Uncovering the Impact of Borderless Window on FPS
In the world of gaming, performance is paramount. Gamers strive for the best frame rates per second (FPS) to ensure a smooth and immersive experience. One common display mode that has gained popularity among gamers is the borderless window mode. This article will delve into how this display option influences FPS and overall gaming performance. We will explore its advantages, potential drawbacks, and provide tips to maximize your gaming experience in borderless window mode.
What is Borderless Window Mode?
The borderless window mode is a display option that allows games to run in a window without visible borders while occupying the full screen. This mode combines elements of both fullscreen and windowed modes, offering unique benefits and challenges.
- Fullscreen Experience: The game appears to fill the entire screen, enhancing immersion.
- Easy Alt-Tabbing: Players can easily switch between applications without experiencing delays or black screens.
- Flexibility: Allows for better multitasking, which is beneficial for streamers and those who use multiple monitors.
The Mechanics of FPS in Borderless Window Mode
To understand the impact of the borderless window mode on FPS, we must first examine how FPS is measured and what factors influence it.
What is FPS?
FPS, or frames per second, measures how many unique consecutive images (frames) a computer graphics system can produce in one second. Higher FPS results in smoother motion and a more enjoyable gaming experience.
Factors Affecting FPS
Several factors can influence FPS in any gaming scenario, including:
- Hardware Specifications: CPU, GPU, RAM, and storage devices play a significant role.
- Game Optimization: Well-optimized games typically perform better across different settings.
- Resolution and Graphics Settings: Higher resolutions and settings can decrease FPS.
Impact of Borderless Window on FPS
Now that we understand the basics of FPS, let’s examine how the borderless window mode impacts it.
Performance Benefits
Many gamers prefer borderless window mode due to its inherent advantages, which can positively influence FPS:
- Smoother Transitions: Switching between applications is seamless, minimizing disruptions that can cause FPS drops.
- Reduced Input Lag: Some players experience lower input lag, enhancing gameplay responsiveness.
- Less Stuttering: Players may find that stuttering and tearing are reduced in this mode compared to traditional fullscreen.
Potential Drawbacks
However, there are potential downsides to using borderless window mode that could negatively affect FPS:
- Increased Resource Usage: Running a game in borderless mode may require more system resources than fullscreen mode.
- Background Processes: Other applications running in the background can affect performance and FPS.
- Driver Issues: Sometimes, outdated graphics drivers can hinder performance in borderless mode.
How to Enable Borderless Window Mode
Enabling borderless window mode can vary between games, but here’s a general step-by-step guide:
- Launch the Game: Start the game you want to play.
- Access Settings: Navigate to the game’s settings or options menu.
- Select Display Settings: Look for the display or graphics settings section.
- Choose Borderless Window: Select the option for borderless window mode. This may be labeled differently in various games.
- Apply Changes: Save or apply the changes, then exit the settings menu.
- Restart if Necessary: Some games may require a restart to fully implement the change.
Troubleshooting FPS Issues in Borderless Window Mode
If you experience FPS drops or performance issues while using borderless window mode, consider the following troubleshooting tips:
Update Graphics Drivers
Ensure your graphics drivers are up-to-date. This can resolve compatibility issues and improve performance. Visit the manufacturer’s website for the latest drivers:
NVIDIA Drivers
Optimize Game Settings
Adjusting your graphics settings can significantly impact performance:
- Reduce resolution or texture quality.
- Disable unnecessary visual effects (like shadows and anti-aliasing).
- Lower the field of view (FOV) if possible.
Close Background Applications
Free up system resources by closing unnecessary background applications, especially those that consume a lot of memory or CPU power.
Monitor Temperature
Ensure that your CPU and GPU temperatures are within normal limits. Overheating can lead to throttling, resulting in FPS drops. Use monitoring software to check temperatures.
Adjust Windows Settings
Sometimes, the issue may not lie within the game. Adjust Windows settings to optimize performance:
- Set your power plan to High Performance.
- Disable unnecessary startup programs.
- Adjust visual effects in Windows for better performance.
