Windows 11 includes a feature called “Game Mode” which is enabled by default. When the operating system detects that a video game is running, Game Mode forcefully deprioritises background tasks and reallocates CPU and GPU resources to maximise frame rates.
While excellent for gamers, this feature can cause severe performance issues for creative professionals. If you run intensive background rendering tasks in Adobe Premiere, compile large codebases, or run heavy virtual machines while trying to do light gaming or 3D modelling in the foreground, Game Mode will actively throttle and starve your professional background applications of the processing power they need.
If you value consistent multitasking performance over a few extra frames per second, you should disable Game Mode completely.
How to Turn Off Windows 11 Game Mode
Disabling this aggressive resource management is quick and easy via the Settings app.
- Click the Start button and select the Settings gear icon (or press Windows Key + I on your keyboard).
- In the left-hand navigation pane, click on Gaming.
- On the right side of the screen, click on Game Mode.
- You will see a toggle switch labelled Game Mode: Optimise your PC for play by turning things off in the background.
- Click the toggle switch to turn it Off.
The change takes effect immediately. Windows 11 will no longer attempt to intelligently choke background processes when it detects a heavy graphical application.
Your CPU and GPU resources will now be distributed fairly by the standard Windows task scheduler, ensuring that your heavy professional background renders or compile scripts continue to run at full speed, regardless of what application happens to be in focus on your monitor.