Increased GPU activity during inactivity in the signage game.
Increased GPU activity during inactivity in the signage game.
This situation seems unusual but not impossible. I don’t play games much, mostly work with computers. When I need internet or switch to a desktop, I pause the game and use browsers or other tools. Usually things like temperature and fan speed stay normal. But with WRC7 it was different—even at full settings, the GPU stayed near 100% and fans sped up. It wasn’t harmful, but it made me wonder how a game could consume so much power when idle. I wasn’t sure if that was actually achievable.
Some games simply don't really pause their game loop while in the background. So they will continue to run their simulation, send commands to the GPU etc. Because the GPU is doesn't have to show anything frames are essentially done in zero time, so the game loop runs at "infinite" fps.
I don't think vsync applies here, since the GPU isn't actually drawing anything. It receives commands, says "nothing to do" since there's no surface to draw on, the game loops one more time and immediately sends commands to the GPU again. This means its command queue is constantly filled, which is then interpreted as 100% usage.