PC Optimization for Gaming

• A collection of Tweaks.bat focused on optimizing overall responsiveness by improving framerate, frametimes, input and device communication latencies.
• Experimental Windows11Tweaks.bat that make the OS more responsive. Remove bloat and configure telemetry, security and privacy elements.
• Other improvements can include reducing or eliminating stutters and hitching.

Note

• Serves mainly as a document to track my own configuration changes.
• Not intended as a comprehensive user guide with technical explanations or a FAQ.
• Not a system overclocking guide.
• Currently tested and working on;
  • INTEL i9 12900K
  • NVIDIA RTX 3080
  • WINDOWS 11 Pro [Version 25H2 Build 26200.6899]

Warning

• Tweaks are experimental.
• Tailored for Intel CPU, NVIDIA GPU and Windows 11 OS.
• Expect increased temperatures, power consumption and usage of CPU and GPU.
• Use the scripts provided as a reference to test and tailor settings to your own environment.

Caution

• Use at your own risk.

Software & Tools Used

• ASUS GPU Tweak III
• Display Driver Unistaller (DDU)
• Driver Store Explorer
• Equalizer APO + PEACE
• HWiNFO
• Intelligent Standby List Cleaner
• Interrupt Affinity Policy Tool
• Measure Sleep
• NVIDIA Profile Inspector
• NVCleanInstall
• ParkControl
• Power Settings Explorer
• Timer Bench
• USB Device Viewer
• USB Tree Viewer

BIOS - General Settings

Disable:

• Active State Power Management (ASPM) Disable
• Aggressive Link Power Management (ALPM) Disable
• Hyper-V Disable
• Intel Virtualization Technology Disable
• VT-d Disable
• Hyper-Threading [Dependant on Game/System] Disable
• Spread Spectrum [When Overclocking]Disable
• CPU C-States Disable
• CPU Power Throttling Disable
• CPU Thermal ProtectionDisable
• Fast Boot Disable
• Intel SpeedStep Disable
• Intel TurboBoost Disable
• TPM Disable
• Integrated devices [Audio, Video, Bluetooth, WiFi] Disable
• Unused USB ports Disable

Enable:

• Above 4G Decoding [Resizable Bar] Enable
• AHCI [SATA Controller Mode] Enable
• XMP [Profiles for RAM]Enable
• High Performance Power Mode [Intel Defaults] Enable
• BCLK size [Set to 100.00 Mhz]Enable
• High Precision Event Timer (HPET) Enable
• AVX Offset - Set to Enable and 0 offset.
• Load Line Calibration (LLC) [Set a static voltage for CPU vcore and use LLC] Enable
• Secure Boot Enable

Note

• Performance improvement by disabling Hyper-Threading will vary by game. May benefit by; decreasing power draw and temperatures, specific core/instruction assignments and increase overclock stability or capabilities. There are always trade-offs.
• Set appropriate number of cores value in BCDTweaks.bat to match your HT setting.

BIOS - Enable Resizable BAR

• Enabling Resizable BAR in the BIOS is required otherwise the GPU Driver level settings will not have any effect.

• In BIOS:

  • Set Above 4G Decoding [Resizable Bar] to Enable

• In NVIDIA Profile Inspector:

  • Set rBAR - Feature to Enable
  • Set rBAR - Options to 0x00000001
  • Set rBAR - Size Limit to 0x0000000060000000 [1.5GB]

Note

• Enabling Resizable BAR in the BIOS depends on your hardware compatibility, motherboard manufacturer and BIOS version.
• You can verify Resizable BAR is enabled by opening the NVIDIA Control Panel then System Information, and then look for Resizable BAR in the list. If it says Yes, you’re set.

