I no longer use Nvidia cards after a few issues I ran into years ago. I switched to AMD/Radeon and have not had any problems. HOWEVER - in either case, you only need the DRIVERS to the card installed - NOT the Control Center program. With Nvidia I found that I could not uninstall this Control program and this is what caused my problems. HOWEVER - with AMD - I can install the latest drivers (along with the Control Center, unfortunately, but then uninstall the AMD Control Center and be left with the newest drivers. Yeah, it’s a dance but it’s worth it.
It’s intersting to see this post because MANY people are using the Nvidia cards and seem to be fine with it. Oh well. Kudos to the OP for pulling the card and discovering the source of the problem. 