{tocify} $title={Table of Contents}
Debloat Windows
Remove applications and software that you believe will not be used. If you're not sure about any app, just leave it.
A Windows utility by Chris Titus helps further debloat and tweak your system, control background processes, manage apps, and adjust update settings.
- Go to Chris Titus's website and you will see a command. Copy and paste the command into powershell and wait until the installation is complete for the first time. A window will appear after the installation.
- Go to Tweaks tab and select Standard then click on Run tweaks at the bottom.
Step(picture) below is preference but recommended to only allow security updates and stop feature updates that might still be buggy.
Regularly check for quality updates. Quality updates are separate from feature updates and focus on security patches, bug fixes, and other improvements to the existing version of Windows you are running.
Scan and Fix Corrupt Windows System Files
Corrupt system files can lead to various issues, including slower performance, system instability, functionality issues and abnormal CPU usage.
Use Deployment Imaging Service and Management Tool (DISM) and System File Checker (SFC) to fix corrupt system files on your Windows.
- To use DISM, open Command Prompt as an administrator and run the following command:
- To use SFC, open Command Prompt as an administrator and run the following command:
Disable Windows Permissions
Background activity, sensors and hardware access, and data synchronization can impact CPU usage.
- Open windows settings and navigate to Privacy settings by pressing start/windows+i.
- Turn off everything in this section except for the things you regularly use like microphone and camera.
Game Bar, Game Mode, Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling
I would suggest turning off Game Bar. If you want to record gameplay, there are better options out there than Game Bar, like the Nvidia app (GeForce Experience), AMD Adrenalin, and OBS.
What about Game Mode and Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS)?
I came across a comment somewhere that said something like, "If it didn't exist in Windows 7, don't use it."
Whether to turn these features off or keep them on is up to you. You'll need to test them out yourself to see if they have a positive or negative impact on your gaming experience.
- To enable/disable HAGS, click start and type 'Graphic settings' (Win 11: Graphic settings > Advanced Graphic settings).
- To enable/disable Game mode, press Windows+I and select Gaming.
Disable/Reduce Visual Effects
By disabling or reducing visual effects, you can reduce the workload on the CPU. This can lead to a slight improvement in performance, particularly on older or less powerful systems, as the system doesn't need to spend resources on rendering these effects.
- Open 'This PC' folder then right-click on any empty space and select properties.
- Navigate to Advanced system settings (left side of the window), Settings... (under Advanced tab) and lastly Visual Effects tab. Refer to the picture below.
I usually leave these few things just to not make windows too basic.
Alternatively you can navigate to this setting by pressing Windows+I, then select System. Scroll down to 'About' section and look for Advanced system settings.
Software Settings
Background apps that run while gaming, such as Discord and web browsers, typically have hardware acceleration enabled by default, which uses the GPU. Whether you should keep this setting on depends on how powerful your CPU and GPU are compared to each other.
If your GPU is much stronger than your CPU, it’s generally a good idea to leave hardware acceleration turned on. Turning it off usually shifts the processing load from the GPU to the CPU, which can cause the weaker CPU to work harder and potentially lead to slower performance.
If you stream with OBS and you own a CPU with built-in iGPU, you might want to try using the iGPU as its encoder. Using iGPU for OBS can offload some of the encoding work from your CPU or dedicated GPU, potentially improving performance in other areas like gaming or multitasking.
Nvidia Control Panel/AMD Settings
I keep the settings at default. The setting(nvidia) you might want to test is Threaded Optimization and see if there's any changes to your game.
Registry Tweak
I recommend looking up online on these registry tweaks about "Win32PrioritySeparation" and "Processor Performance Boost Mode".
- Win32PrioritySeparation is a registry setting in Windows that controls how the operating system manages CPU resources between foreground (active) and background (inactive) processes.
- Performance Boost Mode (hidden setting) allows CPU boosting to be turned on or off at desktop without having to go into the bios.
- Probably CPU boost is causing too high temperature leading to thermal throttling and slower performance.