Is your Windows PC not performing well when gaming? Understand how to optimize the main Windows settings you will never touch again, such as Game Mode, Power Options, and Driver Updates, step-by-step for a smoother gaming experience.
Maximize Your PC Performance
Gaming on computers is a popular choice for players across genres, whether playing video poker, exploring large RPG worlds, or engaging in fierce MOBA matches.
The performance of these games is often determined by how well your system is optimized.
Minor changes to Windows settings can significantly improve gameplay by ensuring that your computer allocates resources efficiently.
Game Mode, featured in Windows 10 and later, prioritizes gaming operations for improved performance and frame rates.
These adjustments, combined with regular updates, revised power settings, and eliminating unneeded background operations, ensure that your PC is ready for uninterrupted, high-performance gaming sessions in any genre.
Enable Game Mode
Game Mode is a feature built into Windows 10 and 11 that optimizes your computer’s gaming resources by reducing the impact of other apps.
To enable Game Mode, start in ‘Settings’. Then, select the ‘Gaming’ button from the menu options. Finally, head to the game mode settings, where you can enable it.
The functionality works by reducing background tasks and stopping updates while you play a game.
Game Mode is a feature that works wonders when it comes to improving your gaming experience.
This is especially useful when playing resource-intensive current games since it helps maintain an optimal performance level that could contribute to reaching at least 60 frames per second (FPS), which adds smoothness to game motion.
Game Mode makes tasks like managing system resources much easier, leading to increased frame rates and reduced latency, which are important perks when playing online.
Be it speedy engagements with opponent shooters or long trips through large open-world settings, Game Mode gives gamers the competitive edge for a deeper dive into their virtual worlds.
Adjust Power Settings for Maximum Performance
Optimizing display settings and power configurations is key to increasing PC gaming performance, especially on gaming laptops.
It is possible to prioritize system performance. A high-performance power plan allocates most power to the system instead of a longer battery life.
It’s easy to enable. Go to Settings > System > Power & Sleep, open Additional Power Settings, and choose High Performance.
A suitable method of avoiding power reduction is getting power from an external power supply. If the option isn’t there, check under Show Additional Plans or create your plan.
Changing these settings means that your setup can execute resource-demanding programs, resulting in a smoother and more fascinating experience.
Optimize Graphics Settings in Nvidia Control Panel
Modifying some settings on the Nvidia Control Panel may maximize gaming performance.
Select ‘Prefer maximum performance’ from the power management settings menu to ensure that your graphics card always runs at total capacity and can even kick in during unexpected moments.
Getting the other settings, such as texture filtering and monitor refresh rates, right helps to improve the visual quality and smoother the gameplay.
The preferred one is the highest available. Reducing stutters consequently allows us to have the smooth experience we have been waiting for.
Moreover, Nvidia also announced that G-SYNC would reduce stuttering and screen tearing problems and thus increase the overall gaming experience.
Turning off VSync may result in better frames per second but may cause screen tearing. Selecting Single Display Performance Mode if you typically game on one display is another adjustment to improve gaming performance.
Keeping these settings tuned and installing GPU drivers regularly is critical to ensuring that your graphics card performs at its best across all games.
Disable Unnecessary Background Processes
Extraneous background tasks can degrade gaming performance as they draw necessary system resources.
To improve your gaming experience, remove non-essential software and free up resources for smoother gameplay.
The Task Manager window shows you how many applications are running when you right-click the taskbar, select Task Manager, and go to the Processes tab.
If you right-click on one of the redundant processes within the list and click on ‘End Task’, you will claim back your system resource.
The Startup tab in Task Manager allows users to disable unnecessary programs during startup, which can increase startup times and spare resources for the whole system.
Update Graphics Card Drivers
You need to ensure that your video drivers are updated to get the highest performance out of your graphics card.
If the user ignores this fact, there may be glitches, drops in frame rates, or even system crashes during play.
Graphics card updates that increase responsiveness, speed, and the general quality of functioning of a system will thus provide a great core for gaming.
Use software utilities such as GeForce Experience for Nvidia cards or Radeon Software for AMD cards to conveniently handle graphics card driver upgrades.
These programs will detect your GPU model and download recent driver releases. Consistent updates can increase frames per second by up to 23%, significantly improving gameplay quality.
Make a habit of regularly checking for the latest driver updates to avoid common gaming problems and guarantee the smooth running of the system.
This proactive move not only leads to a high-quality gaming experience but also helps in keeping the game up and running without any disruptions.
Configure Display Settings
Optimizing display settings is vital for achieving the best gaming performance. Make sure your monitor’s refresh rate is at its highest to enhance visual smoothness while playing games.
Enabling hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling can lower latency and improve graphics output.
To activate this feature, navigate through Settings > System > Display > Graphics settings and switch on the hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling option.
You can reduce the resolution of the monitor you are using to relieve the GPU and simultaneously make the games smoother.
It is advisable to set the monitor to the recommended resolution in order to make the display sharper and improve gaming performance and overall efficiency.
Disable Windows Notifications and Game Bar
The Xbox Game Bar and Windows notifications can disturb gaming and consume system resources.
Turning these functionalities off reduces interruptions and improves the functionality of your game experience.
To disable alerts from the Xbox Game Bar, go to Settings, then Gaming. You’ll see a toggle for the Game Bar that needs to be turned off.
Executing this simple operation reduces demand on system resources, hence improving your overall gaming experience.
Disable Enhance Pointer Precision
To gain more control over your gaming, you should turn off the option Enhance Pointer Precision or ‘mouse acceleration.’
This function can disrupt proper targeting and have a negative influence on game performance.
It is possible to eliminate this feature by going to Control Panel, clicking Mouse, and then choosing the Pointer Options tab, after which you will deselect the box Enhance Pointer Precision.
The pointer speed can be increased, resulting in even better precision. However, it is also good to adjust the settings inside the Mouse if needed.
Optimize Network Settings for Online Gaming
Low latency is important to ensuring a flawless online gaming experience, so network configurations must be optimized.
Turning off Nagle’s algorithm can reduce latency by ensuring a consistent data stream.
To disable Nagle’s Algorithm and perhaps improve your game performance, you will need to modify the Windows registry.
While this technique requires careful attention, it could significantly improve how games perform online. Activating Low Latency Mode may reduce input delay and increase game responsiveness.
Implementing these changes in network settings decreases lag and maximizes performance during online gameplay sessions, giving you an advantage over opponents.
