14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re on Windows 10 and something causes high CPU usage, the first thing you should check is a process called nvdisplay.container.exe.
Because as it turns out, the latest NVIDIA video drivers can generate CPU usage spikes on some Windows 10 devices, with the said process likely to record a bump of around 30 percent in Task Manager.
According to reports published on this thread on the official NVIDIA forums, the issue isn’t necessarily new, but is now encountered on a growing number of devices after installing NVIDIA GeForce video driver version 430.39.
Posts in the same discussion indicate that the easiest way to deal with the high CPU load on Windows 10 is to delete the following folders and then restart the computer:
C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\Display.NvContainer\plugins\LocalSystem\DisplayDriverRAS C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\DisplayDriverRAS
Users who investigated the issue believe that telemetry services are at fault for the high CPU usage.
Fix now available for download
Meanwhile, NVIDIA has also released its very own update to resolve the problem. Published on April 29, the GeForce Hotfix Driver Version 430.53 includes a handful of refinements, including the aforementioned patch specifically aimed at the high CPU loads mentioned above:
“Fixes higher CPU usage by NVDisplay.Container.exe introduced in 430.39 driver.”
In other words, you don’t necessarily need to remove the aforementioned two folders if you install the latest version of the NVIDIA graphics drivers.
By the looks of things, the problem only happens on Windows 10, with older versions of the operating system, like Windows 7 and 8.1, not suffering from these spikes in CPU usage.
The April 29 hotfix also resolves a flickering bug noticed when launching 3DMark Time Spy benchmarks, as well as desktop flickering experienced when videos are playing on a secondary monitor. There are also improvements for games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider.