Why is Steam using so much GPU?

[Pocahawtness]

I have a 2070S and I have noticed that the chat window can use up 24% of my GPU. Typically it's about 15%. This is a bit alarming. All the various Steam tasks can add up to well over 30%!!!!
Valve needs to put in something to control this during game play. It's just not acceptable for that amount of GPU use during play. I don't really want to have to remember to shut down any chat windows but this looks like the only option at the moment.

[luckz]

The friends list is using a stupid amount of CPU too. (at least if you have a lot of friends and perhaps live statuses or animated avatars or such)

[Elucidator]

Well, if there is something I learned after experimenting a bit, at least:
Having the steam friendslist window open while there is a chat window open that has messages in it with embeds, the GPU usage remains high.
I'm not sure why. (and in my case its just a few percentages, but I am not sure what it "keeps calculating", I mean it just makes me wonder what and why.)

The problematic executable causing this is:

"..\Steam\bin\cef\cef.win7\steamwebhelper.exe" --type=gpu-process --field-trial-handle=1232,11411719765468111787,12645143297703277845,131072 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,MimeHandlerViewInCrossProcessFrame --log-file="..\Steam\logs\cef_log.txt" --product-version="Valve Steam Client" --lang=nl-NL --force-device-scale-factor=1 --disablehighdpi --disablehighdpi --buildid=1599691266 --steamid=0 --gpu-preferences=KAAAAAAAAADgAAAwAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACgAAAAEAAAAIAAAAAAAAAAoAAAAAAAAADAAAAAAAAAAOAAAAAAAAAAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAFAAAAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABgAAABAAAAAAAAAAAQAAAAUAAAAQAAAAAAAAAAEAAAAGAAAA --log-file="..\Steam\logs\cef_log.txt" --service-request-channel-token=6922444020942526225 --mojo-platform-channel-handle=1220 --ignored=" --type=renderer " /prefetch:2

Just one message with one embedded video for example causes a 3~4% GPU usage increase (with spikes towards 7%) in my case. And closing the message window is not enough to make it stop. It keeps the usage up till you close Steam Friends, just like you described.

I also noticed that the Library has a few VRAM issues. The GPU's memory can only averagely go up, until you close the library. This means you're going to run out of VRAM simply by scrolling through your games a bit if you do not close the library.

I suppose I should experiment a bit more.

Edit: Looks like Steam is using chromium xd
https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/master:base/feature_list.h?q=disable-features&ss=chromium
.... and not exactly following the instructions for some reason.

Edit 2: All of the load appears to be put on one GPU engine. (Engine 9#)

Edit 3: .... it looks like opening and closing the same chat window over and over and over increases the GPU usage. In other words, this is a processor usage leak.
(as a side note of course it also increases VRAM used.)
Closing Steam Friends luckily fixes the GPU leak issue, but not the VRAM issue. I suppose Restarting the Steam Client helps there. .

Edit 4:
Yes, restarting indeed clears a bit of vram.
Just for references, Windows itself + Discord (another application that is chromium / electron based) (everything together) uses just 0.10% GPU usage. You open the Steam Client and it increases to 0.40%. You open the Steam Friends and click on a chat window with at least 1 embedded message, and it increases to 1.9%.
The fact that I found 3~4% earlier proves there is another GPU leak somewhere.

(VRAM was 700MB, currently 500MB. If I close Steam, it drops to 280MB)
This means that the Steam Client for some reason loads an incredible amount into VRAM and that amount increases over time as you use the client... e.e;
This doesn't make sense basically. Diffidently a programming flaw somewhere.

Edit 5: It seems a large part of the cause is the Steam Setting:
*Enable gpu accelerated rendering in web views*
disabling it seems to help the VRAM memory leak and a lot of the GPU load in the Steam Friends also look a lot more normal.
HOWEVER....
it doesn't solve both issues.

The problem is instead now moved to the CPU, where it is a lot less apparent yes, but the memory leak and processor leak are still there.

You can tell if you inspect this process:

"..\Steam\bin\cef\cef.win7\steamwebhelper.exe" --type=renderer --force-device-scale-factor=1 --log-file="..\Steam\logs\cef_log.txt" --field-trial-handle=1240,292720372591127338,15428891392318399224,131072 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,MimeHandlerViewInCrossProcessFrame --disable-gpu-compositing --enable-blink-features=ResizeObserver,Worklet,AudioWorklet --lang=nl --log-file="..\Steam\logs\cef_log.txt" --product-version="Valve Steam Client" --force-device-scale-factor=1 --disablehighdpi --disablehighdpi --buildid=1599691266 --steamid=0 --device-scale-factor=1 --num-raster-threads=4 --enable-main-frame-before-activation --service-request-channel-token=9210742160630060438 --renderer-client-id=7 --mojo-platform-channel-handle=2304 /prefetch:1

Interestingly the processor issue is evenly divided over the physical cores, but ignores hyperthreading.

[tixamirovd]

where can I get the code for the beta test

[Pocahawtness]

I am guessing this is something to do with the new animated items, emoticons and stickers. If that's the case there should be some way to disable things when the focus is on a game. It's crazy to use so much power when someone is playing.

[Elucidator]

Originally posted by tixamirovd:

where can I get the code for the beta test

You need to click on Steam > Settings
and in the Account tab there, you can select to participate in Steam Beta.

Originally posted by ｢C❤️A｣ Pocahawtness:

I am guessing this is something to do with the new animated items, emoticons and stickers.

Edit: Also to answer the question, a video embedded in chat not playing anything is not animated, its a static image.
You close the chat screen nothing changes despite it not needing to display anything on your screen, so... idk why our GPUs get overused. Its some kind of programming flaw somewhere.

Edit 2: Also note that the commandline based execution of the functions have twice the same command, which is odd as well.

Edit 3: since the installation directory is different per user, I removed the root tree in the command and just left the part starting from Steam in.

Edit 4: me thinking: steam uses chromium and electron.... aaaaa why. Its laggy~~

Edit 5: I updated my previous post a bit since it contains most description on my findings.

[Elucidator]

@OP just bumping since I found perhaps some meaningful information.

You can move the Memory Leak and Processor Leak issue on your GPU to your System RAM and CPU by disabling the Steam setting: *Enable gpu accelerated rendering in web views*

edit: Since the CPU handles the processing leak over all physical cores, instead of just one engine (in the gpu) its a lot less noticable. I suggest you still close the client every now and then till Steam fixes this though.

small note and edit 2: Electron App(lication)s generally eat a lot of RAM. I'm not sure why, I am guessing it is because they create a virtual environment to render the application in.
notice similarities with discord and steam for example.
or discord and the twitch client. (yes, everything is turning into an electron / chromium app)
Electron is also widely used on specific websites. I'm just telling you that in case you wonder about the high amount of RAM this stuff eats.