Gaming performance: How to fix FPS drops in Windows 11

Stuttering despite high-end PC under Windows 11? Your system is slowing itself down. We'll show you the real FPS killers that have nothing to do with old bloatware. Learn how to disable VBS (core isolation) - the biggest FPS gain. We explain the Intel P/E core scheduler bug and give a clear rule for HAGS (important for DLSS 3). Get your full performance back.

A high-end gaming PC sits on the desk. An RTX 4080, a brand new Core i9 processor. And yet: games sometimes feel jerky, benchmarks are disappointing and latency is higher than expected.

Many users then start a frustrating search, disable dozens of Windows services or download dubious "debloating" scripts.

However, the reality is that Windows 11 is a compromise "out of the box". Microsoft has placed a strong focus on security, which comes at the cost of measurable performance in the standard configuration.

This article dispels the myths surrounding Windows optimization. The assumption that disabling twenty services will magically increase FPS is simply false on modern systems. Instead, this analysis focuses on the real braking blocks documented by Microsoft and hardware manufacturers.

The examination of the system architecture of Windows 11 reveals three main causes of performance problems:

The gaming community often treats the right symptom (poor performance) but with the wrong medicine (unnecessary debloating). This analysis clears up the confusion and shifts the focus to the real causes.

By far the biggest performance brake in Windows 11 is not a bug, but a feature. It is a series of security functions known as "Core Isolation", "Memory Integrity / HVCI" and "Virtual Machine Platform" (VMP).

In essence, Windows 11 places a virtual container (a "sandbox") around the core of the operating system. This mechanism is extremely effective at preventing attackers and malware from injecting malicious code into system-critical processes.

However, this protection comes at a measurable price.

The crucial point for the credibility of this analysis is that Microsoft officially documents the performance problem. A (now removed) support document from Microsoft on the topic of "Options to optimize gaming performance in Windows 11" confirms the problem.

Microsoft notes that "in some scenarios and some configurations of gaming devices there may be a performance impact" due to memory integrity and VMP.

The company explicitly gives players who want to prioritize performance the choice and the guidance to disable these features. This is the "Game Mode" that Microsoft forgot to prominently explain. On all new Windows 11 devices, these features are enabled by default.

The real cost of this standard security is significant. Independent benchmarks show that FPS loss in CPU-limited scenarios can range from 5 % to a shocking 25 %. A side effect confirms this: Users report that the CPU temperature drops after deactivation, which proves the lower system load (overhead) due to virtualization.

To unlock the full performance, two settings must be changed.

A system restart is mandatory for both changes.

This deactivation has a clear downside, which Microsoft clearly states: "if turned off, the device may be vulnerable to threats".

You actively sacrifice part of the modern system protection for higher frame rates. For a dedicated gaming PC that is not used for online banking or sensitive emails, this may be an acceptable compromise.

This need to trust providers and platforms when deliberately lowering their own system defenses (VBS) reflects a larger trend. Gamers who demand technical transparency in FPS benchmarks expect the same transparency when it comes to online services. The growing interest in clearly regulated and verifiable offerings, such as those provided by Plinko Casinos for Germans, shows how important transparent mechanics and secure, compliant processes have become for users. If you lower the "firewall" of your own PC (VBS) for performance, you must be able to rely on the "firewall" of the website you are visiting being intact.

The second major performance brake is not a feature, but a tangible software bug. It affects users of Intel's modern hybrid processors (12th, 13th and 14th generation).

Intel has revolutionized CPU design with its performance hybrid architecture. The concept is brilliant:

Intel's official promise is that this design enables "smoother gameplay" because the e-cores prevent background tasks from interfering with the game on the P-cores. This is controlled by the "Intel Thread Director" in cooperation with the Windows 11 task scheduler.

The reality is dramatically different for some users. Detailed reports in the Microsoft Tech Community from October 2024 document a "significant performance drop" on high-end CPUs such as the 14900K.

The reason: The Windows Task Scheduler (in versions 23H2 and 24H2) makes a catastrophic error. It mistakenly places the games and benchmarks on the slow E-cores, while the powerful P-cores remain idle.

The measured drop in performance is dramatic. One user reports how his 3DMark TimeSpy score plummeted from a stable 24,000 points to below 20,000 points.

This malfunction reverses the purpose of the e-core architecture. The hardware designed to manage background tasks becomes an incalculable risk for the main application. This explains why some power users are frustrated and dismiss e-cores as a "marketing gimmick". The problem is not the hardware, but the failure of the software (scheduler) to control them correctly.

As an extreme workaround, affected users completely deactivated the e-cores in the BIOS. The result: The FPS only with P-cores was higher than in the faulty hybrid mode with P- and E-cores.

The third important setting is "Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling" (HAGS). This function is intended to give the GPU more direct control over its own video memory (VRAM) and task scheduling, which theoretically reduces the load on the CPU.

Many optimization guides recommend activating HAGS across the board. However, a detailed benchmark analysis of 26 games (carried out by BabelTechReviews) shows a complex picture.

For owners of an NVIDIA RTX 40 series (e.g. 4060, 4070, 4080, 4090), the debate about HAGS is irrelevant. The "HAGS on or off" question has already been decided for them.

HAGS is mandatory for the function of DLSS 3 Frame Generation.

If HAGS is deactivated in the Windows graphics menu, the "Frame Generation" option remains grayed out in games such as Cyberpunk 2077 or A Plague Tale Requiem and cannot be activated.

The confusion surrounding HAGS can be resolved with a clear, two-part recommendation:

No Windows tweak guide is complete without the topic of "debloating". This is where most myths circulate, from "miracle scripts" to long lists of services that supposedly need to be disabled.

The cold shower first: On a modern gaming system, the FPS gain from deactivating services or removing UWP apps (Universal Windows Platform) is almost impossible to measure. Experience reports from power users confirm this: The difference is "1-2 fps... Nothing worth the struggle".

Despite this, "debloating" can be divided into three meaningful categories:

Indiscriminately disabling dozens of Windows services using lists or scripts is the most common mistake. It does not bring measurable gaming performance, but can damage important system functions. An example: Disabling the "Display Policy Service" can lead to monitors above 60Hz no longer being recognized correctly and G-Sync/Freesync being blocked.

These tweaks may not result in 20 FPS, but they do ensure a more responsive system:

Two Windows features have been shown to consume resources during gameplay, as they act as an overlay:

The real "bloat" is not services, but pre-installed apps. Instead of a "black box" script (which could even be malware), individual PowerShell commands provide full control.

Start PowerShell as administrator, then:

For users who operate a PC used exclusively for gaming, there is a short list of services that can be safely deactivated (Start > services.msc).

If you want to deactivate even more services, look here.

The analysis shows that the hunt for FPS in Windows 11 often goes in the wrong direction. The biggest roadblocks are not bloatware apps, but systemic decisions and software errors.

This results in a clear action plan for every gamer:

Now the facts are on the table. The hunt for useless services can stop - it's time to take care of the real roadblocks and unlock the full power of your gaming PC.