Windows 10 Game Mode Can Make Games Perform Worse

Published: May 1, 2017 7:59 AM /

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Windows 10 Game Mode Header

It seems like the Game Mode feature for Windows 10 has problems at the moment, making games running while this mode is active often perform markedly worse than games running with the mode turned off.

The Game Mode was introduced to Windows 10 with the recent release of the Creators Update. The Game Mode is supposed to free up more system resources so that, in theory, your games have more system memory to use. Microsoft said that using the Game Mode will get you a few extra frames which should give games a more consistent performance. This, unfortunately, doesn't seem to be happening when you turn the mode on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfoJO_eThTY&feature=youtu.be

In the video, Linus Sebastian tests the new feature on 3 different systems, from high-end (i7-7700K + GTX 1080)) to mid-end (i5-7600K + GTX 1060) to budget (i3-7350K + GTX 1050TI). His findings show that games either get a negligible performance boost or a rather high drop in overall performance.

Here's a gallery showing all the benchmark results across the different systems with the Game Mode turned on:

[gallery ids="148171,148172,148173,148174"]

That's pretty damning evidence that the game, at least in its current form, is doing more harm than good when switched on. The Game Mode also doesn't seem to provide more stability to your gaming experience, with the mode tanking framerates from stable to unstable in an alarming manner.

Games performed noticeably worse in DirectX 11 with the mode turned on, with only Gears of War 4 seeing a marked increase in performance on the high-end system as long as the game mode is turned off. Turning it on drops the minimum framerate from 91.3 frames pers second to 32.2 frames per second.

[gallery type="slideshow" ids="148177,148178,148179,148180"]

The mid-end and low-end systems didn't show much sign of improving the performance while running a DirectX 12 game with the Game Mode turned on. According to the tests done by Linus Tech Tips, the high-end system seemed to be negatively impacted the most by the Game Mode.

Until they manage to fix this (if that's even possible), it would be a good idea to leave the Game Mode unused for the time being. Linus makes a good point that most modern games won't really benefit from a marginal theoretical increase in performance by diverting more system resources to your game because most games already use all they need to use to run as good as possible. Windows already prioritizes resources based on what the user needs, so the Game Mode seems like a solution for a nonexistent problem. Or, at the very least, a problem that isn't as serious as we may have previously believed.

Have you been experiencing performance decreases with Windows 10's Creators Update? Let us know in the comment section down below!

 

 

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Chris Anderson
| Staff Writer

I've been playing games since I was just barely able to walk so I might as well write about them.