The Gaming section in Windows 11 Settings panel includes various options and features to help gamers the most. Whether you want to optimize your PC for high-end gaming or record your gameplay, you can do everything with the help of the Gaming Settings in Windows 11.
To use or customize the Gaming settings in Windows 11, you need to press Win+I to open Windows 11 Settings and switch to the Gaming tab on the left side.
Best Windows 11 Gaming Settings
The three Gaming settings in Windows 11 are:
- Xbox Game Bar
- Captures
- Game Mode
Let’s learn more about these settings in detail.
1] Xbox Game Bar
In Windows 10, all the corresponding options were included in the Game Bar section. However, in Windows 11, you cannot find any of the earlier options in the Windows Settings panel. You can read more here about the Xbox game bar in Windows 11.
For your information, you can turn on or off Game Bar on your computer with the help of a keyboard shortcut, Win+G. On the other hand, the Xbox Game Bar panel has an option that allows you to use the shortcut on your computer. For example, you can prevent users from using the Game Bar by toggling the respective button.
As mentioned earlier, Windows 10 used to have all the options to manage keyboard shortcuts and all. However, now you cannot find them here. Instead, you need to press Win+G to display the Game Bar, click on the Settings gear icon, and select the Shortcuts option.
After that, you can manage or customize your keyboard shortcuts as per your requirements.
Read: Optimize Windows 11 for gaming
2] Captures
The Captures section is for those who want to capture screenshots and record the gameplay of any game. You can set things up according to your wish so that it records everything smoothly. Talking about the options, you can find the following:
- Captures location: As it denotes, you can choose a location where you want to save all the screenshots. By default, it saves images in C:\Users\username\Videos\Captures.
- Record what happened: This option is for those who do not want to capture the entire game and instead want to record only important parts. If you enable this setting, you can press Win+Alt+G to start recording quickly when something happens in the game.
- Max record length: By default, it is set to 2 hours. However, you can choose something else as per your requirements. However, you should set something according to your hard drive capacity. Otherwise, the clip may not be saved.
- Capture audio when recording a game
- Video frame rate: Although this setting depends on the monitor and hardware you have, you can find some common frame rates such as 30FPS, 24FPS, etc. You need to choose something that your monitor supports.
- Video quality: Games are supposed to adopt the monitor resolution automatically. However, some old games might not do that and end up displaying blurry clips. If so, you might want to keep the recording quality low to cope up with the game.
- Capture mouse cursor when recording a game
For your information, you might get Sorry, your PC doesn’t meet the hardware requirements for captures error while setting up the Captures settings. In that case, you must ensure that you have the required hardware installed.
3] Game Mode
Game Mode helps you play any game without any lag or any hang on Windows 11. If you turn on or enable Game Mode in Windows 11, it starts prioritizing your game by reducing or blocking all the background processes. It is not a mandatory feature to enable to play games on your computer. However, enabling this functionality lets you improve the gaming experience dramatically.
The only required thing is that you must enable or disable Game Mode when the game is closed. Enabling this feature during gameplay won’t affect much.
Does Windows 11 improve gaming performance?
As of now, there is no official statement on improving gaming performance on Windows 11. It entirely depends on the hardware you are using and the games you are playing. For example, if you have Windows 11 on old hardware and play some heavy-weight games, it will certainly ruin the experience.
How can I make games run faster on Windows 11?
You can make games run faster on Windows 11 by enabling the Game Mode. It improves the performance of the game by reducing the number of background processes. If you turn on the Game Mode, Windows 11 starts prioritizing the game instead of all the other processes. To enable Game Mode, you need to open Windows Settings, go to the Gaming > Game Mode, and toggle the corresponding button.
TIP: This post will help you if games are crashing on your PC.
Is Windows 11 better for gaming than Windows 10?
As the official statement is not out yet, you cannot say prioritize one over another. However, according to some tests conducted by third parties, they both provide a similar gaming experience when running on one of the top-end processors and playing some heavy-weight games.
That’s all! I hope this guide helped you to improve your gaming experience on Windows 11.
