Why you may want to enable Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling in Windows 10

Martin Brinkmann
Jul 3, 2020
Hardware, Windows 10
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42

Microsoft introduced a new graphics feature in Windows 10 version 2004; called Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling, it is designed to improve GPU scheduling and thus performance when running applications and games that use the graphics processing unit.

The new graphics feature has some caveats and limitations: it is only available in Windows 10 version 2004 or newer, requires a fairly recent GPU, and needs drivers that support the feature.  The option becomes available only if the system meets all requirements.

windows-gpu hardware scheduling

You may check the system's graphics settings in the following way to find out whether Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling is available on your device:

  1. Make sure you run graphics drivers that support the feature. Nvidia customers need the GeForce driver 451.48 or newer for instance as the company introduced support for Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling in that version.
  2. Make sure you run Windows 10 version 2004, e..g by opening Start, typing winver, and selecting the result.
  3. Open the Settings application on the Windows 10 system with the help of the shortcut Windows-I, or select Start > Settings.
  4. Go to System > Display > Graphics Settings.
  5. The Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling option is displayed on the page that opens if both the GPU and the GPU driver support the feature.
  6. Use the switch to set the feature to On.

Microsoft reveals bits of the inner workings of Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling in a blog post on the Microsoft Dev blog. The company explains that the feature "is a significant and fundamental change to the driver model" and compares it to "rebuilding the foundation of a house while still living in it".

The company plans to monitor the performance of the feature and will continue to work on it.

Windows 10 users, especially those into gaming, may wonder whether it is worth enabling the feature, or if it is better to enable it at a later point in time when it is more mature.

The German computer magazine PC Games Hardware ran the feature through a set of benchmarks on Nvidia hardware. The testers followed Nvidia's recommendation and picked one of the fastest video cards, a MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming Z, for the test (Nvidia revealed that the most powerful cards benefit the most from the feature).

Benchmarks were run on games such as Doom Eternal, Read Dead Redemption 2, or Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, with hardware accelerated GPU scheduling set to on and off.

One of the core takeaways of the published benchmark results is that Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling does improve performance in all cases. On average, testers noticed a gain between 1-2 frames per second while running the game in 2560x1440 resolution.

It is unclear if the performance improvements will be less with less powerful hardware but Nvidia suggests that it may be the case.

Still, as a gamer, it may make sense to enable Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling provided that no drawbacks are observed on machines on which the feature is activated.

Now You: Which video card do you run on your devices?

Summary
Why you may want to enable Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling in Windows 10
Article Name
Why you may want to enable Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling in Windows 10
Description
Microsoft introduced a new graphics feature in Windows 10 version 2004; called Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling, it is designed to improve GPU scheduling and thus performance when running applications and games that use the graphics processing unit.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. LaurentG said on January 3, 2023 at 5:02 pm
    Reply

    Ghacks.net used to be a useful, and interesting blog….

    But since some time, Shaun is publishing papers that are more or less (and very often are ONLY) advertising for Microsoft.
    Today, he give us a new kind of paper that don’t hesitate to be outrageously erroneous !

    How can you write “The startup folder is important as it lists all the apps that run when your computer starts.” : This is completely false !

    These folders may, sometimes (but less and less) list some apps that run at startup, but MOST OF THEM (the apps that run at startup) are not set there, but rather in various registry keys, like HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, HKLMSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and several other ones

    If really you want to write something about this kind of subject, you’d better to talk about a soft like Sysinternals Autorun. Since it is a soft owned by Msoft, it would follow your recent policy of “MSoft advertising”, but, at least, it wouldn’t lead your users in error…

    I think I’ll soon stop to review this web blog, that we can now call a “shit blog” !

    1. ilev said on January 3, 2023 at 6:58 pm
      Reply

      You are correct.
      Both Startup folders are mainly empty.

      You can see list of startup apps in Task Manager.

  2. LaurentG said on January 3, 2023 at 5:15 pm
    Reply

    Actually, this paper is bullshit from its first words….

    “After the launch of Windows 10, the startup folder from the start menu was moved so that it is out of the spotlight.”…

    Once again, how can you write such bullshit ?!!! : It was already exactly at the SAME place in Win 7

    It was even in similar place in XP, and (if my memory is good) in Win95 / Win98

  3. Anonymous said on January 3, 2023 at 8:47 pm
    Reply

    Learn to read. The heading says ‘the … startup folder’, not startup locations.

    1. LaurentG said on January 4, 2023 at 9:40 am
      Reply

      I know to read.
      I know very well that the paper says about the “startup folder” and not the the “startup locations”, and it is the main problem, since it says “the startup folder is important as it lists all the apps that run when your computer starts.”

      Before making a lesson to others, learn to read yourself ;-)

  4. Emarell said on January 3, 2023 at 10:47 pm
    Reply

    I join the chorus – the Shaun-sourced articles I’ve read aren’t fit to line a birdcage.

    Regarding my Startup folder: key ‘startup’ in the taskbar search field. The response offers you a chance to open a folder called Startup Apps. That includes simple/obvious checkbox controls for managing the apps list, including 3 ways to reorganize how the list is displayed. BTW I too found just 2 or 3 entries using Shaun’s method, but several dozen using mine.

  5. Bill K said on January 4, 2023 at 2:18 pm
    Reply

    Wow – while I agree that this was not quiet to the level I would expect, I would also say that the vitriol in the other comments is pretty harsh. This was not my need and was written well below what I would consider to be a value to me, but I am not going to sink to the level of social media posts these days and just destroy the author because I think it may be below the level of what I would find interesting.

    Remember if you get offended or dont like someone’s post you are indeed free to move on.

    That being said, this does indeed fall short of giving the reader a comprehensive answer to how to find what’s being started and where. This does address the question of how to use the shell command to see the contents of two rarely used folders.

    BUT I don’t know if this was the assignment or the authors choice to go this deep. (just my opinion :-))

    1. pHROZEN gHOST said on January 4, 2023 at 6:24 pm
      Reply

      Well stated.

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