So you’ve bought a shiny new PC, or built yourself one from scratch, and you’re ready to start gaming. Just because you’ve got a fresh copy of Windows installed and your PC games downloaded doesn’t mean you’re all set to go — there are still a few things you should do to optimize your PC for the best possible experience. In some cases, just a few tweaks to Windows can make all the difference.

In this article, we’re talking about further optimizing your gaming PC for even better performance.

1. Turn on Game Mode

Windows 11 incorporates a variety of features created with gaming in mind, including of course Game Mode. This disables unnecessary background processes while you’re playing, potentially boosting framerates. It also prevents Windows Update from updating drivers automatically or asking you to restart your machine.

Check that Game Mode is on using these steps:

1. Open the Settings app and click on the Gaming tab in the sidebar.
2. Click on Game Mode.
3. Flip the Game Mode toggle if it’s not already active.

2. Disable Windows notifications

Speaking of background processes, Windows lets you disable notifications during specific times, or when certain things are happening — like game sessions. Here’s how to block mid-game notifications automatically:

1. Open the Settings app and select System in the sidebar.
2. Click Notifications.
3. Click Turn on do not disturb automatically.
4. In the drop-down menu, make sure When playing a game is checked.

You can have other do-not-disturb options on simultaneously. At a minimum, in fact, we’d also check When using an app in full-screen mode, since it’s conceivable that some games might not be properly detected, and no one wants notifications interrupting other full-screen apps anyway.

3. Toggle hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling

Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling is a bit complicated to explain in detail. The short version is that if you have a dedicated video card, this will let the card both schedule and render frames instead of making your CPU handle the first part. It can boost the performance of some games, though be warned — the option may have little effect on other titles, and in rare cases it can actually slow things down. We recommend turning it on, but either way, here’s how to toggle it:

1. Select the Windows 11 search bar and type in graphics settings. Hit Enter to open the top result.
2. Click Change default graphics settings.
3. Flip the Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling toggle on or off. You’ll have to reboot for this change to take effect.

4. Adjust the Windows UI for best performance

This is purely optional, but if you want to squeeze maximum performance out of Windows, you can force the interface to prioritize speed by cutting out unnecessary animations and other visual effects. Keep in mind that this won’t have any impact on full-screen games.

1. Select the Windows 11 search bar and type appearance and performance. Hit Enter to open the top result.
2. Under the Visual Effects tab, choose Adjust for best performance.
3. Switch to the Advanced tab, and check that best performance is set for Programs.

5. Turn off enhanced pointer precision

If you’ve bought a gaming mouse, a Windows option meant to improve precision could actually be hindering it. You’ll want to disable the feature as soon as possible.

1. Select the Windows 11 search bar and type in change the mouse. Hit Enter to open the top result.
2. Under the Pointer Options tab, uncheck Enhance pointer precision.
3. At the bottom of the window, click Apply.

While we’re at it, we’d also recommend experimenting with sensitivity in your mouse’s first-party software. While it should be set to at least 800dpi, there’s not much point going over 2,000dpi — even that can be so ridiculously sensitive that your cursor will be flying across the screen.

6. Update your drivers

AMD and Nvidia frequently update their graphics drivers to fix bugs and improve game support. Use AMD’s Adrenalin client or Nvidia’s GeForce Experience to download and install the latest drivers compatible with your hardware.

Read Also: The Importance of Communication in Team-based Games

Don’t forget to run Windows Update on a regular basis, while you’re at it, check for a BIOS update from your PC or motherboard manufacturer if you haven’t looked in several months. BIOS problems can potentially have a huge impact on performance and overall stability. Backup any critical data before installing new firmware.

7. Turn on AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync

Both FreeSync and G-Sync match your monitor’s refresh rate to the frames per second your GPU is operating at. This prevents screen tearing, and ensures a smooth experience while you’re playing. The only catch these days is that a monitor has to be compatible with the appropriate standard for your video card, so you’ll have to check your monitor’s specs or browse AMD and Nvidia’s compatibility lists.

8. Set your monitor’s refresh rate

Windows won’t always default to using the maximum refresh rate for your connected display. It’s worth checking settings in both Windows and your monitor’s onboard menus, since output might otherwise be a meager 60Hz. In Windows:

1. Right-click on your desktop and choose Display settings.
2. Scroll down and click Advanced display.
3. Click Choose a refresh rate. In the drop-down menu, pick your monitor’s maximum refresh rate.

If you don’t see the rate you’re expecting, you may be using the wrong port or cable. Some displays can only achieve their highest refresh rates using DisplayPort or HDMI 2.1, most likely the former.

9. Adjust Windows start-up settings

Many apps you install may automatically load themselves on start-up. This can be convenient, but only if you need them that often — otherwise they’re just background processes wasting your PC’s memory and processor power.

It’s fairly easy to remove apps from the Windows start-up list without uninstalling them:

1. Select the Windows 11 search bar and type in Task Manager. Hit Enter to open it.
2. Look for the Startup tab in the sidebar and click on it.
3. Search through the list of apps that appears, looking for ones you recognize but you don’t use regularly.
4. Right-click on the offending apps and click Disable.

Be careful here, since some apps might be vital to how your PC works. Disabling mouse software could limit your mouse’s button functionality, for example.

