How To Optimize Your PC as a Gamer

Gaming on your PC is a lot of fun, but it may also be difficult. You might only be playing optimally if your PC is properly optimized for your gaming preferences.

Luckily, you can do many things to optimize the speed of your PC for a better gaming experience. A few changes to Windows settings can have a significant effect.

1. Activate Gaming mode

Windows is already designed to be user-friendly for gaming. Microsoft understands that PC users enjoy playing games. Despite this, Windows still requires modifications to improve performance and gaming mode. This is a setting that controls system resources for improved gaming performance.

To activate Game Mode, perform the following steps:

• Type Game into the Start menu on your keyboard.
• When Game Mode Settings displays at the top of the Start menu, click it.
• To activate the game mode, press the button.

2. Turn Off Notifications 

It is even better to avoid being interrupted while playing. Windows provides a feature that allows you to block notifications at specific periods or when certain events occur. So no more annoying pop-ups to ruin your enjoyment.

To access the settings, perform the following steps:

• Type Focus Assist into the Windows start menu on your PC or keyboard.
• Click on notifications – “and tap, do not disturb” – in the focus settings.
• Tick “when playing a game” in the “turn on do not disturb automatically” setting.

Alternatively, you can set the do not disturb mode to activate just at certain times of the day. This is useful if you always play video games in the evening. Set the timer and enjoy uninterrupted gameplay.

3. Enable GPU Hardware Acceleration Schedule

GPU scheduling that is hardware-accelerated helps your computer to improve performance and reduce latency as well. If you have the proper hardware, you may easily enable this feature, similar to Game Mode:

• First, search for Graphics Settings by pressing the Start button.
• Then select Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling.
• Scroll down to the “graphics performance preference” options and select the app to adjust your preference. Using the dropdown, you may choose whether this is a desktop app or a Microsoft Store app.
• Click the app, then settings, and then high performance.
• Repeat for any game where you wish to get the best performance.

4. Update your Drivers Regularly 

If you want the optimum performance, we recommend not only keeping Windows up to current (ideally outside of gaming hours) but also keeping your graphics card drivers up to date.

5. Adjust for Optimal Performance

Some quality settings may have a negative impact on gaming performance. It may pay to turn them off or at least optimize for performance instead of appearance.

To accomplish this:

• On your PC or keyboard, press the Windows start button and type appearance and performance.
• When it displays, click “Adjust the performance and appearance of Windows.” and click the setting that says “Adjust for the best performance.”
• Choose that and press the Apply button.
• On the advanced tab, ensure that the best performance is chosen for programs rather than background tasks. 

6. Set the Refresh Rate of your Monitor

Windows will not always use the highest refresh rate for your connected display. If you have the best gaming display with a high refresh rate, you must enable the setting on the monitor and Windows.

Otherwise, the monitor will be set at 60Hz. So follow these procedures to choose your maximum refresh rate:

• Right-click your desktop and select Display Options.
• Go down to the “advanced display settings” section.
• Then go down to refresh rate and select it from the dropdown menu. Choose the maximum refresh rate for your monitor.

 7. Disable Background Apps

Many of the apps you install will force themselves into the startup process. So when you turn on your PC and join Windows, those apps will wait for you. Unfortunately, this is only sometimes beneficial because the apps become background processes, consuming processing power and resources.

Fortunately, it’s relatively simple to disable these apps and make your PC boot faster and optimize it for gaming. Take the following steps:

• To access Task Manager, press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC.
• Locate and select the Startup tab.
• Then, find apps you don’t use daily.
• Finally, disable the troublesome apps by right-clicking on them.

Wrapping Up 

Whether you have a new or old gaming PC, you should optimize it for improved game performance with a few simple adjustments. Windows isn’t designed for gaming by default, but with a few tweaks to its settings, you can boost your gaming performance.