- Optimizing Your Windows Laptop’s Gaming Performance on External Displays
- Understanding the GPU Rendering Limitations
- How to increase FPS on Windows 10 gaming machine?
- How can I improve my gaming experience?
- Disabling the Integrated GPU in Device Manager
- Customizing Graphics Preferences in the NVIDIA Control Panel
- How to improve gaming experience on Windows 10?
- How to improve performance in Windows 10?
- Connecting External Displays Directly to GPU Ports
- Adjust In-Game Graphics Settings For Optimal Performance
- Are AMD and Nvidia releasing new graphics drivers?
- What are some ways to optimize Windows 10 for gaming?
- How can I make my games run faster on Windows 10?
- The Takeaway
- Does GeForce Experience help optimize gaming settings?
- What are the best settings for gaming on Windows 10?
- Do I need to update my graphics drivers?
- Does a 2021 driver update improve gaming performance?
- References
Optimizing Your Windows Laptop’s Gaming Performance on External Displays
Gaming on Windows laptops using external displays can be a frustrating experience. The graphics performance often suffers compared to using the native laptop display. However, with the right troubleshooting and optimization, you can unlock the full gaming potential of your Windows laptop on larger external monitors. In this comprehensive guide, we walk through the key factors impacting external display gaming performance and provide actionable tips to boost frame rates and visual quality.
Understanding the GPU Rendering Limitations
When connecting your Windows laptop to an external display, especially over USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 docks, the external video output is often handled by the integrated Intel graphics processor rather than the more powerful discrete NVIDIA or AMD GPU. This is due to limitations in Optimus graphics switching technology that Windows laptops rely on to conserve battery life. As a result, gaming performance tanks, even on powerful gaming laptops.
How to increase FPS on Windows 10 gaming machine?
Some of the most effective FPS boosters are also the easiest. Here are the best tricks you can do to increase FPS on your Windows 10 gaming machine: Game Mode is a built-in tool designed to optimize Windows 10 for gaming — whether you’re gaming on a prehistoric museum antique or a custom-built, bleeding-edge powerhouse.
How can I improve my gaming experience?
There are some ways to help optimize Windows system performance to improve your gaming experience: Regularly restart the computer will close all the software running on your PC, and it helps improve the gaming experience because some running applications are occupying the system performance.
By disabling or bypassing the integrated GPU, you can force the system to leverage the high-performance discrete GPU for rendering graphics on the external display. This unleashes the true gaming capabilities of your Windows laptop.
Disabling the Integrated GPU in Device Manager
One effective solution is to disable the integrated Intel graphics entirely in Device Manager on your Windows laptop. This forces external display output to be handled by the discrete GPU.
To disable the integrated GPU:
- Type "Device Manager" into the Windows Search Bar and launch the app.
- Expand the "Display adapters" section.
- Right click on the Intel integrated graphics device and select "Disable."
This will disable the integrated graphics processor and hand off external display duties to the discrete NVIDIA/AMD GPU. Make sure to reboot after applying this change.
Customizing Graphics Preferences in the NVIDIA Control Panel
For laptops with NVIDIA discrete GPUs, you can also customize graphics processor preferences using the NVIDIA Control Panel. This gives you more granular control over GPU usage for external displays.
How to improve gaming experience on Windows 10?
Another hack to ameliorate your gaming experience is by Disabling Mouse Acceleration in your Windows PC. The hack will definitely optimize gaming performance on your computer. Following are the steps that you shouldn’t skip if you aim for a faster and smoother gaming experience on your Windows 10 computer:
How to improve performance in Windows 10?
Type View advanced system settings in the search box of Windows and choose the best-matched one. Then click Settings under Performance section to continue. In the pop-up window, in the Visual Effects tab, choose the option Adjust for best performance. Then click Apply and OK to confirm the changes.
To enable High-Performance NVIDIA Processor for external display output:
- Right click on your desktop and select "NVIDIA Control Panel."
- Go to 3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings.
- Under "Preferred graphics processor", select "High-performance NVIDIA processor."
