• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

alt tabbing increases system performance?

Awesomehandle31

New Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
16 (0.00/day)
Location
miami
Hello! I'm looking for information on what would cause games to run better after alt-tabbing and reopening the program? this is the only thing that fixes the strange FPS/GPU usage issues i've been experiencing post going 5760x1080...

3570k on msiz77g45 w/ 2x 670ftws...
 
Joined
Nov 19, 2012
Messages
753 (0.18/day)
System Name Chaos
Processor Intel Core i5 4590K @ 4.0 GHz
Motherboard MSI Z97 MPower MAX AC
Cooling Arctic Cooling Freezer i30 + MX4
Memory 4x4 GB Kingston HyperX Beast 2400 GT/s CL11
Video Card(s) Palit GTX 1070 Dual @ stock
Storage 256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD + 1 TB WD Green (Idle timer off) + 320 GB WD Blue
Display(s) Dell U2515H
Case Fractal Design Define R3
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Corsair HX750 Platinum
Mouse CM Storm Recon
Keyboard CM Storm Quickfire Pro (MX Red)
I have a friend with a similar "problem"... He's running an i7 3820 on an Asus Rampage V Extreme w/ 16 gigs of RAM and 2x Asus reference HD6870 in CF. He's getting 20-30 FPS in WoT and Crysis 3, but after alt-tabbing it goes up into the high 50s. No settings change in the meantime, and no other action is needed, and the FPS stay the same until he exits the game.

Strange, I wonder what's actually going on...
 

FordGT90Concept

"I go fast!1!11!1!"
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
26,259 (4.65/day)
Location
IA, USA
System Name BY-2021
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (65w eco profile)
Motherboard MSI B550 Gaming Plus
Cooling Scythe Mugen (rev 5)
Memory 2 x Kingston HyperX DDR4-3200 32 GiB
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
Storage Samsung 980 Pro, Seagate Exos X20 TB 7200 RPM
Display(s) Nixeus NX-EDG274K (3840x2160@144 DP) + Samsung SyncMaster 906BW (1440x900@60 HDMI-DVI)
Case Coolermaster HAF 932 w/ USB 3.0 5.25" bay + USB 3.2 (A+C) 3.5" bay
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1150, Micca OriGen+
Power Supply Enermax Platimax 850w
Mouse Nixeus REVEL-X
Keyboard Tesoro Excalibur
Software Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Benchmark Scores Faster than the tortoise; slower than the hare.
Alt+tab often forces the game to reinitialize the DirectX renderer. It's likely an opportunity to reattempt to start SLI/Crossfire if it didn't start with the game.

Mind you, alt+tab is as likely to cause the game to crash as it is to improve performance. Some games support it, some don't, and some are somewhere in between.
 

HammerON

The Watchful Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 2, 2009
Messages
8,397 (1.53/day)
Location
Up North
System Name Threadripper
Processor 3960X
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix TRX40-XE
Cooling XSPC Raystorm Neo (sTR4) Water Block
Memory G. Skill Trident Z Neo 64 GB 3600
Video Card(s) PNY RTX 4090
Storage Samsung 960 Pro 512 GB + WD Black SN850 1TB
Display(s) Dell 32" Curved Gaming Monitor (S3220DGF)
Case Corsair 5000D Airflow
Audio Device(s) On-board
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G5
Mouse Roccat Kone Pure
Keyboard Corsair K70
Software Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores Always changing~
I have to do this with Crysis 3 when using my main rig in the system specs (2x 7970's).
 

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
8,756 (1.74/day)
Location
Stuck in a PC. halp.
System Name Monke | Work Thinkpad| Old Monke
Processor Ryzen 5600X | Ryzen 5500U | FX8320
Motherboard ASRock B550 Extreme4 | ? | Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling 240mm Rad | Not needed | hyper 212 EVO
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 Corsair RGB | 16 GB DDR4 3600 | 16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse RX6700XT 12GB | Vega 8 | Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
Storage Samsung 980 nvme (Primary) | some samsung SSD
Display(s) Dell 2723DS | Some 14" 1080p 98%sRGB IPS | Dell 2240L
Case Ant Esports Tempered case | Thinkpad | Antec
Audio Device(s) Logitech Z333 | Jabra corpo stuff
Power Supply Corsair RM750e | not needed | Corsair GS 600
Mouse Logitech G400 | nipple
Keyboard Logitech G213 | stock kb is awesome | Logitech K230
VR HMD ;_;
Software Windows 10 Professional x3
Benchmark Scores There are no marks on my bench
indeed i have seen this phenomenon with a lot of intel CPUs! i used to think alt tabbing back to the games gives all other programs less priority, and minimises those programs, and hence the performance increases.
 