Conclusion
The borderless window mode presents both advantages and challenges when it comes to FPS and gaming performance. While it offers a more flexible and immersive experience, it can also introduce resource management issues that may hinder performance. By understanding how to properly configure this mode and troubleshoot any potential problems, gamers can optimize their experience and enjoy smoother gameplay. Remember to regularly update your drivers and optimize your game settings to maximize your FPS and overall enjoyment.
For more information on gaming performance optimization, check out our comprehensive guide.
This article is in the category Reviews and created by Windows Portal Team
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I started writing code around 20 years ago, and throughout the years, I have gained a lot of expertise from hands-on experience as well as learning from others. This website has also grown with me and is now something that I am proud of.
Fullscreen vs borderless selection involves considering your gaming style as well as the games you want to play. Both of them have significant differences between them, and you must know them before you go ahead and start using one.
In this article, we’ll discuss both display modes so that you can choose the one that’s more suitable for you, depending on your use.
JUMP TO TOPIC
- Fullscreen vs Borderless Quick Comparison Table
- What Are the Differences Between Fullscreen and Borderless?
- – Screen Size
- – Resolution and Performance
- – Multitasking
- – FPS
- – Gaming Performance & Experience
- – Dual Display
- – Difference in Games
- What Is Fullscreen Best For?
- – Pros
- – Cons
- What Is Borderless Best For?
- – Pros
- – Cons
- FAQ
- 1. Does Borderless Affect Performance?
- 2. Is It Better to Play Fullscreen or Windowed?
- 3. Is Fullscreen Optimization Good?
- 4. Does Borderless Fullscreen Cause Input Lag?
- Conclusion
Fullscreen vs Borderless Quick Comparison Table
Features | Fullscreen | Borderless |
Screen size | Entire screen | Window on the screen without borders |
Locks mouse | Yes | No |
Ability to multitask | No | Yes |
FPS | More FPS | Less FPS |
What Are the Differences Between Fullscreen and Borderless?
The main difference between fullscreen and borderless is that the former takes up the whole screen, while the latter is essentially a windowed mode that occupies the full screen without any boundaries. They also differ in frame rate, performance, gameplay speed, and multitasking.
– Screen Size
As the term suggests, full-screen mode basically refers to the scenario where the display of the game takes up the whole screen. Essentially, a full-screen game or application takes complete control of the screen output. As a result, whatever is displayed on the screen takes precedence over everything else.
On the other hand, the borderless, windowed borderless, or borderless windowed mode is a combination of full-screen and windowed mode. And to better understand it, let’s first understand windowed mode.
As you might have guessed from the name, in the windowed mode, the game or app runs inside a window that doesn’t take over the whole screen. A well-defined border is clearly visible, which separates the window from the environment.
The windowed mode allows you to move and drag the game or app window around the screen and resize it. Plus, you can access other applications easily. It’s also easy to launch multiple games and apps and switch between them. This is especially helpful if you have multiple monitors set up.
Now that you understand windowed mode, let’s go back to borderless. Although the window in this mode appears to be taking the whole screen, in reality, you can think of it as the windowed mode stretched to fill the whole screen without any boundaries. As a result, you can enjoy playing the game on the whole screen, but you can also easily switch to another monitor.
– Resolution and Performance
In general, when you play a game in full-screen mode, you play at the resolution provided by your desktop. For instance, if you launch a fullscreen game on a 1080p monitor with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, you’ll get to play the game at 1080p.
This is because when you open an application in full-screen mode, it has full control over the output of the screen. That is not the case with the borderless mode.
In comparison to borderless mode, the full-screen mode can improve performance, provided that the game is optimized for both the display and the system being used. However, in the former mode, Windows continues to run tasks in the background, which affects gaming performance.
– Multitasking
In the full-screen mode, it’s impossible for the player to access additional applications or displays. The cursor is fixed to the screen displaying the game and the mode will prevent you from switching between monitors. To exit the game, you’ll have to press Tab + Alt.
