Key Points

  • Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling is a setting in the recent Windows 11 upgrade. Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling is meant to reduce the load on your CPU and make your computer run more efficiently without affecting your user experience. To turn this feature on, go to the graphics settings area or follow the instructions below.

Between the somewhat recent upgrade to Windows 11 and all the settings you have access to with Windows-based devices, some of these settings are easy to miss. For example, one of these settings is Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling. This setting has been available for quite a while, but many users are unaware of it.

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So what is Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling? Even though the name is quite the mouthful, the results it produces are relatively simple to explain. When your computer is not using Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling tasks, the GPU needed to handle were put in a queue managed by the CPU. With this setting turned on, some of these tasks are moved to the GPU to lighten the load on the CPU.

These results might be kind of hard to recognize in day-to-day use. And with what this setting is trying to accomplish, the experience shouldn’t feel any different. Ultimately Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling should make your computer run more efficiently and not affect the end-user experience.

History of Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling

Over 15 years ago, Windows released the Windows Display Driver 1.0. Even though that doesn’t sound like anything special, this added a significant change to how GPUs managed the tasks given to them. Before this driver, GPU tasks were added by the order they were added to the queue. With WDD 1.0, GPU could manage and prioritize the requests it received. This update came in response to more and more users opening and using multiple applications at once. With people using multiple applications at once, having one program in full screen all day was no longer a reality. And it was easy to notice the limitations of display drivers before WDD 1.0.

Windows Display Driver 1.0 was the first type of GPU scheduling, and for the better part of a decade, it provided excellent results. The only downside is that the CPU controls all this scheduling. That’s when Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling came in. With the combination of updated features from the original Windows Display Driver 1.0 and the new Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling, how could it go wrong? Well, we have found some situations where using and not using Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling makes the most sense.

Should You Use Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling?

For most Windows users, you probably won’t need to turn on Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling, but this setting might make a big difference for those gamers out there. Unfortunately, this setting might make your gaming experience worse for people using older CPUs and GPUs in their computers. It is worth noting that only Windows computers that are on Windows 10 or newer and using an Nvidia GPU have access to this setting. AMD and Intel GPUs are working on adding support for this, but at the time of writing this article, you can only use Nvidia GPUs.

This setting makes a huge difference for people using lower or mid-tier CPUs that cannot handle the stress of some games. However, keep in mind that the stress you are taking off the CPU with this setting is being put onto the GPU. So if you have a GPU that also struggles running games, Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling will not be the magical fix.

FPS wise with this setting turned on; we saw a 4 or 5-frame gain compared to when it was turned off. Which isn’t a huge gain, but it is a gain nonetheless. We also found that this FPS gain with newer hardware, like the RTX 3060, is less noticeable.

Turn it On or Leave it Off?

If you are not sure about using this setting or not, we highly recommend trying out the setting and seeing if it makes a better or worse difference for your computer. Again, we would like to note that you probably won’t see extra frames pop up in games. But there is a chance that the CPU usage will be dropped to a level that makes it easier for your computer to run consistently. Unless you run into issues that have popped up after you turned on Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling, we recommend leaving this setting on.

Regardless of the somewhat hidden results with this setting. Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling can remove bottlenecks from your system. These bottlenecks can be something small that it just relieves some strain on the hardware. Or these bottlenecks can be quite large and give your computer so more room to breathe.

Even though this setting requires a restart turning it on and off is fairly simple, and with this guide, it becomes even easier. So without further ado, let’s learn how to turn on Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling.

How To Turn On Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling

1. Open The Start Menu

To start, click on the start menu icon in the bottom left corner of your screen. Optionally you can type the Windows key on your keyboard to quickly open the start menu.

2. Select Settings

From the Start menu, click on Settings, the icon is a grey gear wheel, and it should be in the top pinned grid of apps.

3. Click on System

Now that you are in the Settings menu click on System from the left-hand side menu and then select Display.

4. Graphics

Scroll down to the bottom and underneath Related Settings, click on Graphics. It should have a GPU icon next to it.

5. Change Default Graphic Settings

From the Graphics screen, select Change default graphic settings. It should be the very first result on this page, underneath Default settings.

6. Turn on Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling

Now that you are on this page, you can turn on Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling by clicking on the Off switch. With it turned on, the grey Off button should now become a blue On button.

7. Restart Your PC

Finally, now that you have Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling turned on, you will need to restart your computer to finalize the changes and give your hardware a reset to reconfigure.

Congratulations, you now have turned on Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling, but if you tried it out and you do not like it, follow these steps again and turn it off just like you turned it on.

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