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
13,147 (2.96/day)
Location
Concord, NH, USA
System Name Apollo
Processor Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory 64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage 1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s) Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s) AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply 96w Power Adapter
Mouse Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software MacOS 12.1
I have 6870s in crossfire and a 3820. I haven't experienced this yet, but I also don't play a huge variety of games. Civ 5, SC2 and Minecraft are the commonly played and have been working pretty good lately. Civ 5 was crashing on the cfx driver library a lot but a recent driver update fixed that.

Maybe there are particular games this happens with? In the past I know that there we some games that won't restart CFX if you alt-tab out of it and back in. That could have changed with a more recent driver. That used to happen to me but not any more.
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2010
Messages
1,549 (0.31/day)
Location
Kolkata, India
System Name Coffee | Maximus
Processor Intel Core i7 9700K @ 5.2 GHz with AVX, 4.8 GHz cache clock | i7 9700KF @ 5.0 GHz/4.7 GHz cache
Motherboard ASUS Maximus X Formula | ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger (modded BIOS for Coffee Lake)+TPM2.0 module
Cooling Cooler Master ML240 Illusion | Cooler Master ML120L RGB
Memory 2*16 GB (32 GB) Kingston Fury Beast @3600 MHz CL17 | 4*8 GB (32 GB) HyperX Fury @3200 MHz CL14
Video Card(s) Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB Twin Edge | Galax RTX 2060 Super 8 GB
Storage Samsung PM981a 1TB NVMe+480GB SATA SSD+2 TB HDD | Crucial P5 1TB, Crucial P1 500GB+2.5TB HDDs
Display(s) LG OLED 55 G3, 4K 120 Hz, VRR, ALLM, GSync, FreeSync | Samsung 43AU9070 4K TV, VRR, ALLM
Case Corsair Crystal 460X RGB | Lianli Lancool 215
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z SE | Realtek ALC1150 (Supreme FX)
Power Supply ASUS ROG Strix 750G (80+ Gold) | Cooler Master MWE 650 V2 (80+ Bronze)
Mouse Cooler Master MM731 19000 DPI gaming mouse
Keyboard Cooler Master CK721 65% mechanical gaming keyboard (tactile)
Software Windows 11 Pro x64 |Windows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R20 MT 4200,ST 547 CPU-Z MT 4871, ST 620 | R20 MT - 4158, ST - 534, CPU-Z MT 4798, ST 603
Never tried it. Will do today.
 
