Overview Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling
The OS has long offloaded some graphically intensive tasks to the GPU so that games, videos, and photo/video editing apps run smoothly. The CPU looks at all the frames that need to be rendered by the GPU, orders, prioritizes them, and sends them off one by one for processing. Tasks like this are why the CPU is often referred to as the brains of your computer.
When you enable hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling in Windows 11, your PC instead uses a GPUs own dedicated scheduling processor and memory (VRAM) to gather and order the data. This both frees the CPU to perform other tasks and reduces latency. But not all computers can turn this feature on. Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling is only supported on NVIDIA’s GT 1030 and later series of GPUs alongside AMD’s 5600 and later series of GPUs. It’s recommended that you update the graphics drivers on your PC to the latest version.
After learning about the benefits of hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling and enable conditions, let’s look at how to enable it in Windows 11 in Windows 11.
Enable Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling
Method 1: Enable Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling using Windows Settings
- Press Win + I to open the Windows Settings app.
- Then choose System > Display.
- Once you are in the Display menu, scroll down and click on the Graphics option.
- After you have done that, click on the Change default graphics settings option.
- Then you will be able to turn on or off Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling using the slider.
Method 2: Enable Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling using Windows Registry
If you are more of a tech-savvy type, you can also choose to enable the said feature using the Windows Registry. But it’s important to note that modifying the Windows Registry can cause serious problems if not used properly. It’s assumed you know what you’re doing and that you have created a full backup of your system before proceeding. With that done, follow the instructions down below:
- Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box, then type in regedit and hit Enter.
- After that, in the address bar of the Windows Registry, copy and paste the following path:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers - On the right-hand side, double-click on the HwSchMode key provided.
- Set the value to 2 and make sure the Base option is set to Hexadecimal.
- Click OK and close the window, then restart your computer.
In case you want to disable the feature in the future, simply change the value from 2 to 1.
Conclusion
In this article, we have introduced two methods to enable hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling. Although you might not see a huge improvement in your PC’s graphical performance, there might be a decent decrease in your PC’s CPU usage when performing graphic-intensive tasks such as gaming. So if your computer is running slowly or you play games frequently, try these two methods.
