How To Turn Off Windows Game Mode

How to optimize Windows for better game performance

(Image credit: PonyWang / Getty)

Whether you lot have a brand new gaming PC (opens in new tab) or an existing ane, you should optimize Windows for better game performance with a few elementary tweaks. Windows doesn't come perfectly suited for gaming by default, but with a couple changes to its settings, you can be certain that nothing will get in the way of you and your games.

To preface all of this though, y'all should sympathize that the biggest hit to functioning is weak hardware. An sometime graphics card is going to drop your frames per 2nd fashion more a simple setting in Windows. A gaming PC with only four to eight gigabytes of RAM will accept the same grip on your fps in a lot of modern games. Earlier you change anything, consider an upgrade first, and set your expectations for how much of an impact Windows settings will have on your gaming experience. It's not a lot, just information technology can add up.

How to plough off Windows Game Mode

Windows Game Fashion gets a lot of ire because, for a long time, it plummeted your performance while playing games. Game Manner used to play with your organisation'south CPU resources to funnel everything into your game. At present, it'southward essentially similar turning on a Exercise Not Disturb mode for your PC with a nebulous promise to amend some games' performance.

Game Fashion for Windows ten and 11 will forestall Windows Update from performing driver installations and from sending restart notifications. It as well "helps achieve a more than stable frame rate depending on the specific game and arrangement," according to Microsoft's website (opens in new tab). It's unclear what games and systems are supported, just in our tests (opens in new tab), gaming performance is the aforementioned with it on or off.

To turn it off, right-click the Windows start menu icon and select Settings. From there, choose Gaming and so pick Game Mode. Knock the slider to off and y'all won't take to worry about information technology at all.

How to disable "Record what happened"

Windows now has a built-in feature that can tape footage of your games. It'due south a lilliputian buried in your system settings, merely if y'all take carve up software for that, like Nvidia Shadowplay, you lot can turn information technology off to salve some system resources.

To do that, you want to hit your Windows central, type Capture and click Capture settings, or alternatively, right-click the starting time push icon, click Settings, select Gaming, and so hit Captures. If you're on Windows ten, turn off "Record in the background while I'k playing a game". Windows xi users need to switch "Tape what happened" off.

Windows 10 Game Bar — (Image credit: Microsoft)

How to turn off Xbox Game Bar

Like Windows Game Mode, Xbox Game Bar doesn't really touch on your performance that much, at least not more than other overlays, like Nvidia'southward Shadowplay. "Record what happened" will do a lot more to your games than Game Bar will, but if you want it off. Head into your settings by right-clicking the starting time button icon and selecting Settings. Hit Gaming, then cull Xbox Game Bar. Flip the switch to off and you won't have an overlay on your games anymore and y'all might see an increase of a few FPS depending on the game.

How to turn on high functioning mode in Windows

You tin swap to the high performance power programme in Windows to improve your gaming experience a little bit, or a lot if you're on a gaming laptop. The actual bear upon varies a lot with different games. The default balanced mode is totally fine for virtually uses, but if you want to change it to come across if your PC will continue your CPU at a constantly high clock speed, then do this unproblematic alter.

Right-click your Windows start button, hitting Settings. Choose Power & Sleep, then select Additional ability settings virtually the bottom of the page. In that window, select High performance.

Windows 10 Power Options screen — (Image credit: Future)

How to clean upwards Windows services for better functioning

Your gaming PC might struggle simply because of how many applications you have running in the background. Chances are, you lot have a lot that automatically run when you showtime your PC. You can e'er prune that list down to the essentials to save some RAM and CPU usage.

It's piece of cake to do. Hit your Windows fundamental and blazon run or right-click Windows and select Run. In the new text box, type msconfig. Head over to the Services tab, check Hide all Microsoft services, and look through the listing to see what's going on. Uncheck what services you lot don't want to run and striking Utilize. Be careful though. Some services are necessary for certain programs to office on your PC, then it helps to wait them up before yous disable them.

You can as well prevent these services from starting in the first identify past heading to Task Manager. Right-click the Windows get-go button and hit Chore Manager. Then select Startup and go through the listing and disable whatever has the most touch.

Tyler has covered games, games culture, and hardware for over a decade earlier joining PC Gamer as Associate Editor. He's washed in-depth reporting on communities and games as well as criticism for sites similar Polygon, Wired, and Waypoint. He's interested in the weird and the fascinating when it comes to games, spending time probing for stories and talking to the people involved. Tyler loves sinking into games similar Final Fantasy 14, Overwatch, and Night Souls to see what makes them tick and pluck out the parts worth talking about. His goal is to talk about games the way they are: cleaved, beautiful, and bizarre.