Does changing priority improve performance?

I know the temptation. You‘ve tweaked every graphics setting, cleared the junk from your rig, and still see FPS drops in your favorite game. Opening task manager, you see that "priority" slider tempting you with the promise of unleashing hidden performance. Before you get click happy, let‘s dive into what priority actually changes under the hood – and whether it‘ll get you the sweet framerates you crave.

The Priority Placebo Effect

I‘ll cut right to the chase: Adjusting process priority, by itself, does not increase frame rates or directly optimize game performance.

I definitely fell for the priority placebo when I first started PC gaming! I‘d bump my games to "high" priority, then swear everything ran so much smoother after the change. Placebo is a crazy thing. It really took digging into how computer resource allocation works to realize priority wasn‘t some FPS magic slider.

Here‘s the 101…

Priority Determines Resource Access

Fig. 1 – Visualization of process priority levels determining resource access

Inside your computer, the CPU and RAM handle running programs and tasks.

Your CPU especially is constantly overwhelmed handling hundred of processes screaming for attention. Priority determines who gets dibs on those precious resources, as seen in Fig. 1.

• High/Realtime = first access, more resources
• Idle/Low = last access, less resources

So cranking a game process to high priority gives it precedence to be handled first when workload spikes. But if your hardware already has spare capacity, you won‘t see direct gains.

It Can‘t Conjure Free Headroom

I made this mistake early on – assuming priority somehow ekes out extra performance from my hardware. Visualizing your CPU/GPU capacity as a bucket of water makes it clearer:

• Bucket full = maxed out hardware
• Room left in bucket = spare headroom

Fig. 2 – Resource capacity visualized as a bucket

Bumping priority can help allocate that existing headroom better. But no matter how you arrange buckets, you can‘t conjure up free water from nowhere!

So while priority tweaks can help minimize lag spikes and stuttering in overloaded systems, the only way to directly increase FPS is upgrading your hardware bucket to have more overall capacity.

When Priority Helps – And When It Doesn‘t

Now that we understand what priority actually changes, let‘s get into practical scenarios.

Smoothing Gameplay on Overloaded Systems

Here‘s where priority can genuinely work some magic – on rigs with hardware insufficient for smooth gameplay.

For example, my old quad core struggles whenever I fire up a recent AAA title. Frame rates tank, gameplay turns stuttery, and having 20 Chrome tabs up in the background definitely doesn‘t help.

Bumping the game to high priority clears up a good chunk of the choppiness since the CPU devotes more slices of time to rendering frames rather than handling background tasks. It essentially helps minimize lag spikes in oversubscribed systems.

I compared metrics with priority tweaked in several games on my aging rig:

Table 1 – Priority smooths minimum FPS and lag on overloaded quad core system

The overall average FPS stayed nearly identical. But increasing priority raised my 1% lows significantly for a much smoother experience in heavy firefights.

So while priority didn‘t directly increase raw FPS horsepower, it did minimize ugly lag spikes.

Diminishing Returns on Faster Hardware

Now let‘s examine a scenario where priority tweaks make little real-world difference:

Say you have a blazing 8 core CPU and RTX 3080 churning out buttery 144 FPS in your games. With hardware that powerful, your system likely isn‘t even breaking a sweat with gameplay and background tasks. You have unused spare "water" in your bucket as shown back in Fig. 2.

Bumping priority can help allocate that spare capacity if needed. But you aren‘t actually gaining any new performance since there‘s already excess headroom.

I confirmed this in my testing on faster modern gaming rigs – priority made minimal impact to smoothness or FPS:

Table 2 – With excessive headroom already, priority tweaks have diminishing returns

You can see the blazing fast FPS and smooth 1% lows were barely impacted. So while bumping priority rarely causes harm, the benefits diminish if hardware already has breathing room.

Optimizing Performance – What REALLY Helps

While properly setting priority can help reduce stuttering on overloaded rigs, what offers the most dramatic FPS gains for us gamers?

Fig. 3 – FPS boost expectations vs. reality (credit PCMR)

Let‘s quickly run through tweaks that DO benefit gaming performance, outside of priority changes:

Close Unnecessary Background Programs

I know it‘s tempting to watch that GPU restock tracker running in the system tray while gaming. But every little program nibbles at precious resources. Close everything not needed so your games have the CPU and RAM‘s undivided attention.

Update Graphics Drivers

Nvidia and AMD regularly optimize drivers, especially for hot new titles. Keeping drivers updated ensures best compatibility and performance efficiency.

In-Game Video Settings

Adjust quality presets to balance eye candy and FPS. Tweaking options like resolution, textures, and anti-aliasing are powerful ways to tune performance.

Fig. 4 – In-game settings offer one of the most effective ways to boost FPS

Overclocking

When done carefully, overclocking your GPU and CPU can gain extra frames without upgrading. But watch those thermals!

Faster Hardware

The most drastic FPS gains come from better hardware period – newer/faster CPU, GPU, RAM and storage. Upgrading offers the purest injection of new "water" into your performance "bucket" shown earlier!

The Bottom Line on Priority

While cranking priority alone won‘t magically accelerate FPS, it can genuinely help smooth out gameplay in certain situations. Just be realistic with expectations based on your system‘s available headroom.

I hope demystifying how process priority works gives you insight into better optimizing performance! Let me know what other gaming urban legends you want tackled next in the comments below.

Game on,
Kashyap the PC Gamer