How to properly configure a graphics card for Adobe Premiere Pro, SpeedGrade, and After Effects?

Question

Alright, so I have the following system configuration:
2 NVIDIA Geforce GTX 970s
5960X CPU
MSI X99 Gaming 7 Motherboard
32 GB DDR4 RAM
256 GB and 1TB Samsung 850 Pro SSDs
Basically, although I have the whole system built together, I'm unsure how to check and know whether or not Adobe Premiere Pro is actually using the graphics card or not.  I know that it has to be using some of it, otherwise it wouldn't launch properly (as I discovered from a recent experience.)  However, I don't know if there are, perhaps, certain settings within the NVIDIA control panel that should be configured so that Premiere Pro can use the card to its full potential.  Here is an example of what I'm talking about:
In other words, these are (I'm pretty sure) all of the default settings that the control panel applies to Premiere Pro.  However, I'm not sure if there are any settings in here that I need to change or not.  So what I'm looking for in a response to this question:
What settings, if any, should I change for Premiere Pro (as well as other adobe applications that can utilize all the strength of the GTX 970)?
How can I check the GPU activity to know that it's being used during a render?  (For example, I can check the CPU utilization with the Task Manager while I render to see that it's being utilized to 100%).
If, perhaps, something else goes wrong and even with the right settings, let's say the card still isn't being fully utilized, what other settings might I have to change to make sure that the GTX 970 is being fully used by Adobe Premiere Pro/After Effects/SpeedGrade CC 2014?

Answer 1

If you want a benchmark to measure the performance of Premiere Pro's utilization of  your: disk system, GPU and CPU use our Premiere Pro BenchMark (PPBM)
When you finish running the test and then run the script, you will get this report
This happens to be the result of my laptop (with SSD drives and a GTX 765M GPU)
The disk performance is self explanatory.
Number 2 is a seven layer very complex timeline with heavy CPU and GPU assistance, without GPU hardware acceleration (CPU only) it would take greater than 1350 seconds.
Three above is a measure of a exaggerated timeline using many, many GPU MPE accelerated effects and features that will use a GPU at 99% load (54 seconds above) and a CPU only export of the same timeline (802 seconds).
If you want to compare your results to others you have to register on the PPBM7 site to see the results.
EDIT! I corrected the number in 2 above originally I said 900 seconds but really it was greater than 1350 seconds