Boost Your PC Gaming: A $10 Windows 10 Hack from PCMag

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What are process priority classes and how do they impact gaming performance on Windows 10?

Understanding the Windows 10 Gaming Bottleneck

Many PC gamers running Windows 10 experience performance dips, even with powerful hardware. This isn’t always a CPU or GPU issue. Often, it’s how Windows manages system resources.Specifically,the way Windows prioritizes tasks can hinder real-time gaming processes. This is where a clever, low-cost solution comes into play – a tweak highlighted by PCMag that can significantly improve your frame rates and overall gaming experience. We’re talking about process priority classes and how to leverage them.

The PCMag Hack: Process Lasso – What It Dose

PCMag recently detailed a method using a utility called Process Lasso. While not a new tool, its ability to automatically manage process priorities makes it incredibly effective for gaming. Process Lasso isn’t free – it costs around $10 – but the performance gains can be well worth the investment for serious gamers.

Here’s how it works:

Dynamic Priority: Process Lasso allows you to set rules for specific processes. You can tell it to automatically boost the priority of your game while lowering the priority of background tasks.

ProBalance: This feature intelligently manages CPU cores, preventing a single process from monopolizing resources and causing stuttering.

Process Watchdog: Monitors processes for hangs or unresponsive behaviour, automatically restarting them if necessary.

CPU Affinity: Allows you to specify which CPU cores a process can use, optimizing performance for multi-core processors.

Setting Up process lasso for Optimal Gaming Performance

Getting Process Lasso configured for gaming isn’t elaborate, but a little precision yields the best results.

1. Installation & Initial Setup: Download and install Process Lasso from the official website (https://processlasso.com/).Follow the on-screen instructions.
2. Creating a Gaming Profile:

Right-click on your game’s executable file (.exe).

Select “Add to Process Lasso.”

This creates a new profile for your game.

1. Priority Settings:

In the profile,navigate to the “Priority” tab.

Set the “normal Priority” to “High” or even “Above Normal.” Caution: avoid “Realtime” priority unless you understand the potential risks (system instability).

Enable “Keep process running at this priority.”

1. ProBalance Configuration:

go to the “ProBalance” tab.

Experiment with the settings. A good starting point is to leave it on “Automatic.” For more control, you can manually adjust the CPU affinity.

1. Testing & Refinement: Launch your game and monitor performance.Adjust the settings as needed to find the sweet spot for your system.

Benefits of Using Process lasso for gaming

Increased FPS: Many users report a noticeable increase in frames per second (FPS), leading to smoother gameplay.

Reduced Stuttering: ProBalance helps prevent CPU bottlenecks, minimizing stuttering and lag.

Improved System Responsiveness: By managing background processes, Process Lasso keeps your system more responsive even while gaming.

Enhanced Stability: Process watchdog can prevent crashes caused by unresponsive processes.

Optimized Resource Allocation: Ensures your game receives the CPU resources it needs, when it needs them.

Real-World Performance Gains: Case Studies & examples

While individual results vary, numerous online forums and PCMag’s testing demonstrate meaningful improvements. Gamers playing demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Red Dead Redemption 2 have reported FPS increases ranging from 5% to 20% after implementing this hack. The gains are particularly noticeable on systems with older CPUs or limited RAM.

One user on Reddit (r/pcmasterrace) reported a 15% FPS increase in Fortnite simply by setting their game’s priority to “high” in Process Lasso. Another user saw a reduction in frame time variance, resulting in a smoother, more consistent gaming experience in Apex Legends.

Understanding System Components & Their Impact

To fully appreciate the benefits of this hack, it’s helpful to understand the core components of a PC. As outlined by Wikipedia (