NVIDIA - Graphics Card Driver Clean Install

• Boot Windows in Safe Mode
• Run Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to remove all traces of your current NVIDIA driver from your PC.
• Reboot
• Run NVCleanInstall software to install a modified version of the NVIDIA graphics card driver.
• Follow the settings in the next section

NVCleanInstall - Settings

• Select Components to Install Display Driver (Required)
• Disable Installer Telemetry & Advertising On
• Unattended Express Installation On
• Perform a clean installation On
• Disable Multi-Plane Overlay (MPO) On
• Disable Ansel On
• Show Expert Tweaks On
• Disable Driver Telemetry (Experimental) On
• Enable Message Signaled Interrupts (MSI) On
• Interupt Policy Specified Processers Click Select Processors and assign the cores you want MSI to be assigned for the GPU
• Interupt Priority High
• Disable HDCP On
• Rebuild Digital Signature (Required) On
• Use Method Compatible With Easy Anti-Cheat On
• Automatically Accept "Driver Unsigned" warning On

NVIDIA - Control Panel - 3D Settings

• Open NVIDIA Control Panel
• Click Manage 3D Settings
• Image Scaling Off
• Image Sharpening Off
• Anisotropic Filtering Off
• Antialiasing - FXAA Off
• Antialiasing - Gamma Correction On
• Antialiasing - Mode Application Controlled
• Antialiasing - Transparancy Off
• Background Application Max Frame Rate Off
• CUDA – GPUS All
• Low Latency Mode On or Ultra
• Max Frame Rate Off or Match Your Monitor's Refresh Rate
• Monitor Technology Fixed Refresh
• Multi-Frame Samples AA (MFAA) Off
• OpenGL GDI Compatibility Prefer performance
• OpenGL Rendering GPU Auto
• Power Management Mode Prefer Max Performance
• Preferred refresh rate Highest available
• Shader Cache Size - Unlimited
• Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization Off
• Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias Clamp
• Texture filtering - Quality High Performance
• Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization Off
• Threaded optimization On
• Tripple buffering Off
• Vertical Sync Off

Note

• Set these as the global profile for NVIDIA
• Individually set specific NVIDIA profile per game .exe to your preference [such as sharpening or frame-rate locking]
• Low Latency Mode [Off/On/Ultra] is preferential based and the best choice will depend on the game and your hardware.
• NVIDIA Reflex setttings enabled in-game will override any Low Latency Mode flag set.
• Negative LOD bias setting is preferential based and the best choice will depend on the game. Manipulates texture pop-in distance and quality.
• Some games intentionally ignore NVIDIA Control Panel settings or are simply not compatible.

NVIDIA Control Panel - Color Settings

• Open NVIDIA Control Panel
• Under Display select Change Resolution
• Select Use NVIDIA color settings
• Under Desktop color depth select Highest (32-bit)
• Under Output color depth select 8 bpc
• Under Output color format select RGB
• Under Output dynamic range select Full

NVIDIA Control Panel - Desktop Size and Position

• Open NVIDIA Control Panel
• Under Display Select Adjust Desktop Size and Position
• Under Select Scaling Mode Select No Scaling
• Under Perform Scaling On: Select GPU
• Check Override the scaling mode set by games and programs to On

Note

• In general, any type of scaling either by GPU or Display will add some amount of latency.
• GPU scaling is typically faster than what built-in monitor technology offers which, on some models, can introduce more input latency than expected.

• NVIDIA Control Panel - 3D Settings - Forcing High Performance

• Open NVIDIA Control Panel
• Click Manage 3D Settings
• Click Program Settings
• Click Add set Power Management Mode to High Performance for;
  • DWM.exe (located in \Windows\System32)
  • Explorer.exe (located in \Windows)
  • MicrosoftShellExperienceHost
  • Steam
  • Browsers
  • VLC
  • Any other games or apps with this toggle not set correctly

Note

• Simple method for forcing High Performance individually for specific Windows apps and game .exes ensuring Power Management Mode is NOT set to NVIDIA Recommended.

