Guides/Windows
Fullscreen vs borderless windowed: which is better for gaming?
The old rule was simple: exclusive fullscreen for performance, borderless for convenience. On Windows 11 and 10 with current drivers, the gap has mostly closed, and some games don't even offer exclusive fullscreen anymore.
The difference today#
In borderless mode, the Windows desktop compositor used to copy every frame, which added delay and could cause stutter. Modern games and Windows use a faster path (the “flip model”) that skips that copy, so borderless can match fullscreen in frame rate and nearly in delay. Older DirectX 10 and 11 games don't use it on their own.
Optimizations for windowed games (Windows 11)#
Settings → System → Display → Graphics → Change default graphics settings → Optimizations for windowed games switches older DirectX 10 and 11 games to the faster path in borderless and windowed mode. It lowers delay and enables features like Auto HDR and variable refresh in those games. Leave it on unless a specific game misbehaves.
Which to pick#
- Competitive games: exclusive fullscreen if available. It's the safest choice for the lowest delay.
- Single-player games and if you alt-tab a lot: borderless. Switching windows is instant and the cost is small.
- Multiple monitors: borderless avoids the screen flickering when you switch.
Questions#
Is borderless windowed worse for FPS?
Does G-Sync work in borderless?
Frametide has this setting under Tweaks, says what it does, and switches it and back with one click (some settings need Premium). With Premium it also measures FPS, 1% lows and stutters in your own game, so you see whether it helps on your PC.