps a way to locate the problem? or does the hardware already at its limit? 🤔
Thanks in advance! :wink:

Here's some video with the problem.

Do you have iGPU Drivers installed ? Desktop Windows Manager will probably use iGPU instead of Nvidia one to save power. If it doesn't work then create bug report in feedback hub.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Pentium G4560
    Motherboard
    GA-H110M-S2 (rev 1.x)
    Memory
    8 GB Vengeance LPX DDR4 PC4-19200 2400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT 730 2GB GDDR5
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 20MP48AB (19 Inch IPS)
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
I tried to replicate it is in a variety of ways on my system, but I only ever saw a spike to 2.6% CPU utilization and then after the spike it would settle in at 0.7-0.8% as I kept moving the window around - regardless of what the window actually was.

However, my desktop is a bit more powerful than your laptop, so it might have to do with the overall specs, particularly since my CPU is newer, my memory is much higher, but most importantly, I'm running off a PCIe 4 enabled NVMe SSD.

My discrete video card, the GTX 970, is more than likely not much more powerful than yours, so I suspect RAM and mechanical HD being the main bottlenecks here. (unless one of those listed in your specs is actually an SSD).
Both are HDD unfortunately. Could it be possible for the HDD to cause the DWM to spikes up CPU usage?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer E5-475G
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i3-6006U
    Memory
    8 GB Dual-Channel DDR4 @ 2133MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel® HD Graphics 520 & NVIDIA® GeForce® 940MX
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14.0" HD LED
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    1TB HDD + 320GB HDD ( 2 x Seagate @ 5400RPM)
    PSU
    Acer Power Adapter 65W
    Keyboard
    Built-In Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech G102
    Internet Speed
    Unimaginable
    Browser
    Google Chrome & Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Do you have iGPU Drivers installed ? Desktop Windows Manager will probably use iGPU instead of Nvidia one to save power. If it doesn't work then create bug report in feedback hub.
Yes, both Intel and Nvidia driver are installed and DWM barely use the iGPU and probably never use the Nvidia.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer E5-475G
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i3-6006U
    Memory
    8 GB Dual-Channel DDR4 @ 2133MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel® HD Graphics 520 & NVIDIA® GeForce® 940MX
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14.0" HD LED
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    1TB HDD + 320GB HDD ( 2 x Seagate @ 5400RPM)
    PSU
    Acer Power Adapter 65W
    Keyboard
    Built-In Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech G102
    Internet Speed
    Unimaginable
    Browser
    Google Chrome & Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Yes, both Intel and Nvidia driver are installed and DWM barely use the iGPU and probably never use the Nvidia.
I am running from HDD. I have a G4560 and Nvidia GT730. When moving the window CPU usage spiked from 2% to 14%-20%. I don't have values from Windows 10 to compare it with. You might want to create a bug report in feedback hub.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Pentium G4560
    Motherboard
    GA-H110M-S2 (rev 1.x)
    Memory
    8 GB Vengeance LPX DDR4 PC4-19200 2400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT 730 2GB GDDR5
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 20MP48AB (19 Inch IPS)
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900

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