Before buying new hardware, make sure Windows is not holding performance back. Outdated drivers, background apps, startup clutter, low power modes, wrong GPU selection, and slow storage can all make games choppier than they should be.
These steps apply to Windows 10 and Windows 11 desktops and laptops used for gaming.
Does this affect you?
Use this if games stutter, frame rates are lower than expected, or a laptop feels much slower than its specs suggest.
Update drivers and enable gaming features
- Update the graphics driver through NVIDIA, AMD Software, or Intel’s driver tool.
- Restart the PC after the update.
- Open Settings > Gaming > Game Mode and turn Game Mode on.
- Open Settings > System > Display > Graphics.
- Add your game if needed and set it to High performance.
- On supported laptops and GPUs, test Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling.
The high-performance graphics setting matters most on laptops with integrated and dedicated GPUs.
Free CPU, RAM, and disk resources
- Open Task Manager and sort Processes by CPU and Memory.
- Close heavy browsers, launchers, chat apps, and capture tools.
- Open Startup apps and disable programs you do not need at login.
- Set Settings > System > Power & battery > Power mode to Best performance while gaming.
- Move games from a hard drive to an SSD when possible.
- Close overlays such as Discord overlay, Xbox Game Bar, and monitoring overlays you are not using.
An SSD helps most with load times and open-world streaming stutter, not raw average FPS.
Tune in-game settings
Resolution, shadows, anti-aliasing, ray tracing, ambient occlusion, and draw distance often cost the most performance. Lower those before reducing every setting blindly.
Use DLSS, FSR, or XeSS if the game and GPU support it. Upscaling can recover a lot of frame rate with less visual loss than dropping output resolution.
A frame cap a few FPS below your monitor refresh rate can reduce tearing and GPU load spikes, which can make gameplay feel smoother.
Find the real bottleneck
If performance is still poor, open Task Manager > Performance while gaming. If the GPU is pinned near full load, graphics settings or GPU upgrade matter most. If the CPU is maxed while GPU usage is low, the CPU, background apps, or game engine may be limiting performance.
Sources
- NVIDIA – GeForce Experience and Driver Update Guide (2025)
- Microsoft Support – Optimize Windows 11 for Games (2025)
- Microsoft Support – Change Power Mode for a Windows PC (2025)