Meanwhile, the biggest benefit of borderless mode is the freedom you get. In addition to the full-screen mode, this mode allows you to switch between different tasks and even different monitors, making it easier to access other apps. So even though it seems like you’re in fullscreen mode, you can easily transition to other applications, so that you can enjoy the best of both worlds.
– FPS
You get better FPS with full-screen mode, and it’s clear why. The FPS or frames per second has a big effect on the display performance and basically denotes the number of times the display screen is fully scanned in one second. This means it’s the rate at which the image on the screen is refreshed per second or the rate at which your system can produce unique images sequentially (called frames).
With fullscreen mode, the performance is optimized, which means you get to enjoy smoother gameplay. Plus, you can see and react to things faster, allowing you to make the most out of your gaming session.
– Gaming Performance & Experience
When you play in full-screen mode, you devote all the processing power of the computer to the game you’re playing, and you’re not in any hurry to exit. Plus, when a program is run in this mode, it’s considered to be running in the exclusive mode, which means it has direct and full control of the output on the screen.
The same is not the case with borderless windowed mode. In this case, the mode protects the game from freezing and crashing. It also prevents the lengthy delays you often have to go through when you want to exit the game.
In addition to that, the ability to multitask when you’re in the borderless window mode has other advantages. For instance, you respawn relatively faster, you don’t have to wait that long for the loading screen, and you can easily search for the game information you need, like quest information for your favorite games.
And once you click on the game, the taskbar and other immersion-breaking windows are pushed towards the background so that the game takes up the whole screen.
– Dual Display
The borderless mode lets you switch to a second monitor. In comparison, in the full-screen mode, the game is shown on all the monitors, and it takes quite some time to exit one of the monitors and move towards working on the other since the mouse is locked on the full-screen.
Plus, your computer is powerful enough in this mode that it can compensate for the background processes, and you can even multitask on other monitors while playing.
– Difference in Games
To get a better understanding of the differences between the two modes, it’s better to compare how they perform during the most common games. Below, we compare which mode is better for a few games like Valorant, Call of Duty Warzone, and Escape from Tarkov.
- Fullscreen vs borderless Warzone: According to some users, playing COD: Warzone in the borderless mode promises a better FPS performance, but this also varies depending on your system specifications.
You can stick to this mode if it works better for you, but you can change it if it doesn’t. To make sure you don’t get blurry visuals, make sure you change the render resolution to 90 or 100 and that the display resolution is 1920 x 1080.
- Fullscreen vs borderless Valorant: Many gamers state that full-screen gives you a better performance as well as less input lag when it comes to Valorant. This is because, in this mode, all the focus is just on the one program that’s launched.
- Fullscreen vs borderless Tarkov: Users find that running Escape from Tarkov results in poorer performance since the game is handled through the Windows manager as opposed to the full-screen which has exclusive rights to the whole screen.
It might be difficult to notice a big difference in modern systems, but it can really help to eliminate stutters. In the borderless mode, your computer has to divide resources between the opened browser windows, render the desktop, etc.
Generally, it’s better to run online shooters on the full-screen, especially if you want to do a raid. If you want to just quickly search for something, you can hit alt + enter to change to window mode and go back once you’re done.
What Is Fullscreen Best For?
You should run your games and apps in full-screen mode if you want your computer resources and attention all on one program. Regardless of the OS, your system will prioritize the app running on the full screen.
However, it’s not the best option for multitasking since it locks you into the program or game you’re running, and you have to press Tab + Alt on the keyboard and wait as the computer minimizes the app.
This can be quite a pain when you’re playing a demanding game, and things get even worse if you have a dual-monitor setup. Plus, when the game or app is in the fullscreen view, the cursor gets stuck on the main display, and you can’t move it around from one monitor to the other.
This means you can’t watch a YouTube clip or listen to a song while you wait for the loading screen unless you purposely tab out of the app or game.
– Pros
The best way of choosing the right mode is by comparing the benefits of both modes under consideration. Hence, here’s the list of pros of fullscreen mode:
- You get a higher frame rate.
- It’s impossible to switch to another monitor by mistake.