Joined
May 30, 2007
Messages
9,019 (1.47/day)
System Name Black Panther
Processor i9 9900k
Motherboard Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO Wifi 1.0
Cooling NZXT Kraken X72 360mm
Memory 2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3600Mhz
Video Card(s) Palit RTX2080 Ti Dual 11GB DDR6
Storage Samsung EVO 970 500GB SSD M.2 & 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm
Display(s) 32'' Gigabyte G32QC 2560x1440 165Hz
Case NZXT H710i Black
Audio Device(s) Razer Electra V2 & Z5500 Speakers
Power Supply Seasonic Focus GX-850 Gold 80+
Mouse Some Corsair lost the box forgot the model
Keyboard Motospeed
Software Windows 10
I stand to be corrected but I've heard that it clears the RAM (or the VRAM I'm not sure).
Some games don't run well after alt-tabbing though, or crash. Bethesda games in particular.
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2010
Messages
1,549 (0.31/day)
Location
Kolkata, India
System Name Coffee | Maximus
Processor Intel Core i7 9700K @ 5.2 GHz with AVX, 4.8 GHz cache clock | i7 9700KF @ 5.0 GHz/4.7 GHz cache
Motherboard ASUS Maximus X Formula | ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger (modded BIOS for Coffee Lake)+TPM2.0 module
Cooling Cooler Master ML240 Illusion | Cooler Master ML120L RGB
Memory 2*16 GB (32 GB) Kingston Fury Beast @3600 MHz CL17 | 4*8 GB (32 GB) HyperX Fury @3200 MHz CL14
Video Card(s) Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB Twin Edge | Galax RTX 2060 Super 8 GB
Storage Samsung PM981a 1TB NVMe+480GB SATA SSD+2 TB HDD | Crucial P5 1TB, Crucial P1 500GB+2.5TB HDDs
Display(s) LG OLED 55 G3, 4K 120 Hz, VRR, ALLM, GSync, FreeSync | Samsung 43AU9070 4K TV, VRR, ALLM
Case Corsair Crystal 460X RGB | Lianli Lancool 215
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z SE | Realtek ALC1150 (Supreme FX)
Power Supply ASUS ROG Strix 750G (80+ Gold) | Cooler Master MWE 650 V2 (80+ Bronze)
Mouse Cooler Master MM731 19000 DPI gaming mouse
Keyboard Cooler Master CK721 65% mechanical gaming keyboard (tactile)
Software Windows 11 Pro x64 |Windows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R20 MT 4200,ST 547 CPU-Z MT 4871, ST 620 | R20 MT - 4158, ST - 534, CPU-Z MT 4798, ST 603
I stand to be corrected but I've heard that it clears the RAM (or the VRAM I'm not sure).
Some games don't run well after alt-tabbing though, or crash. Bethesda games in particular.

Call of Duty Blackops also.
 
Joined
Apr 19, 2012
Messages
12,062 (2.77/day)
Location
Gypsyland, UK
System Name HP Omen 17
Processor i7 7700HQ
Memory 16GB 2400Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s) GTX 1060
Storage Samsung SM961 256GB + HGST 1TB
Display(s) 1080p IPS G-SYNC 75Hz
Audio Device(s) Bang & Olufsen
Power Supply 230W
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD+
Software Win 10 Pro
I stand to be corrected but I've heard that it clears the RAM (or the VRAM I'm not sure).
Some games don't run well after alt-tabbing though, or crash. Bethesda games in particular.

Skyrim doesnt work correctly you alt tab, but if you alt tab to it again while the screen is black, it loads up with the windows cursor over the top. If i repeatedly do this, eventually it fullscreens properly without issues. Slightly weird.
 

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
8,756 (1.74/day)
Location
Stuck in a PC. halp.
System Name Monke | Work Thinkpad| Old Monke
Processor Ryzen 5600X | Ryzen 5500U | FX8320
Motherboard ASRock B550 Extreme4 | ? | Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling 240mm Rad | Not needed | hyper 212 EVO
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 Corsair RGB | 16 GB DDR4 3600 | 16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse RX6700XT 12GB | Vega 8 | Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
Storage Samsung 980 nvme (Primary) | some samsung SSD
Display(s) Dell 2723DS | Some 14" 1080p 98%sRGB IPS | Dell 2240L
Case Ant Esports Tempered case | Thinkpad | Antec
Audio Device(s) Logitech Z333 | Jabra corpo stuff
Power Supply Corsair RM750e | not needed | Corsair GS 600
Mouse Logitech G400 | nipple
Keyboard Logitech G213 | stock kb is awesome | Logitech K230
VR HMD ;_;
Software Windows 10 Professional x3
Benchmark Scores There are no marks on my bench
^ usually all games alt tab from the pause screen. try that.
skyrim is an example which will work from pause screen, but not from during gameplay.
 
Joined
Mar 7, 2007
Messages
3,842 (0.62/day)
Location
Maryland
System Name HAL
Processor Core i9 13900k @5.8-6.1
Motherboard Z790 Arous master
Cooling EKWB Quantum Velocity V2 & (2) 360 Corsair XR7 Rads push/pull
Memory 2x 32GB (64GB) Gskill trident 6000 CL30 @28 1T
Video Card(s) RTX 4090 Gigagbyte gaming OC @ +200/1300
Storage (M2's) 2x Samsung 980 pro 2TB, 1xWD Black 2TB, 1x SK Hynix Platinum P41 2TB
Display(s) 65" LG OLED 120HZ
Case Lian Li dyanmic Evo11 with distro plate
Power Supply Thermaltake 1350
Software Microsoft Windows 11 x64
Depends on the game. I always tell people who are having problems crashing or with performance.
"if you are in fullscreen, try windowed/full mode (Aka borderless)"
If they are running windowed, I say "Try fullscreen".
It matters occasionally.
 
