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Jan 2026
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Windows 11 PC performance features for gamers

Gamer wearing headphones playing a video game on her computer

Windows 11 brought more than just a visual overhaul, it introduced performance enhancements and powerful gaming features designed to take your experience to the next level. From DirectStorage for faster load times to Auto HDR for richer visuals, the inclusion of ‘Game Mode’ and much more, all serving to prioritise your system’s resources during gameplay.

These enhancements are designed to take full advantage of modern hardware to deliver a smoother, seamless gaming experience. In this article, we will cover the best built-in features for gaming and explore how to tweak key settings in your system to unlock the full performance potential of your Windows 11 PC.

Core Windows 11 gaming features you should be aware of

Windows 11 comes packed with several features designed to enhance your gaming experience, both in terms of overall performance as well as visuals. Let’s look at what you need to be aware of to ensure you have the best Windows 11 settings for when you are gaming:

  • 1. DirectStorage

    This allows NVMe SSDs to transfer a game's data directly to the graphics card, bypassing CPU bottlenecks and delivering blistering speeds for rendering, without long load times. For gaming, this means saying goodbye to loading screens and hello to faster and smoother gameplay.

    PCIe 5.0 SSDs such as the Kingston FURY Renegade G5 will provide the best experience for gaming with DirectStorage by making the most of the next-gen SSD speed. You will also need to have the latest DirectX installed (version 12), which will further enable you to get peak performance from your graphics-intensive games via enhanced graphics quality, improved FPS and a reduced CPU overhead.

    With Windows 11, this is the perfect time to upgrade to an NVMe SSD to see the benefits of DirectStorage. Combined with memory upgrades and increasing the speed and capacity of your device's storage, these improvements can offer an opportunity to transform your overall gaming experience.

  • 2. Game Mode & Game Bar

    Windows 11's Game Mode, which can be found under Settings > Gaming, improves performance by prioritising CPU and GPU resources for your game and minimising background tasks like updates and notifications.

    Game Mode helps reduce interruptions and can boost performance on mid-range PCs. However, it offers minimal benefit on high-end systems and can't manage third-party background apps.

    In addition to Game Mode, the Xbox Game Bar offers tools like screen recording and performance stats, but it can consume system resources even when not actively used. Competitive gamers, or those focused on maximising performance or minimising latency, can disable it under Settings > Gaming > Xbox Game Bar.

  • 3. HDR and graphic enhancements

    Windows 11 brings native support for Auto HDR, automatically detecting HDR-capable displays and enhancing the visual quality of games built on DirectX 12.

    This feature significantly expands the colour and brightness range, delivering more vibrant, immersive visuals. Auto HDR is another way that will elevate your gaming experience.

  • 4. Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling

    This enables your graphics card to manage its own memory more efficiently, reducing latency and potentially improving performance in certain games. However, it can slightly increase VRAM usage, which could affect performance on GPUs that have limited memory.

    You can enable this setting by going to: Settings > System > Display > Graphics > Change default graphics settings, then turning Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling to On.

    Some users will experience smoother performance, while others will notice little change. This will depend on the type of PC specifications you have, but it is worth testing.

  • 5. Variable refresh rate and windowed optimisations

    Variable refresh rate (VRR) helps to reduce screen tearing and stuttering by syncing your monitor’s refresh rate with the game’s frame rate, thus creating smoother visuals.

    Windowed optimisations enhance performance and reduce input latency for games running in windowed or borderless modes by allowing better use of modern GPU features.

    Both settings can be found under: Settings > System > Display > Graphics > Change default graphics settings. These features are most effective with supported displays and newer GPUs and are ideal for improving responsiveness without sacrificing the visual quality that you gain from Game Mode and HDR.

A PC gamer streaming FPS shooter game at home

System tweaks to boost performance

Now that we’ve been through the main gaming features on a Windows 11 system, here are some extra tweaks that you can do to boost your performance even further:

  1. Drivers and Windows updates: First and foremost, we recommend that you keep your graphics drivers and Windows system updated, to ensure compatibility with the latest games. This can help prevent performance issues. Also, these updates often include important optimisations for gaming stability and speed.
  2. Storage and disk optimisations: Use an NVMe SSD if possible and enable features like Windows 11’s Storage Sense to regularly clear temporary files.
  3. Background apps, services and startup: Disable any unnecessary startup apps and background tasks using Task Manager and the Settings app to free up system resources for gaming.
  4. Power and energy settings: You can switch to the ‘High Performance’ or ‘Ultimate Performance’ power plans within Windows to prevent CPU throttling and make sure that your hardware is running at full capacity when gaming.

Tuning your PC for gaming doesn’t require deep technical skills, just a few tweaks to speed up your Windows 11 for smoother performance, faster load times and a more responsive feel overall.

However, it’s important to note that when gaming on Windows 11, you may encounter performance hiccups such as frame drops, input lag or unresponsive apps that often require targeted troubleshooting. Therefore, it’s always important to have fallback steps like creating system restore points or using Windows’ built-in reset options to recover from performance tweaks that could impact your system.

Make Windows 11 work for you

Windows 11 provides a host of features for gamers. As we have explored in this article, everything from performance to visuals, and gaming-specific features that include Game Mode, HDR, DirectStorage and GPU Scheduling, all come together to take your gaming experience to the next level.

While we have examined each of the key features individually, we recommend that when you take action, you test these features on your system and monitor them to make sure they are right for you, to ensure that you get the most out of your gaming experience on Windows 11.

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