Games not using the CPU properly in windowed mode.

[Dan Hind]

So, ever since I upgraded to windows 10 I've been having these strange problems where games and applications that are in windowed mode or borderless would run at like 30fps and seemingly wouldn't properly use the available cpu power.
Sometimes this will randomly fix itself after restarting my computer, but after a little while the issue would return again.

My cpu is a i4 4690k.

I really don't have a clue what's going on, and I would appreciate any help or suggestions I can get. Thank you.

 

[tiny voices]

This is common with many games. The game caps the FPS at 30 in Windowed mode. Happens alot. The CPU is fine, the game is just capped at 30fps.

This could be the issue. Some games don't even support SLI and CF in Windowed mode.

 

[Dan Hind]

This is common with many games. The game caps the FPS at 30 in Windowed mode. Happens alot. The CPU is fine, the game is just capped at 30fps.

This could be the issue. Some games don't even support SLI and CF in Windowed mode.

But this issue is across multiple games that previously worked fine, and that sometimes after I restart my pc they also work fine. it's definitely not the game being capped (for example Hearthstone and League Of Legends)

 

[tiny voices]

When I play Heroes in Windowed mode, anytime I am tabbed out it locks at 30fps.

Maybe this is a windows 10dricver thing. It does not sound like a CPU issue at all. More like a GPU driver issue.

 

[Dan Hind]

When I play Heroes in Windowed mode, anytime I am tabbed out it locks at 30fps.

Maybe this is a windows 10dricver thing. It does not sound like a CPU issue at all. More like a GPU driver issue.

Any suggestions how to fix it then?

 

[tiny voices]

Try updating the GPU drivers to the newest version. Honestly it may just be a Windows 10 thing that will eventually get a patch.

 

[Dan Hind]

Try updating the GPU drivers to the newest version. Honestly it may just be a Windows 10 thing that will eventually get a patch.

Yeah, I've updated all my drivers. I'm hoping it's just a windows 10 thing, but no one else seems to be suffering from it...

 

[xapoc]

I would start with windows power options and set it to high performance, then see how that holds up. You can further customize it if you want, just go under more power options, check it out.

 

[Dan Hind]

I would start with windows power options and set it to high performance, then see how that holds up. You can further customize it if you want, just go under more power options, check it out.

Yeah, I've tried that, but just setting it to high performance didnt seem to fix anything.

 

[xapoc]

What Tiny earlier said is true that game would cap itself at 30fps in windowed mode on some games. Try to disable vsync in game and turn on adaptive vsync in the video card panel. Does the fps come back to normal if you go to full screen while in windowed if you push Lalt+enter?
Lower game resolution and check if this continues.

 

[Dan Hind]

What Tiny earlier said is true that game would cap itself at 30fps in windowed mode on some games. Try to disable vsync in game and turn on adaptive vsync in the video card panel. Does the fps come back to normal if you go to full screen while in windowed if you push Lalt+enter?
Lower game resolution and check if this continues.

Tried it with a few games, and it didn't seem to make a difference.
Although the strange thing is when I tab out and go onto another window the game returns to it's normal fps... It's really odd.

For example, when using Rocket League to test this I get 23fps constant when playing in borderless, whereas when I tab out (or go fullscreen) I get a solid 64fps (capped) and the CPU usage increases noticeably when I tab out, whereas when I'm tabbed into the game it rarely even goes above 13%.

So it's definitely something capping the frame rate, but it's seemingly not V-sync. Actually, I'm wondering if it could be due to g-sync... That forces V-sync on anyway I think, and Nvidia control panel sometimes just resets its g-sync/v-sync settings.

 

[tiny voices]

^that is a Windows 10 thing. They will probably fix it eventually. I have the opposite issue. Everything locked at 30fps when I tab out, but returns to normal when I tab back in.