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Messages
13,791 (1.94/day)
^ usually all games alt tab from the pause screen. try that.
skyrim is an example which will work from pause screen, but not from during gameplay.

There are also games that put the game in PAUSE when you alt tab them and when you get back they remain PAUSED until you unpause it yourself. Great way of properly coded games taht prevent you from getting killed because the game continues to run when minimized...
 

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
8,756 (1.74/day)
Location
Stuck in a PC. halp.
System Name Monke | Work Thinkpad| Old Monke
Processor Ryzen 5600X | Ryzen 5500U | FX8320
Motherboard ASRock B550 Extreme4 | ? | Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling 240mm Rad | Not needed | hyper 212 EVO
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 Corsair RGB | 16 GB DDR4 3600 | 16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse RX6700XT 12GB | Vega 8 | Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
Storage Samsung 980 nvme (Primary) | some samsung SSD
Display(s) Dell 2723DS | Some 14" 1080p 98%sRGB IPS | Dell 2240L
Case Ant Esports Tempered case | Thinkpad | Antec
Audio Device(s) Logitech Z333 | Jabra corpo stuff
Power Supply Corsair RM750e | not needed | Corsair GS 600
Mouse Logitech G400 | nipple
Keyboard Logitech G213 | stock kb is awesome | Logitech K230
VR HMD ;_;
Software Windows 10 Professional x3
Benchmark Scores There are no marks on my bench
There are also games that put the game in PAUSE when you alt tab them and when you get back they remain PAUSED until you unpause it yourself. Great way of properly coded games taht prevent you from getting killed because the game continues to run when minimized...

indeed!
dirt 3 is one i think?
 
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Messages
13,791 (1.94/day)
Though i never Alt-Tab from games. If i have to, i do it with Ctrl+Esc. And i never in what, 15 years really bothered to check if this is in fact the same thing... lol
 
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
5,632 (1.11/day)
System Name RemixedBeast-NX
Processor Intel Xeon E5-2690 @ 2.9Ghz (8C/16T)
Motherboard Dell Inc. 08HPGT (CPU 1)
Cooling Dell Standard
Memory 24GB ECC
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Nvidia RTX2060 6GB
Storage 2TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD//2TB WD Black HDD
Display(s) Samsung SyncMaster P2350 23in @ 1920x1080 + Dell E2013H 20 in @1600x900
Case Dell Precision T3600 Chassis
Audio Device(s) Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 // Fiio E7 Amp/DAC
Power Supply 630w Dell T3600 PSU
Mouse Logitech G700s/G502
Keyboard Logitech K740
Software Linux Mint 20
Benchmark Scores Network: APs: Cisco Meraki MR32, Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC-LR and Lite Router/Sw:Meraki MX64 MS220-8P
I either get a crash or a lil boost but most of the time its a crash with Bethesda games
 

Awesomehandle31

New Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
16 (0.00/day)
Location
miami
I've only proven this to work in cry3. Its all I've.played since upgrade to 5760x1080
 
Joined
Jan 31, 2012
Messages
2,452 (0.55/day)
Location
Bulgaria
System Name Sandfiller
Processor I5-10400
Motherboard MSI MPG Z490 GAMING PLUS
Cooling Noctua NH-L9i (92x25mm fan)
Memory 32GB Corsair LPX 2400 Mhz DDR4 CL14
Video Card(s) MSI RX 5700 XT GAMING X
Storage Intel 670P 512GB
Display(s) 2560x1080 LG 29" + 22" LG
Case SS RV02
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z
Power Supply Fractal Design IntegraM 650W
Mouse Logitech Triathlon
Keyboard REDRAGON MITRA
Software Windows 11 Home x 64
To add to the library here: Blacklight Retribution doesn't respond well on alt+tab. At least on my laptop.
 