10. Use Ethernet rather than Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is continually getting faster and more reliable — we’re already up to Wi-Fi 7 if you can afford it. But there’s still something to be said for using a high-quality Ethernet cable direct from your router to your gaming PC. There’s nothing faster, and virtually no chance of signal interference. We’d recommend using a Cat-6 cable, which tops out at 1Gbps, but if you’ve got a surplus of cash, you can futureproof by buying a 40Gbps Cat-8 connection.

Any contemporary Windows PC can play 2D games with ease, but 3D is a different story. The integrated graphics on AMD and Intel CPUs simply aren’t powerful enough to run modern 3D games at high detail or frame rates. You will need a PC with a dedicated GPU from AMD or Nvidia.

Find the website or store page for the game you wish to play and read the requirements. You’ll need to meet the minimum criteria to start the game, but you should aim to match or exceed the recommended requirements for a decent time.

How to Optimize Your Windows PC’s Gaming Performance and Boost FPS

Change the game’s video settings

While you’re fiddling with your game’s resolution, tweak the other video settings as well for an additional FPS boost. Some games have simple settings that you can adjust by level: ultra, high, medium, low, and so on. Other games have sliders, numerical settings, or more nuanced controls. Experiment to see how it affects your frame rate.

Explore some of the following settings to try and get more FPS from your game.

• Graphical details: Reduce the quality of things like shadows, lighting, textures, and reflections. Your game will look a bit less lifelike, but it should run more smoothly.
• Anti-aliasing: Anti-aliasing smoothes out the edges of the various objects in your game. Turn it off, then slowly increase it to the point where it’s making a difference in your graphics without negatively impacting FPS. If the game offers different types of anti-aliasing, try each one and see what happens.
• Draw distance: If you can, reduce draw distance to prevent the game from rendering far-off objects. With fewer things to render at once, your GPU can focus its available resources on your immediate environment.
• Graphical effects: Tone down or get rid of motion blur, lens flares, and other types of graphical flare. It’s one less thing for your GPU to worry about, and it provides more room for your frame rate to improve.
• VSync: Designed to prevent screen tearing — when your monitor shows portions of multiple frames at the same time — VSync synchronizes the game’s frame rate with the refresh rate of your monitor. It sounds helpful, and often is, but it can sometimes bring down FPS. Turn it off and see what happens. If you notice screen tearing, turn it back on.

Lower your resolution

Unless you have a super high-end gaming PC, you may need to sacrifice some graphics for higher FPS. An average computer simply can’t run modern games at ultra-high resolutions while also putting out a constant 60 FPS.

As resolution increases, the number of pixels on your screen goes up — and so does the strain on your GPU. Lowering your game’s resolution can improve FPS by making your GPU’s job easier since it won’t have to support as many pixels with each frame. The graphics won’t look as clear, but the game should run more smoothly with tweaked display settings.

Decreasing your resolution from 1080p (1080 x 1920) to 900p (900 x 1600) will reduce the total number of pixels by about 30%. Lowering the resolution even more to 720p will give you roughly half as many pixels as your original 1080p setting, making this tip an effective, if inelegant, FPS booster.

Find the resolution settings within your game’s options menu. Experiment to see what your machine can handle and find the optimal balance between clear graphics and better FPS for Windows 11 gaming.

Upgrade your graphics card

After upgrading to a 4K projector, I noticed how my old gaming PC really couldn’t keep up with the higher resolution. While The Witcher 3 ran decently in Full HD, my two GeForce 970 graphics cards (in SLI mode) struggled with 4K, which essentially quadruples the resolution from 1080p.

Only Nvidia’s older Pascal GPU gave us the graphical power to render 4K games at a buttery-smooth 60 FPS and above. But the benchmarks don’t lie. In 2023 and beyond, you’ll need high-end GPUs like the GeForce RTX 4090 to achieve this type of performance and optimize your PC for gaming at this level. Changing the configurations will only help you so much.

If 1440p or 1080p is enough for your gaming needs, you’ll see a significant FPS boost with a much more affordable GPU. And if you’re currently building your own Windows 11 gaming PC, you can choose the perfect GPU for the way you game.

Upgrade to an SSD

SSDs are much faster than mechanical hard disks, making them a great way to optimize your Windows 11 computer for gaming. Upgrading to an SSD (solid state drive) won’t boost your game’s frame rate, but it will speed up your computer and reduce loading times while you play.

Choose an SSD with at least 500 GB of storage, though this is more like an absolute minimum than an effective starting point. Many modern games can exceed 50 GB, and you’ll also need to allocate roughly 30 GB for Windows. And that doesn’t even include all your other files. In reality, you’ll want 1 TB or more.

Upgrade your computer’s RAM

RAM (random access memory) is your computer’s resource pool for all current tasks. The more RAM you have, the more your computer can do at once. Upgrading your PC’s RAM will not only optimize your computer for gaming, but make it more powerful in general.

If you’re adding RAM, make sure your new RAM modules match whatever you currently have. You don’t want to mix and match RAM types. If you’re upgrading all your RAM modules to new ones, confirm which types of RAM your motherboard can support. Then, buy one or more of the same RAM module.

Adding RAM can give you a significant FPS boost, though not as much as upgrading your GPU or CPU. Still, if you can afford the new RAM, it won’t hurt.