- Your computer dedicates a greater amount of resources to your game.
– Cons
A well-informed decision is taken only after learning about the cons. Therefore, down below we have listed major drawbacks of fullscreen mode:
- Exiting the game is a little tricky.
- If the game isn’t properly stopped, it might stop or crash.
- Your mouse is locked on one screen.
What Is Borderless Best For?
Even though the borderless mode is visually similar to the full-screen mode, both are useful in different scenarios. For instance, if you want to use more than one monitor, it’s best that you opt for the borderless mode instead of the full-screen mode. By doing so, you’ll be able to access all the displays and even launch different apps while keeping your game or work open on the primary display.
However, just like full-screen mode, there’s also a drawback with this mode based on the device you use. In the case of most operating systems, such as Windows, your resources will be dedicated to the different processes running in the background.
This means if you want to play a game or run a demanding app, this is not the mode for you; you’ll get relatively poor performance and even experience input lags.
So, if you want to squeeze in some more FPS for the game you’re playing, it’s better to try out the full-screen mode and see if that makes any difference. You might notice a slight improvement in the frame rate depending on the way the game is optimized.
– Pros
We discussed the pros of fullscreen view earlier, now is borderless mode’s turn. Here are the significant benefits of using borderless display mode:
- It’s easy to switch between different monitors.
- You can enjoy a full-screen display.
- You can resize the game’s viewport to enjoy higher resolutions.
- There’s only a minor loss in terms of performance, but there’s no risk of freezes or crashes.
– Cons
The cons of using borderless displays are significantly lower than its pros however, they can’t be ignored at all. Down below is the list of cons that will help you make the right decision:
- You might notice lower FPS.
- The different processes running in the background might increase input lag.
FAQ
1. Does Borderless Affect Performance?
In this mode, the display is stretched throughout the monitor, which means the performance is significantly impacted if you’re playing a game. However, if you’re dealing with just one task at a time, you won’t notice any drop or improvement in performance.
2. Is It Better to Play Fullscreen or Windowed?
Generally, games have a relatively better performance in the full-screen mode, since it gives the Windows’ explorer.exe a break. Meanwhile, in the window mode, it needs to render not just the game, but all the other things you have opened, too.
3. Is Fullscreen Optimization Good?
By default, the fullscreen optimizations are enabled, and they may improve the app or gaming performance when it’s run in full-screen mode. However, according to some people, these optimizations don’t always improve performance, so it’s a hit-and-miss and depends on your system.
4. Does Borderless Fullscreen Cause Input Lag?
It’s true that going borderless full-screen increases the input latency. In general, the input latency in the full-screen mode is somewhere around 40 ms, while a borderless window has an input latency of around 65 ms. So in a fullscreen vs borderless input lag comparison, the former is the winner.
Conclusion
As we’ve discussed in this fullscreen vs borderless review, there are some differences between the two modes. As the name suggests, the main difference is that the former takes the whole screen, but the latter takes up the entire screen, but without any borders.
Since both modes have different pros and cons, and even different purposes, you need to consider your needs and the fullscreen vs borderless performance before choosing between them.
If you want to multitask or use multiple displays, you should use the borderless mode, but if you want all your resources dedicated to the app or game you’ve opened, then the full-screen mode is the better option.
Borderless windowed mode is a display option in video games that allows the game window to appear as if it is running in fullscreen mode but without the border or title bar typically seen in a traditional windowed mode. It combines the benefits of both fullscreen and windowed modes, allowing users to easily switch between applications and have a more flexible gaming experience.
Why do people use borderless windowed mode?
People use borderless windowed mode because it offers greater flexibility compared to fullscreen mode. It allows users to easily switch between their game and other applications without any interruption, making it more convenient for multitasking or accessing additional monitors. It also provides easier access to features like instant messaging, web browsing, and streaming while playing a game.
How do I use borderless windowed mode?
To use borderless windowed mode, you need to switch from fullscreen to windowed mode in the game settings. Once in windowed mode, you can usually switch to borderless windowed mode by pressing a designated key combination or selecting the option in the game’s graphics settings. Alternatively, some games have dedicated programs or mods that enable borderless windowed mode. Simply launch the program or mod and select the game you want to play in borderless windowed mode.
