Microsoft introduces windowed gaming optimizations to reduce latency in Windows 11

Microsoft is working to improve gaming performance in Windows 11. It has introduced some new options, labeled Optimizations for windowed games.

It’s no secret that games running in full screen mode perform better than windowed or borderless modes. There are a couple of factors that affect the level of performance.

When you are playing a game in full screen and try to Alt + Tab to go to a different window (or switch to a different monitor), you may notice that it takes a long time to do so, the screen may stay black for a few minutes. seconds. This is because Full Screen Exclusive (FSE) games bypass the Desktop Window Manager (DWM). On the other hand, DWM controls the display in windowed mode and significantly reduces the time it takes to switch between 2 windows. This is why some games have full screen borderless window enabled by default.

Microsoft addressed the latency issue in Windows 10, with a feature called Full Screen Optimizations, to allow games to run in an optimized borderless windowed mode. This article on the Microsoft Dev Blog explains it very well.

The other factor that plays a big role in gaming performance is vertical sync, also known as V-Sync. Full screen mode allows you to control V-Sync, but if the game is running in windowed mode, you may notice that the V-Sync option is grayed out or not clickable. That’s because V-Sync doesn’t work with windowed programs.

Why is this important? Most modern games have a frame rate slider in settings, which allows you to limit the FPS to a certain limit. for example, 30FPS, 45FPS. 60FPS. Some games don’t have this option, if you have a monitor with a higher refresh rate, say 75Hz, you can enable V-Sync. Enabling this option helps prevent screen tearing by limiting the frame rate to that of your monitor. Setting a frame limit can also reduce the load on your GPU, thus improving game performance. For example, if a game is taxing your graphics card, try lowering the FPS cap and you’ll experience a steady stream instead of ramping up to a higher frame rate and dropping to a lower value from time to time.

The problem is that not all games have the options to toggle V-Sync, Frame Limiter, or set the display mode, which is why Microsoft is introducing a new way to manage your games, Optimizations for Windowed Games.

Image courtesy: Microsoft

Per-game graphics settings in Windows 11

Gaming desktops and mid/high-end laptops have two graphics cards, one that is integrated into the CPU (Intel iGPU or AMD) and one that is dedicated, such as an NVIDIA or Radeon graphics card. While games generally choose the dedicated GPU correctly, some titles may not detect it and instead default to the weaker integrated option.

The new presentation mode in Windows 11 will allow you to manage the graphics settings for each game from the Settings app. Options are available on the System > Display > Graphics page, with an option to choose the GPU. This isn’t a particularly new option, as you can do the same thing with your graphics card software, like Nvidia’s Control Panel (not the Geforce Experience app, which is crap).

The other options In the new mode of Windows 11, it seems interesting, the operating system gives you the option to select whether a game should use Auto HDR, as long as you have the hardware for it. In addition to this, you can toggle variable refresh rate for games that don’t support the feature by default. The setting for hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling was introduced in Windows 10, but frankly, I’ve never seen much of a difference in performance with the option enabled or disabled.

There is another setting in the new mode, which acts as a global switch for Optimizations for windowed games. If you are having problems in the game, you can toggle the option to see if you get better results. If you disable the option, you can still manage the options per game.

Graphics optimizations will be available for games that rely on DirectX 10 and 11. Games running on DirectX 12 already support the new display mode. The announcement article says that Windows 11 will offer the best settings by default, that is, it will manage optimizations automatically. The new options are available in Windows 11 Build 22557 which was released last week.

I haven’t had any issues while gaming on Windows 11. If you’re experiencing lag while gaming, you may want to update your OS as KB5008353, which was released about a month ago, resolved the issue that was slowing SSD performance. And of course you should always update to the latest graphics driver from Nvidia or AMD official website.

What tweaks have you made to improve gaming performance in Windows 11?

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