High GPU usage while the app is “thinking” due to tiny useless animation · Issue #16857 · openai/codex · GitHub
//voltron/issues_fragments/issue_layout" data-turbo-transient="true" />
Skip to content
Search or jump to...
Search code, repositories, users, issues, pull requests...
-->
Search
Clear
Search syntax tips
Provide feedback
--><br>We read every piece of feedback, and take your input very seriously.
Include my email address so I can be contacted
Cancel
Submit feedback
Saved searches
Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly
-->
Name
Query
To see all available qualifiers, see our documentation.
Cancel
Create saved search
Sign in
//voltron/issues_fragments/issue_layout;ref_cta:Sign up;ref_loc:header logged out"}"<br>Sign up
Appearance settings
Resetting focus
You signed in with another tab or window. Reload to refresh your session.<br>You signed out in another tab or window. Reload to refresh your session.<br>You switched accounts on another tab or window. Reload to refresh your session.
Dismiss alert
{{ message }}
Uh oh!
There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.
openai
codex
Public
Notifications<br>You must be signed in to change notification settings
Fork<br>14.7k
Star<br>98.4k
High GPU usage while the app is “thinking” due to tiny useless animation #16857
New issue<br>Copy link
New issue<br>Copy link
Open
Open<br>High GPU usage while the app is “thinking” due to tiny useless animation#16857
Copy link
Labels<br>appIssues related to the Codex desktop appIssues related to the Codex desktop appbugSomething isn't workingSomething isn't workingperformance
Description
homm<br>opened on Apr 5, 2026
Issue body actions
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
Version 26.325.31654 (1272)
What subscription do you have?
Plus
What platform is your computer?
Darwin 24.6.0 arm64 arm
What issue are you seeing?
I see high GPU usage while using the Codex app, and it looks like it is caused by the tiny animation, which does not deserve such an amount of energy consumption.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
Open any GPU monitoring tool. For example, macmon, since it allows 250 ms updates. I'm using my own tool StillCore since it allows 100 ms updates.
Open the app and ask anything. It starts "thinking," consuming much more GPU power than expected. It's about 70% utilization and up to 1.5 W power on my M4 Pro.
Hide this spinner. You have two options: you can toggle the sidebar or collapse the chats group.
Codex will still be thinking, but GPU consumption will drop to a low level, with spikes on UI updates.
Reveal the spinner again (toggle the sidebar or uncollapse the chats group). You will see how the GPU level returns to high.
You can clearly distinguish all three steps in the screenshot. The red line is GPU frequency, and the red area is GPU utilization.
What is the expected behavior?
The application should not consume this much GPU power for such simple tasks. This is significant, since even Civilization VI with a 60 FPS cap consumes less than 1 W of power during the first turns.
Additional information
No response
Reactions are currently unavailable
Metadata<br>Metadata<br>Assignees
No one assigned
Labels
appIssues related to the Codex desktop appIssues related to the Codex desktop appbugSomething isn't workingSomething isn't workingperformance
Type
No type
Fields
No fields configured for issues without a type.
Projects
No projects
Milestone
No milestone
Relationships
None yet
Development
No branches or pull requests
Issue actions<br>Open in GitHub Copilot app
You can’t perform that action at this time.