fullscreen vs borderless windowed?

[MetalGearSolid]

So I tested out some games using both fullscreen and windows borderless and I just dont get which one is better. When I played Metal Gear Solid 5 on borderless windowed, I get fps drop issues and when i switched to fullscreen, the problem went away. On GTA V, I played it on fullscreen, thinking that it would give more fps but on fullscreen, it was giving me fps drops when i first started the game and moved around. So i tried switching to borderless windowed and the fps drop was completely gone. I don't get this. Isn't fullscreen suppse to be better?

 

[toddybody]

So I tested out some games using both fullscreen and windows borderless and I just dont get which one is better. When I played Metal Gear Solid 5 on borderless windowed, I get fps drop issues and when i switched to fullscreen, the problem went away. On GTA V, I played it on fullscreen, thinking that it would give more fps but on fullscreen, it was giving me fps drops when i first started the game and moved around. So i tried switching to borderless windowed and the fps drop was completely gone. I don't get this. Isn't fullscreen suppse to be better?

As a G-Sync user (though a past update allowed for borderless support)...I always use Fullscreen.

I have seen titles respond differently based upon the screen mode. (i.e., FC4 in borderless was terrible for me). Are your frames varying consistently between modes? If so, I'd use the one that maintains the highest frames possible...even if that means switching window types from title to title. GL Mate

 

[gamerk316]

There's actually some significant under the hood differences between the two modes, each with their own advantages. Borderless Window is effectively just Windowed mode with the borders expanded to cover everything. Fullscreen is supposed to give maximum FPS, since windows dedicates more resources to fullscreen apps and the application has full control of the screen output.

 

[MetalGearSolid]

I did some more testing and you guys are right, Fullscreen does give more fps. But in GTA 5, I wonder why my fps drops to 30 when im facing certain areas. It usually stays at 55-60. On windowed borderless, it doesn't do this. So what I did was, i went to task manager and set the priority to above normal for gta 5 and it has solved the issue. I think my problem has to do with the cpu and the resource. The cpu is not putting enough effort to run gta 5 smoothly.

 

[James Mason]

Since i have 3 monitors, I nearly always go BLW mode, because that way I can click on webpages on my other monitors without the game minimizing. And most games will still lock my cursor to them so I don't accidentally click off screen.