- Click Apply to save changes.
This ensures the NVIDIA GPU handles rendering for external display output for a smoother gaming experience.
Connecting External Displays Directly to GPU Ports
When possible, connect your external gaming displays directly to video output ports on your discrete GPU rather than through your laptop’s USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 port. This provides a higher-bandwidth direct link between the external display and high-performance GPU, avoiding any integrated GPU bottlenecks.
Refer to your laptop spec sheet to find available display outputs on your NVIDIA/AMD discrete GPU. Often, there will be HDMI, Mini DisplayPort or USB-C ports that connect directly to the discrete GPU. Utilize those for external gaming displays.
Adjust In-Game Graphics Settings For Optimal Performance
Once you have enabled your discrete NVIDIA/AMD GPU for external display output, you can start optimizing in-game graphics settings for the best performance:
Are AMD and Nvidia releasing new graphics drivers?
NVIDIA and AMD both frequently release new graphics drivers that usually give major performance improvements, particularly for newer games. With Intel getting more serious about integrated graphics performance, they have started releasing more frequent video driver updates, too.
What are some ways to optimize Windows 10 for gaming?
So selecting a performance-oriented power plan can optimize your Windows 10 PC for gaming. To do that, right-click on the battery symbol on the notification tray and select Power Options. On desktops, you can open the power settings menu from Control Panel -> Power Options. Now click on ‘Show additional plans’ and enable a high-performance plan.
How can I make my games run faster on Windows 10?
Here’s how: Press Windows key + I to launch Windows Settings. Type in ‘game mode’ in the search box. Click Game Mode settings or Turn on Game Mode. On the Gaming screen, click Game Mode. Switch to On to use Game Mode. If your PC supports Game Mode, resources will be managed to achieve the optimum frame rate.
- Set the display resolution to match your external monitor’s native resolution. This prevents upscaling.
- Enable V-Sync to prevent screen tearing since external displays have higher refresh rates than laptop screens.
- Experiment with turning up anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering to leverage the extra GPU horsepower.
- Adjust graphics presets to find the right balance of visual fidelity and high FPS.
Taking the time to tweak these in-game graphics options based on your external display’s capabilities will provide a buttery-smooth gaming experience.
The Takeaway
While Windows laptops don’t always enable the discrete GPU automatically for external displays, there are several optimization techniques you can employ to boost gaming performance. Disabling the integrated GPU, customizing GPU preferences, directly connecting displays to discrete GPU ports, and adjusting in-game settings are key steps to extract the best external gaming experience on a Windows laptop. With the right tweaks, you can rival desktop-class gaming rigs.
Does GeForce Experience help optimize gaming settings?
GeForce Experience can also help you optimize gaming settings for most PC games, a feature some love and some hate, but that’s entirely optional. Note: In the past, AMD offered a very similar utility named AMD Gaming Evolved that provided driver updates and game optimization.
What are the best settings for gaming on Windows 10?
Press Windows key + I to launch Windows Settings. Type in ‘game mode’ in the search box. Click Game Mode settings or Turn on Game Mode. On the Gaming screen, click Game Mode. Switch to On to use Game Mode. If your PC supports Game Mode, resources will be managed to achieve the optimum frame rate.
Do I need to update my graphics drivers?
If you play PC games, you should keep your computer’s graphics drivers updated to get the best performance out of your hardware. We have previously advised you to not compulsively update your drivers, and we stand by that. Most hardware drivers that come with your computer—or through Windows Update—are fine.
Does a 2021 driver update improve gaming performance?
A 2021 driver update lowered the latency for games such as Overwatch. Source: Nvidia Regardless of which GPU you have, updating your driver can give you an immediate FPS boost and optimize Windows 10 for gaming. AVG Driver Updater automatically updates all your computer’s drivers for consistently optimized performance.
For more tips on getting the most out of Windows laptops for gaming and productivity, be sure to check out our blog in the future. Feel free to reach out in the comments section below if you have any specific questions. Let’s work together to help you get the most out of your Windows laptop!