What’s the difference between fullscreen and windowed fullscreen?
In fullscreen mode, the game window covers the entire display, hiding all other running applications. This provides a more immersive gaming experience but can make it difficult to access other programs or multitask. On the other hand, windowed fullscreen (borderless windowed mode) allows the game window to appear as if it is running in fullscreen mode but without the borders, allowing for easier access to other applications and multitasking.
Is it better to play fullscreen or borderless windowed?
The choice between fullscreen and borderless windowed mode depends on your preferences and setup. Fullscreen mode generally provides better performance and a more immersive gaming experience but limits your ability to access other applications or multitask. Borderless windowed mode offers greater flexibility, allowing you to easily switch between your game and other applications without interruption. If you prioritize performance and immersion, fullscreen mode may be the better option. However, if you value multitasking and accessibility, borderless windowed mode is the way to go.
(Borderless) Windowed Mode Should You Use It?
Yes, borderless windowed mode can be a useful display option for gaming. It provides the flexibility of windowed mode while still allowing the game to appear as if it is running in fullscreen. This allows for easier multitasking and accessibility to other applications without interrupting the gameplay experience. However, it is important to note that running a game in windowed mode may have a slight impact on system performance, especially if demanding tasks are running simultaneously.
Should I play on borderless windowed or fullscreen?
The choice between borderless windowed and fullscreen depends on your specific setup and requirements. If you have a single monitor setup and prioritize maximum performance, fullscreen mode may be the right choice. Fullscreen mode can provide higher frame rates and a more immersive gaming experience. However, if you have multiple monitors or want easy access to other applications while playing, borderless windowed mode offers more flexibility. It allows you to switch between applications without having to minimize or exit the game.
Does borderless windowed decrease performance?
Running a game in borderless windowed mode may have a slight impact on performance compared to fullscreen mode. The additional window composition and the ability to run other applications simultaneously may require more system resources. However, the performance difference is generally minimal and may not be noticeable on modern systems. The impact on performance may vary depending on the specific game and system configuration.
Does windowed borderless improve performance?
Borderless windowed mode does not inherently improve performance compared to fullscreen mode. However, it provides additional flexibility and accessibility options, allowing users to easily switch between applications without interrupting the gameplay experience. If your system is capable of running the game smoothly in fullscreen mode, there will likely be no significant difference in performance between the two modes.
Does borderless windowed affect FPS?
Borderless windowed mode can have a slight impact on FPS (frames per second) compared to fullscreen mode, but the difference is usually minimal. The impact on FPS may vary depending on the specific game and system configuration. While running a game in borderless windowed mode may result in slightly lower FPS, it provides easier multitasking and accessibility to other applications without needing to minimize or exit the game.
What are the downsides of borderless windows?
One potential downside of borderless windowed mode is that it may have a slight impact on performance compared to fullscreen mode. The additional window composition and the ability to run other applications simultaneously may require more system resources, which can potentially lead to lower frame rates or increased system load. Additionally, borderless windowed mode may not be suitable for all games, as some games may not support this display mode or may not function optimally in this mode.
What are the pros and cons of borderless window?
Borderless windowed mode, also known as windowed fullscreen mode, has both pros and cons. The benefits of using borderless windowed mode include greater accessibility and multitasking capabilities. It allows you to easily switch between the game and other applications without having to minimize or exit the game. This can be useful for tasks such as browsing the web, checking messages, or streaming content while playing. However, running a game in borderless windowed mode may have a slight impact on performance compared to fullscreen mode, and not all games may support this display mode.
Why do games run worse on windowed mode?
Games may run worse in window
Borderless is just windowed without a border. Fullscreen means it takes over the whole display. Windowed means you can move it around and see whatever else you want on the desktop. Graphically it may be harder on your system to run a game inside a window while showing the desktop at the same time.
Why do people use borderless windowed?
