You can get a noticeable performance boost without touching your hardware at all, just by adjusting Windows settings. All 12 tweaks below are free and take about 20 minutes total.
1. Turn on Game Mode
Settings → Gaming → Game Mode. This tells Windows to deprioritize OS updates and notifications while a game is running — reducing the chance of a sudden background task causing FPS fluctuations.
2. Set your power plan to "High Performance" or "Best Performance"
Settings → System → Power & Battery (or Control Panel → Power Options). The "Balanced" mode can cause the CPU to be slow to ramp up (boost) during sudden load spikes — leading to micro-stutters (see our stuttering guide).
3. Check Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling
Settings → System → Display → Graphics → Default graphics settings. Turning on "Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling" can reduce latency on some systems — worth testing on your own setup.
4. Disable unnecessary startup apps
Task Manager → Startup tab. Turn off apps that auto-launch at boot and keep running in the background without you needing them (updaters, unnecessary cloud sync tools). Each one takes a small but constant toll on CPU and RAM.
5. Review Discord, browser tabs, and overlays
A Discord overlay left running during gameplay, open browser tabs, and hardware overlay software (including NVIDIA/AMD's own tools) can add up to a meaningful resource drain. Close what you don't need.
6. Keep Windows and drivers up to date
Both Windows updates and GPU driver updates include performance improvements and bug fixes — this can make a real difference, especially for newly released games.
7. Free up disk space
When your system drive (usually C:) fills past 85-90%, the space Windows uses for temp files and paging gets constrained — which can hurt performance. Use Disk Cleanup to clear out unnecessary files.
8. Reduce visual effects (optional)
System Properties → Advanced → Performance Settings → "Adjust for best performance." Turning off Windows UI animations and shadow effects can make a small but real difference on lower-end systems.
9. Schedule Windows Defender scans outside your gaming hours
Real-time protection should stay on (for security), but make sure heavier operations like scheduled full scans don't overlap with your gaming sessions.
10. Check your page file
If your RAM fills up frequently, make sure the automatically-managed page file has enough free space on the system drive. The permanent fix, though, is having enough RAM in the first place.
11. Mute notifications
Settings → System → Notifications → Focus Assist. Pop-up notifications during gameplay are both distracting and can cause small, momentary performance blips.
12. Check global settings in the NVIDIA/AMD control panel
In the NVIDIA Control Panel or AMD Software, make sure "Power Management Mode" is set to "Maximum Performance" — the default "Adaptive" mode can give lower performance in some scenarios.
How much difference does this actually make?
No single tweak here is a dramatic FPS boost on its own, but together they produce a real improvement, especially in stutter and consistent frame times. After making these changes, check the expected FPS range for your hardware in our calculator to see how close your real-world performance lands to it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to redo these settings for every individual game?
No — most of these settings (power plan, Game Mode, startup apps) are system-wide, done once, and automatically apply to every game you play.
Does turning off visual effects actually make a difference?
It can create a small but measurable difference on lower-end or older systems. On a strong, up-to-date system you're unlikely to notice it — feel free to put this step lowest on your priority list.
Should I fully disable Windows Defender for gaming performance?
No, this isn't recommended — keeping real-time protection on and simply making sure scheduled full scans don't overlap with your gaming hours preserves security while minimizing any performance impact.