Windows has always been the operating system of choice for PC gamers than to its wide compatibility and adoption from graphics card manufacturers to game developers. Now that Windows 11 has been out in the wild for a while, is it safe to finally take the leap over to Microsofts latest operating system?
Sarah Bond is quoted in June 2021 stating Windows 11 comes “with superior graphics, amazing speed, and an incredible selection of games.” However, there are a few variables hanging on that statement. Firstly, those games are locked behind a paid Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate membership, which by the way is an amazing proposition for Xbox and PC gamers worldwide.
Secondly, the superior graphics statement is true when considering the advantages of Direct X 12, but this ultimately depends on the kind of graphics card that is being used alongside RAM and CPU. Ultimately, there’s only so much a bottlenecked system can do with lower-spec components, although Game Pass does offer a cloud gaming option, it, unfortunately, runs best on other hardware and Xbox One/Series S systems at the time of writing.
Speed however is another story. DirectStorage, a feature also found in the Velocity architecture of Xbox Series X and S hardware, takes advantage of SSD storage and loads assets straight to graphics cards. This is a brilliant feature that reduces the workload on CPUs and beams information from an SSD to a graphics card for faster performance all-around.
Speaking of visuals, auto HDR supports come to any game built with Direct X 11 or above in mind, this is regardless of games supporting HDR natively or not. Of course, a monitor and graphics card with HDR compatibility will be necessary for this feature, however.
Should I update to Windows 11 for gaming?
The general consensus across the board is that Windows 11 performance matches, and in some cases, outperforms Windows 10 thanks to DirectStorage and Auto HDR. This isn’t the boost in performance we’ve seen from upgrading Windows 10 some years ago, but it’s not a mark against Microsofts name either.
Providing a PC meets the minimum, or when gaming, the recommended specifications, Windows 11 is a great operating system to game on. Speaking from our own experience, we can confirm that Halo Infinite runs at around the 60 FPS Mark, medium settings on an RTX 3060 laptop regardless of running Windows 10 or Windows 11.
At the same time, we didn’t notice any significant boosts in performance after our installation of Windows 11. We can safely say that there will only be benefits down the line for Windows 11 gamers.
For more useful guides on Windows 11, make sure to visit and bookmark our Windows 11 hub.