The primary benefit to playing a game in borderless windowed mode is its flexibility. Unlike fullscreen mode, borderless windowed mode allows users to mouse over additional monitors without undue interruption, making other applications much more accessible.
How do I use borderless windowed mode?
What you do here is switch from fullscreen to windowed. Following that, go back to the Windowed Borderless Gaming icon, right-click, and select ‘add window. ‘ After this, left-click on the game. This will register that title in the software’s library, and following that, all you need to do is press F3.
What’s the difference between fullscreen and windowed fullscreen?
In windowed mode, the application shares the available desktop screen space with all running applications. In full-screen mode, the window that the application runs in covers the entire desktop, hiding all running applications (including your development environment).
Is it better to play fullscreen or borderless windowed?
Assuming a game is optimized for the system and display being used, fullscreen mode has the potential to boost performance when compared to borderless windowed mode. The catch, however, is that running a game in fullscreen mode hinders the player’s ability to access additional monitors or applications.
(Borderless) Windowed Mode Should You Use It?
Should I play on borderless windowed or fullscreen?
The answer depends on your setup and preferences. If your setup only uses a single monitor fullscreen mode might be the right option, especially if you play competitive games and want the absolute best performance. If you want other applications more easily within reach, borderless windowed mode is the way to go.
Does borderless windowed decrease performance?
It’s very dependent on the game — some games take a pretty big hit running in a window, whereas with many games, the effect is negligible.
Does windowed borderless improve performance?
Borderless window mode will not affect your performance as long as you are dealing with a single task at a time. However, dealing with complex workloads in borderless windowed mode on different screens may affect the overall performance.
Does borderless window affect FPS?
Borderless Windowed also forces the framerate to match your monitor’s frequency, akin to VSync on unless you force vsync off in your GPU’s settings(which bring out some issues with running windowed mode without vsync, such as stutters, sudden fps drops, etc.).
What are the downsides of borderless windows?
Borderless Windowed also forces the framerate to match your monitor’s frequency, akin to VSync on unless you force vsync off in your GPU’s settings(which bring out some issues with running windowed mode without vsync, such as stutters, sudden fps drops, etc.).
What are the pros and cons of borderless window?
Borderless Windowed Mode
However, since it’s windowed mode, Windows still runs other processes in the background. This can result in performance hits. Pros: Lets you enjoy full-screen display while still switching monitors easily. Cons: Background processes can introduce input lag and frame rate drops.
Why do games run worse on windowed mode?
But when it runs in window mode, it needs to send its output to the window manager (windows explorer) which then manages where on the screen that output is drawn. This takes some additional performance. The performance penalty, however, is greatly reduced in newer version of windows.
Why do my games run better in windowed mode?
The short answer is that games will, generally, have a better performance rate by playing at a lower resolution in windowed mode rather than trying to match your desktop’s resolution (or greater) while full screen. Of course, it depends on the game and the resolution of both the game and your desktop.
Is fullscreen borderless better than fullscreen exclusive?
You need to play the game in fullscreen exclusive mode to bypass the DWM forced vsync. There is no benefit from using fullscreen if there is borderless windowed. The only exception would be if the game is broken in borderless.
What does turning off VSync do?
When VSync is on, you get perfectly aligned frames with no glitching. When VSync is off, you get virtually unlimited Frames Per Second (FPS) but depending on your configuration, screen tearing, jerkiness or stuttering is more likely.
Why do some players play in windowed mode?
Some players may find that windowed mode provides a more comfortable viewing experience, as it allows you to adjust the size and position of the game window to suit your preferences.
What does running a game in windowed mode do?
This mode lets you play games in a window with the taskbar visible beneath it. The advantages of playing in windowed mode are that you can more easily open other programs alongside games when you need them and see the time on the system tray’s clock.
Does borderless window use more RAM?
What borderless windowed mode basically does is keep more background windows in VRAM, so it can expend all of your VRAM if at high enough resolutions.
Do games run smoother in windowed mode?
The short answer is that games will, generally, have a better performance rate by playing at a lower resolution in windowed mode rather than trying to match your desktop’s resolution (or greater) while full screen. Of course, it depends on the game and the resolution of both the game and your desktop.
