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High GPU usage during screensaver?

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Joined
Jul 16, 2014
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432
Motherboard
MSI Z590 MEG ACE
CPU
i9-10900k
Graphics
RX 6900 XT
Mac
  1. Mac mini
Classic Mac
  1. PowerBook
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
Hey all, this is in an odd question. iStat menus 6 is showing that my RX 580 is being used 100% during screensaver, but temps are going up any real amazing (hanging around 50°C). As soon as I exit screensaver, the usage drops back to normal levels.

I thought maybe it was the new fancy Drift screensaver, but I switched to my old standby (XMatrix) and it does the same thing! Also tried Flurry, and it too causes a huge spike. Never had an issue in Mojave.

Can anyone else see if their hack is doing the same thing? Is there something I could look at to see if it’s trying to use the GPU to do crunch numbers for something else in the background?
 
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I can confirm 100% GPU usage when running the drift and flurry screensaver but it doesn't go high when I use Aerial screensaver. I am using dual 4k displays. I also confirmed the same issue on my real 2017 fully loaded MBP also running Catalina 10.15 final (19A583) so it doesn't appear to be hack thing.
 
I can confirm 100% GPU usage when running the drift and flurry screensaver but it doesn't go high when I use Aerial screensaver. I am using dual 4k displays. I also confirmed the same issue on my real 2017 fully loaded MBP also running Catalina 10.15 final (19A583) so it doesn't appear to be hack thing.

Install with Catalina went smooth, however, I've noticed the GPU fans going loud on my RX 580 as well but no matter what I'm doing. This is regardless of one 4k display or all 3 I have hooked up.
 
Could it possibly be one of the many many indexing/analysis processes that follow any new macOS upgrade? I think Catalina has the most yet, with a big Photos re-analysis, Spotlight reindexing and Jobs knows what else... and it tends to only start doing it once you're plugged in to power and not actively using the machine, so if you've just upgraded, it could well be that. Leave the machine on, logged in, overnight if you can. Should get everything done.
 
Could it possibly be one of the many many indexing/analysis processes that follow any new macOS upgrade?

This seems to be it, I think - I left my hack on all day today and it seems to have gone through everything, because now the GPU usage is totally normal during screensaver. I did notice that photoanalysisd was using a good chunk of the CPU initially on boot, so I bet the GPU usage was related to analyzing the photo library since they've completely revamped how it works.

Thanks for the input everyone! Good luck on your Catalina journeys!
 
After the supplemental update from Apple for Catalina, my GPU calmed down and is behaving normally again.
 
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