GPU spikes to 100% (3D Compute) when working with text, captions, or vector graphics - persists unti

Environment

Premiere Pro Version: 26.00 (Build 72) Also affected: All 25.x versions, latest beta versions

Operating System: Windows 11 Education 24H2

Hardware:

• CPU: Intel i9-12900K
• RAM: 64GB DDR4 (52GB allocated to Premiere, 12GB reserved for system)
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB VRAM
• GPU Driver: NVIDIA Studio Driver 591.74
• Cache Drive: Dedicated 450GB SSD for Adobe cache

Display Setup:

• Primary: 4K @ 120Hz, 125% scaling
• Secondary: 1080p (scaled to 2K via NVIDIA Control Panel) @ 144Hz, 75% scaling
• G-Sync/FreeSync: Disabled

Premiere Settings:

• Renderer: Mercury Playback Engine GPU Acceleration (CUDA)
• H.264/HEVC Hardware Acceleration: Enabled
• Sequence: 1920x1080, 25fps, GoPro CineForm YUV 10-bit

Problem Description

When working with text, captions, shapes, or any vector-based graphics in complex projects, the GPU immediately spikes to 100% utilization (specifically "3D Compute" in Task Manager) along with maxed dedicated VRAM. This spike either:

• Persists at 100% until Premiere Pro is restarted, OR
• Drops back to normal after 10-30 seconds

The issue makes professional work impossible as the application becomes unresponsive during these spikes.

Triggers include:

• Adding or editing text layers
• Working with captions (worst offender)
• Resizing graphics
• Adjusting properties in the Motion panel
• Any interaction with Essential Graphics

Important context:

• Issue does NOT occur in fresh/empty projects
• Issue occurs in complex projects with 50+ text/graphics layers
• Issue does NOT occur in After Effects or other Adobe applications
• Issue is random/intermittent but extremely frequent in affected projects

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open a complex project containing multiple text layers, graphics, and/or captions (50+ graphic elements)
2. Monitor GPU usage via Task Manager (Details tab → GPU Memory column) or a monitoring tool
3. Perform any of the following actions:
   • Add a new text layer
   • Edit existing captions
   • Resize a graphic element
   • Adjust Motion panel properties (position, scale, rotation)
4. Observe GPU spike to 100% on 3D Compute

Expected Result: GPU usage remains reasonable (under 50%) during basic text/graphics operations

Actual Result: GPU spikes to 100% and either stays there until restart or drops after 10-30 seconds

Extensive Troubleshooting Already Attempted

All of the following have been tried with NO improvement:

Driver/Software:

• [x] Tested multiple NVIDIA drivers (both Studio and Game Ready variants)
• [x] Complete Premiere Pro reinstall
• [x] Launched with reset preferences (Alt+launch)
• [x] Launched without third-party plugins
• [x] Cleared and rebuilt media cache

Premiere Settings:

• [x] Global FX Mute on/off
• [x] Text panel visible/hidden
• [x] Duplicate frame markers on/off
• [x] Through edit markers on/off
• [x] Hardware acceleration toggled (both playback and renderer)
• [x] Enable Transmit disabled

Windows Settings:

• [x] Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling on/off
• [x] Tested with single monitor only (issue persists, possibly slightly less frequent)

Workflow:

• [x] Always launching projects from Premiere's Recent panel (never from .prproj file directly)

Ruled Out Causes

• Fonts: System has only ~570 fonts total (325 system + 240 user + 5 Adobe Fonts) — well within normal range
• Project launch method: Issue occurs regardless of how project is opened
• Specific graphics type: Issue occurs with Essential Graphics, Legacy Title, .mogrt files, and auto-generated captions equally

Potentially Related

• Photoshop font issue: Same system had severe lag in Photoshop when font preview size was set to anything other than "None" — may indicate underlying GPU font rendering issue
• Multi-monitor setup: Testing with single monitor showed the issue still occurs but possibly less frequently (not conclusive)
• VRAM pressure: Spikes coincide with maxed dedicated GPU memory

Additional Notes

I am an experienced user who builds my own systems and troubleshoots software issues regularly. I have exhausted all common solutions found in community forums over the past year. This is not a configuration or user error issue — this appears to be a genuine bug in how Premiere Pro handles GPU resources during vector/text rendering operations.

The issue has persisted across an entire major version cycle (all of v25, now v26, and beta builds), suggesting it's a deep-seated architectural problem rather than a regression.

This bug makes Premiere Pro unsuitable for any project requiring significant text work, captions, or motion graphics — which is most professional video work.

Request

Please investigate GPU resource management during text/graphics rendering operations, particularly:

• Font enumeration and caching on GPU
• Vector rendering pipeline
• VRAM allocation and release for text layers
• Potential memory leaks in graphics subsystem

Happy to provide project files, additional logs, or GPU traces if needed.