Does windowed mode use less RAM?
“Does playing games in windowed mode use less memory than playing in full screen mode?” No, it almost certainly does not use less memory. The amount of VRAM is mostly determined by your texture quality settings not resolution and the amount of system RAM probably doesn’t vary much at all based on resolution.
Should I turn off Windows game mode?
Conclusion. Disabling Game Mode is a viable troubleshooting step when encountering stability or performance issues regardless of application. Game Mode was designed to reserve resources for games, but it can also hamper productivity when enabled.
Is there a way to force a game into windowed mode?
Some games can be recomposed into a window by pressing the Alt + Enter keys together while in the game, or by pressing Ctrl + F.
Is vertical sync good or bad?
VSync only helps with screen tearing, and it only really does that by limiting fps when necessary. If your monitor can’t keep up with the fps of a particular game, then VSync can make a big difference. However, VSync cannot improve your resolution, colors, or brightness levels like HDR.
Does VSync ruin performance?
Yes, enabling VSYNC can reduce your computer’s performance by limiting its frame rate. This can be especially noticeable in graphically intensive applications like games. However, some modern graphics cards and monitors have adaptive sync technologies like G-Sync and FreeSync that can mitigate these issues.
Should VSync always be on or off?
When VSync is on, you get perfectly aligned frames with no glitching. When VSync is off, you get virtually unlimited Frames Per Second (FPS) but depending on your configuration, screen tearing, jerkiness or stuttering is more likely.
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When playing games on PC, you can generally choose between windowed and fullscreen display modes. Some games offer a third option of borderless windowed (if not, you can try faking it). What do these three different options mean, and which one is best? Let’s find out.
Fullscreen Mode
Fullscreen mode is exactly what it sounds like: the game’s display takes up your entire screen. Behind the scenes, a fullscreen application has full control over the screen output, meaning that what it’s showing has the highest priority.
Generally, in fullscreen mode you’re playing a game at your desktop resolution. If you have a 1920×1080 (1080p) monitor, when you open a fullscreen game it’s playing at 1080p.
If you have multiple monitors, you won’t be able to move between them in fullscreen mode. Your mouse cursor stays locked to the monitor showing the game. You’ll have to use Alt + Tab to jump out of a game.
- Pros: Computer dedicates most resources to the game, potentially higher frame rate than other options, can’t accidentally mouse to another monitor.
- Cons: Mouse locked to one monitor, alt-tabbing out of a game takes a few seconds.
Windowed Mode
Windowed mode is also pretty self-explanatory: the game runs in a window instead of taking up the whole screen. This allows you to resize it to run in a smaller box. Because the game isn’t utilizing the whole screen, your computer continues to run other processes in the background normally.
In most cases, you probably want your game to use as much of the screen as possible. Thus, unless you’re multitasking while playing or only want your game to use a bit of the screen, one of the other two options is preferable.
- Pros: Lets you run the game at whatever size you like, easy to switch to other windows.
- Cons: Greater chance of input lag, game looks worse at smaller sizes, frame rate drops.
Borderless Windowed Mode
This mode is a compromise between the other two. Borderless windowed mode looks like fullscreen mode, but it’s really windowed mode running at full-screen size with no borders. It combines the benefit of having your game take up the whole screen with the convenience of being able to mouse to another monitor instantly.
However, since it’s windowed mode, Windows still runs other processes in the background. This can result in performance hits.
- Pros: Lets you enjoy full-screen display while still switching monitors easily.
- Cons: Background processes can introduce input lag and frame rate drops.
Which Mode Is Best to Use?
Use fullscreen mode if you want to dedicate all your computer’s power to running the game and don’t need to switch out of the game quickly.
Use borderless windowed mode if your computer is powerful enough to compensate for background processes and you multitask on other monitors while playing.
Only use windowed mode if you want to play at less than full-screen size for some reason.
No matter which you use, you should close other apps before you start playing a game and tweak your computer for a better gaming experience.