Gamers, here are 5 Windows 11 tips that you need to know about

Windows is already a popular platform and captures a bigger market when it comes to the gaming scene. With support for all casual games and AAA titles, most gamers tend to flock to a Windows 11 machine when buying a new laptop or desktop.

However, just because your Windows PC supports plenty of games, doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can do to improve your gaming experience. Here are five Windows 11 tips and tricks that gamers should definitely know about.

1. Game Mode

Windows 11 has a built-in ‘Game Mode’ that can help your games perform better on a desktop or laptop right away. This mode increases the system resources your Windows machine can use to run the games. While this may mean increased energy usage on desktops and lower battery life on laptops, the end results are improved visuals and framerates. You can turn on Game Mode by heading into the Settings menu.

ALSO READ: How to buy a Windows 11 license for your laptop or desktop

2. Auto HDR

High Dynamic Range, or simply HDR, can drastically change how your game looks by boosting brightness and colour depth. If your laptop display or desktop monitor supports HDR, you can flick a simple toggle on in the settings menu to enable it. Right click on your desktop, go to Display Settings, and turn on the HDR toggle.

3. Use per-app GPU settings

For laptops that have a dual-GPU design, including a built-in GPU for everyday tasks and a dedicated GPU for games and other programs, Windows lets you specify which GPU should be put to use. This means you can force Windows to only use the dedicated GPU for certain gamers, offering better performance.

To do this, head to Settings> Gaming> Game Mode> Graphics. On the Graphics Performance page, you will be able to specify which GPU to trigger for every app. This trick can also be used for desktops where you have more than one GPU installed.

4. Turn off enhanced pointer precision

Enhanced pointer precision is a Windows feature that helps you use the trackpad or mouse more efficiently. However, many games have a similar feature baked into them, and if both these settings are on at the same time, you could witness conflicts, resulting in a drop in performance in-game.

To prevent this, you can turn the feature off by heading to Settings and navigating to Bluetooth devices> Additional mouse settings> Pointer Options and turn off the toggle for enhanced pointer precision.

ALSO READ: Top Windows 11 tips and tricks

5. Updating Graphics Card drivers

One of the best ways to improve the graphics performance on your Windows gaming machine is to make sure your graphics card is working at its best. To do this, make sure it’s running the latest drivers. While Windows 11 will automatically update your drivers from time to time, you can also do this manually for a quicker update on specific game fixes. Head over to the website of your graphics card manufacturer, find the latest drivers, and install them. Restart your PC and you’re good to go.

These tips should help you make the most of your Windows PC to game better. However, if these don’t cut it for the level of performance you desire, you may want to consider upgrading your desktop hardware, or your laptop.