NVIDIA Profile Inspector - Settings

• GSYNC - Application Mode Off
• GSYNC - Application Requested State Off
• GSYNC - Application State Disable
• GSYNC - Global Feature Off
• GSYNC - Global Mode Off
• Vertical Sync - Force Off
• Vertical Sync - Smooth AFR Behavior Off
• Vertical Sync - Tear Control Standard
• Antialiasing - Line Gamma On
• Ansel - Enabled Off [Dependancy for NVIDIA APP/GUI and Overlay. Does not impact NVIDIA Control Panel]
• CUDA - Forced P2 State Off
• DLSS - Enable DLL Override - On - DLSS Overridden by latest available
• DLSS - Forced Preset Letter - Always use latest
• DLSS-RR - Enable DLL Override - On - DLSS-RR Overridden by latest available
• DLSS-RR - Forced Preset Letter - Always use latest
• Raytracing - (DXR) Enabled Off
• Raytracing - (Vulkan RT) Enabled Off
• rBAR - Feature Enable
• rBAR - Options 0x00000001 (Returnal, Red Dead Redemption 2)
• rBAR - Size Limit 0x0000000060000000 [1.5GB]
• Antialiasing - SLI AA 0x00000000 AA_MODE_SELECTOR_SLIAA_DISABLED
• NVIDIA Predefined Ansel Usage 0x00000000 ANSEL_ALLOW_DISALLOWED
• Variable Refresh Rate 0x00000000 VSYNCVRRCONTROL_DISABLE
• Staging Cache Size 0x01000001 Max
• Shader Max Reg Allowed 0x00000400 Max [Specifies max register allowed when compiling/optimizing a shader]

Windows Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling

• Open Control Panel
• Select System
• Select Display
• Select Graphics
• Select Change Default Graphics Settings
• Set Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling to On

Windows Game Mode

• OpenControl Panel
• Select Gaming
• Select Game Mode
• Set Game Mode to On

Windows Audio

• Disable Audio/Signal Enhancements
• Disable Spatial Sound
• Enable Exclusive Mode
• Open Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound > Communications > Set to Do Nothing
• Set Audio Output to Headphones mode in games whenever possible
• Set Default Format to 24-bit 48000Hz (Studio Quality)
• Increase and keep Windows OS volume set to 100%
  • Use your DAC/AMP, physical volume slider or in-game settings to control volume levels instead

Windows Timer Resolution

• Use the Intelligent Standby List Cleaner application to force a Windows Timer Resolution
• Start this program with windows and always running in the background
• Enable Custome Timer Resolution
• Enable GlobalTimerResolutionRequests [we already force enable this in the registry in TimerTweaks.bat]
• Set the Wanted Timer Resolution field to a value extremely close to 0.5ms
• Use Measure Sleep application to check diagnostics for resolution, sleep and delta;

Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0038ms (delta: 0.0038)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0040ms (delta: 0.0040)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0036ms (delta: 0.0036)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0042ms (delta: 0.0042)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0045ms (delta: 0.0045)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0041ms (delta: 0.0041)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0076ms (delta: 0.0076)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0033ms (delta: 0.0033)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0041ms (delta: 0.0041)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0045ms (delta: 0.0045)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0041ms (delta: 0.0041)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0031ms (delta: 0.0031)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0035ms (delta: 0.0035)
Resolution: 0.5050ms, Sleep(n=1) slept 1.0033ms (delta: 0.0033)

Note

• The default Windows setting is around ~15ms.
• For my system, setting the Timer Resolution value to 0.5050 produced the best result where each sleep metric is exact/accurate to 2 decimal places - 1.00ms.
• On your system, test different Timer Resolution values so that you achieve the lowest and most consistent sleep metric
• Your Timer Resolution isn't optimal when you see the sleep values vary too much (spiking from 1ms to 2ms or higher)

Message Signal Intterupts (MSI)

• Use the Interrupt Affinity Policy Tool application to define and force Message Signal Intterupts
• Assign cpu cores to separate devices where interrupts are sent to
• Assign priority level

Device	Priority	Core Assignment
GPU	High	P-Cores 4,5,6,7
Network Controller	High	P-Cores 1,2,3
USB Host Controllers	High	P-Cores 1,2,3
NVME Drives	High	E-cores 8-15
NVME Controllers	High	E-cores 8-15

Note

• Example table shows a configuartion where HyperThreading is disabled, that sets high priority and seperates intterupts individually on usable threads for all MSI enabled devices.
• Recommended to not set intterupts on Core 0. Typically the default interrupt thread(s) for entire system. Bottleneck in many cases where OS, applications and games can default to significant usage of this core/thread(s).

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Plundered with ❤️ by NEKR1D