Windows 10 Game Mode setting will be part of the upcoming Creators Update and it borrows a technology from Xbox One where Microsoft ensures that running software in the background will not interrupt with the game. The new setting allocates most of the CPU cores and gives the bulk of GPU cycles to the active game resulting in a smoother no-stutter experience even when Google Chrome or Skype is open in the background.

Microsoft aims to resolve the PC gaming issues experienced by Windows users when other software are left open in the background. The Windows 10 Game Mode brings a technology from Xbox One to Windows 10 where Xbox One players leave Twitch and Pandora open with no interference in the games that they are playing. Microsoft Xbox group product manager Peter Orullian is quick to say that they are not making Windows 10 into an Xbox but only indicated that Microsoft is serious about its commitment to ensuring Windows 10 gamers will have a smooth uninterrupted gaming experience.

Orullian revealed that when Windows 10 Game Mode is enabled, the system optimizes the resources of the CPU and GPU to prioritize the target game. Software left open in the background will still be running with lesser resources to it. The new setting has also been found to add a boost to gaming performance by a few percentage points, according to Ars Technica.

The Windows 10 Game Mode in the CPU side distributes most of the CPU cores solely to the active game. To illustrate, an 8-core system will get 6-cores dedicated exclusively to gaming. What the system does is to transfer the threads to other processors from the gaming-focused cores to decrease thread contention among the many gaming process threads and thereby give the game a boost. Meanwhile, on the GPU side, Game Mode allocates a greater bulk of GPU cycles to the target game and decreases the time available for all other opened programs.

However, Microsoft asserts that it is aiming more for consistency and not necessarily a performance boost, a difficult task given the extensive array of varying hardware and software used by Window users. In the near future, the software giant aims to bring both performance boost and consistency possibly when it has gathered more data since the Windows 10 Creators Update is still in beta testing. Windows 10 users may soon have not just a smoother consistent gaming experience but a big boost to it as well, according to Business Insider. Incidentally, Windows 10 Game Mode is still on a game-by-game basis though "Minecraft" and "Halo Wars 2" bought from the Windows Store will have the feature by default.

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Topics Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft, Xbox One, PC gaming, Halo Wars 2, Minecraft