Awesomehandle31

New Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
16 (0.00/day)
Location
miami
Skyrim doesnt work correctly you alt tab, but if you alt tab to it again while the screen is black, it loads up with the windows cursor over the top. If i repeatedly do this, eventually it fullscreens properly without issues. Slightly weird.

Only had this issue on cracked sky rim and batman

To everyone else thank you for your input... Many of these theories crossed my mind... +thanks ... This is cross.platform which points to game coding more then.CPU/GPU right?
 
Last edited:
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
10,881 (1.63/day)
Location
Manchester, NH
System Name Senile
Processor I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory 16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s) 34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (3440*1440) *FREE_SYNC*
Case Rosewill
Audio Device(s) Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply Corsair HX750
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software Win 10
I wonder if CTRL+ESC would cause the same effect?

I've never noticed any alt+tab behavior in game, either good or bad.
 

FordGT90Concept

"I go fast!1!11!1!"
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
26,259 (4.65/day)
Location
IA, USA
System Name BY-2021
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (65w eco profile)
Motherboard MSI B550 Gaming Plus
Cooling Scythe Mugen (rev 5)
Memory 2 x Kingston HyperX DDR4-3200 32 GiB
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
Storage Samsung 980 Pro, Seagate Exos X20 TB 7200 RPM
Display(s) Nixeus NX-EDG274K (3840x2160@144 DP) + Samsung SyncMaster 906BW (1440x900@60 HDMI-DVI)
Case Coolermaster HAF 932 w/ USB 3.0 5.25" bay + USB 3.2 (A+C) 3.5" bay
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1150, Micca OriGen+
Power Supply Enermax Platimax 850w
Mouse Nixeus REVEL-X
Keyboard Tesoro Excalibur
Software Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Benchmark Scores Faster than the tortoise; slower than the hare.
I wonder if CTRL+ESC would cause the same effect?

I've never noticed any alt+tab behavior in game, either good or bad.
Should. They both pull DirectX out of the fullscreen render by switching focus to something else.


This is cross.platform which points to game coding more then.CPU/GPU right?
Yes. Games, by default, aren't intended to lose focus. They're supposed to be started, played, then closed from an in-game option. Developers have to add code to pause the game when focus is lost and reinitialize the full screen aspects of the game when focus is gained. The initialization can take a while which is why some games take several seconds to go full screen again.

I run SimCity windowed a lot, for example, and when I play a game full screen and hit alt+tab, I can see SimCity reinitializing itself even though it really shouldn't have to.

It definitely isn't a hardware thing. It's game programming. In the case of Crossfire/SLI, it could be a driver issue.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 10, 2009
Messages
467 (0.09/day)
Location
TR
Processor C2duo e6750@ 2800mhz
Motherboard GA-P43T-ES3G
Cooling Xigmatek S1283
Memory 2x2Gb Kingstone HyperX DDR3 1600 (KHX1600C9D3K2/4GX )
Video Card(s) HIS HD 6870
Storage samsung HD103SJ
Case Xigmatek Utgard
Audio Device(s) X-FI Titanium Pci-e
Power Supply Xigmatek NRP-PC702 700W
Software win7 ultimate -64bit
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
377 (0.09/day)
Location
Rizal, Philippines
System Name Poor Man's Build
Processor Intel i7 3960X 4.9Ghz Sandy Bridge E
Motherboard MSi X79A-GD65 8D
Cooling XSPC 240mm and 360MM (External) Rad
Memory 64Gb Corsair Dominator Platinum
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX770 SC ACX SLI (non water cooled yet)
Storage Intel 520 240GB SSD x2 /x2 WD Caviar Black 3TB 7200RPM 64MB Cache
Display(s) ASUS 27" 2560X1440 x3
Case Corsair 900D (upgraded from my lvl 10 gt and 600T)
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar Essence STX
Power Supply Corsair AX1200i 80PLUS Platinum
Software Windows 7 Ultimate (FPP)
I don't know much but whenever I play games specially those on my ssd on a 7680X1440 resolution I don't feel any lag or increase in performance thought.
 
Top