Most applications are run in windowed mode, which makes it easy to access the surrounding applications when working in Windows. The ability to quickly access the information you need is essential for productive tasks. But when it comes to entertainment, immersion is more important than ease of access.
Therefore, most games and movies are enjoyed in fullscreen mode rather than windowed mode. The question is, what’s best and what are the advantages and disadvantages of the different modes?
Running games in fullscreen mode will improve performance, as the computer will focus its resources on displaying the game. The downside of fullscreen is that you have to alt-tab out of a game to access other applications, which can cause the pc to choke. Borderless and windowed mode make it possible to access other apps with no delay without minimizing the game but can also lower performance.
There are situations where using one mode trumps using the others. To help you understand what, when, and how you should use these modes to get the most out of your games, we’ve researched the topic to see if these modes have a big impact on the gaming experience or not.
Is It Better To Play Games in Fullscreen, Windowed, or Borderless Mode?
Not everyone gets the same results when they swap from one mode to the other. Not only because personal preference plays a big role in whether you like a certain screen mode or not, but also because each computer and game will respond differently.
Let’s start by separating the three screen modes, and what they’ve shown to do to gaming performance.
Fullscreen
When running a game in fullscreen mode, your in-game performance can gain a boost. Notice that I said can gain a boost. All of you won’t notice an improvement in performance when playing in fullscreen, but the general consensus is that fullscreen mode should have a positive impact on performance.
This is because Windows will grant the application running in fullscreen full control of the screen’s output. This means that the computer’s resources prioritize displaying the game while placing a lower priority on surrounding applications every time the game is open in fullscreen mode.
This usually translates to better performance in the form of higher fps and less input delay.
Alt-tabbing out of a game when it’s being displayed in fullscreen mode can cause the computer to choke for a mere moment – but this will depend on the game, the computer’s specs, and the resolution. Most computers can handle alt-tabbing with no problem but it’s still worth mentioning.
Playing a game in fullscreen mode is also considered more immersive than in windowed mode, but I wouldn’t say that it’s more immersive than a borderless window.
Fullscreen mode is a good choice if you don’t need to access other applications while gaming, if you’re on a single-monitor setup, and if the particular game you’re playing seems to run better in fullscreen mode.
You should also use fullscreen mode if you have multiple monitors but don’t need to access your secondary or third monitor while running a fullscreen game.
Borderless Window
Borderless window gives you the ability to display your game without borders while also allowing you to roam freely between your game and other background applications. It feels as though you’re running the game in fullscreen but technically, the game is being displayed in a window.
Borderless window is a convenient solution for those who have a multiple-monitor setup or do a lot of multi-tasking, or alt-tabbing while gaming.
Because the game is being displayed in a window, other tasks running on the computer at the same time are already being rendered, and accessing them can be done with ease.
Clicking on a background application, or a secondary screen won’t force you out of the game the same way it would if you were displaying the game in fullscreen mode. Instead, the computer will show both the game and whatever you’re doing on your second screen simultaneously.
Borderless window offers a seamless transition between applications. But what about performance?
In theory, running a game in fullscreen should optimize the way the game runs, but it doesn’t always work like that in practice. Some users have actually reported seeing an improvement in performance by changing from fullscreen to borderless.
The norm is, however, that you can expect a modest-to-substantial increase in fps and reduction in input delay when playing in fullscreen mode. But still…
You might not notice a remarkable difference in performance by swapping from fullscreen to borderless mode. In fact, you might not even notice a difference at all. This can vary greatly from one situation to the next.
That’s probably because games tend to be displayed at a lower resolution when they’re in windowed mode, be it borderless or not. The lowered resolution means that the GPU has to use less of its resources to draw the pixels on the screen.
With that said, lowering the resolution while playing in fullscreen will offer the same type of increased performance plus the benefits of focusing the computer’s resources on a single application – this is called “exclusive mode”.
Exclusive mode is one of the reasons why games don’t run as smooth when they’re played in windowed or borderless windowed mode.
Exclusive mode allows fullscreen applications to take full control of the screen output, whereas windowed applications have to send information regarding each pixel’s placement through Windows Manager.
The time this process takes has been reduced greatly in more recent versions of Windows.
Windowed Mode
Windowed mode is similar to borderless windowed when it comes to performance, as they’re pretty much the same thing with one primary difference, the border around the application.
You can use windowed mode anytime borderless mode would’ve worked well.
So, when should each mode be used?
The grand majority of today’s games will run best on fullscreen, but the drop in performance that you will suffer from by playing in windowed/borderless mode has been reduced greatly.
Nevertheless, there is a small subset of games that (for some reason) seem to run better when they’re not displayed in fullscreen mode.
Why Do Some Games Run Much Better In Windowed Mode?
Swapping from fullscreen to window mode shouldn’t increase performance, but it’s not rare for users to gain 10-15fps in certain games when doing so – and why is that? Sometimes it feels like it’s totally random whether a game will benefit from fullscreen or not.
That’s not true though, of course. Certain games will, in certain situations, perform better in window mode than they do in fullscreen mode. If the game will or won’t benefit from window mode can vary depending on factors like:
- The way the game engine’s interface is programmed
- If it’s a laptop or a desktop computer with an output device connected.
- The game’s initial resolution (Window mode lowers the resolution)
- Whether or not V-Sync works well in fullscreen (If it doesn’t, swapping to windowed mode can reduce tearing)
We tried 10 different games on the same computer to see if we would be able to find any games that performed better in windowed than in fullscreen. Using the same computer made it possible to run all games under the same conditions.
Out of the 10 games we tried, we deemed 1 of them more playable in window mode than in fullscreen. That was Fallout 4. The difference was noticeable and it impacted the overall experience of the game. The 9 other games ran better in fullscreen mode, but the margins varied a bit.
What Screen Mode Is Best For FPS?
You will (usually) get the most frames per second by running your game in fullscreen mode with optimized settings for your monitor and hardware. As mentioned above; 9 out of the 10 games we tried performed better in fullscreen mode.
All 9 games had an increase in frames per second when swapped to fullscreen mode. The increase varied greatly, with some games seeing an increase of 30fps while others merely gained 5fps. No changes were made to the game’s settings, which could’ve increased fps even further – but this would’ve been true in windowed mode too.
Finding the right screen mode is a surefire way to get your game to run smoother, but there are plenty of other things that can be adjusted too. Sometimes, you’ll find that an old computer with subpar specs will perform better in window mode, for some reason.
Nevertheless, the rule of thumb is that you will get the best performance by running your games in fullscreen mode. You can make the game run much better by making the right adjustments, which you should be able to find by looking for the game’s optimal settings on Google.
Oh, and if you thought the topic was talking about FPS as in first-person shooter, then the answer to your question is the same – use fullscreen mode.
Does Windowed Mode Have Input Lag?
When a button on a keyboard or mouse is pressed, it takes a few milliseconds until the action is executed on the screen. The time it takes for the computer (and game) to register and perform the command is called input lag. The more the action is delayed, the higher the input lag.
You will always have some input lag, regardless of which screen mode you’re running the game in.
No computer is able to perform an action the exact millisecond the button is pressed, but you still want the process to be as quick as possible – especially when playing fast-paced games where milliseconds can make a big difference.
You will achieve the lowest input lag by playing a game in fullscreen mode, with no v-sync, and no triple buffering. By swapping to either of the two windowed modes, you will add an extra 20-30ms of input lag. It should be noted that the tests showing these results were performed a couple of years ago.
This might’ve changed for the better since then, but the norm says that window mode has more input lag than fullscreen does.