The Windows 10 Creators Update Arrives
by Brett Howse on April 25, 2017 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Software
- Operating Systems
- Windows
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Gaming
According to the Steam Hardware & Software Survey, Windows 10 is now on over 50% of computers running Steam, so it looks like gamers are making the switch. Features like DirectX 12 certainly help with the appeal, but Microsoft has been slowly adding more gaming features to Windows 10 over time.
Gaming settings now have their own home in the Settings panel. This is a nice bonus, since some of these settings were tucked away before and not as easy to get to. With the new Game settings panel, you can configure the Game Bar, Game DVR, Game Mode, and Broadcasting, all from one location. You can set shortcuts to tasks like taking an in-game screenshot, turning a microphone off and on, and starting a game clip recording. They all have their own default shortcuts, but maybe you want to set them to just a certain key while gaming.
There are two new features here though, in Game Mode and Broadcasting. Game Mode was first announced in January as an upcoming feature for the Creators Update, and it basically changes the CPU and GPU priorities when gaming to ensure that the game gets the maximum resources it can. This is enabled for all games by default, but can be turned off per-game if needed. Although it will be unlikely to impact maximum frame rates, it should help with minimum frame rates especially when the computer is busy doing other things. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to dig into this a bit more in the future.
The second big addition is broadcasting support. In August 2016, Microsoft acquired the game broadcasting company Beam. That purchase has quickly found its way into their core products, with Windows 10 and Xbox both adding support for Beam with the Creators Update. Rather than having to install software and configure an account, you can just broadcast right from the game bar, using your Xbox Live account information. Game broadcasting has become a huge industry, so it’s great to see a solution built-in to Windows that is so easy to use. And it is very simple to use. In a game, you just open the Game Bar (Default Windows + G) and click on the broadcast icon. In seconds, your broadcast will be set up. There is no doubt that there is stiff competition in this space, but Beam seems to be a solid offering, and having it included by default is a nice benefit.
Security Center
After working hard to move all of the settings into the settings pane in Windows 10, to the point where you rarely need to access the legacy control panel, it’s perhaps a bit odd that they broke some of them out of settings and put them in their own grouping, but it is nice to see a one-stop shop for Security.
The new Windows Defender Security Center app combines virus protection of Windows Defender, with firewall settings, device health information, app control, and family options. None of these features are new, but combining them into one app should make them a bit more accessible.
In fact, the one that seems to be missing is file backup, since that would fit into this theme of keeping your computer and data safe, and it would be nice to have File History added here, or perhaps a more comprehensive backup solution.
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tvdang7 - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
How are you going to report on game mode with no benchmarks :-)TheWereCat - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
I did clean install of the W10 x64 Pro with Creators update this week and I must say that the game mode is a complete garbage (at least in my case).All my games were stuttering horribly at well over 100FPS, so I checked frame times and there were huge spikes from 6ms-8ms when it was running smooth to suddenly crazy 100ms-600ms spike about every 5s.
After I disabled Game Mode, Game Bar and Game DVR then everything went nice and smooth.
i7 4770k 4.5GHz, GTX 1060 6G, 2x8GB DDR3, 1440p.
negusp - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
Exactly. I'm pretty sure this really has to do with the Game Bar/DVR rendering in some games.Running an i5-6200u- with Game Bar/Game Mode enabled my fps in games like Counter-Strike GO and War Thunder was on average a good 4-5 fps lower and frame drops were much more noticeable.
Nothing insane but I need all the fps I can get on such a weak setup.
MattMe - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
I think there have been a few reports of random issues like this, as well as it hampering ratehr than improving performance.I get the impression that game mode was designed for low-spec machines that have a lot of bloatware etc installed, not for fresh install high-end gaming machines that are configured specifically for gaming.
Not that it's an excuse for it affecting your pristine install, just commenting on what I've read elsewhere.
ddriver - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
Waiting on the "almighty creator of all" update. Seriously, regardless of what adjectives you decorate it with, it is still spyware adware garbage.MattMe - Wednesday, April 26, 2017 - link
I wrote a response, then noticed the username. Nearly got me!Aloonatic - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
I just "updated" windows 10 and Minecraft had gone from 25 to 30 fps with shaders, resource packs etc ore update, to 5 or 6 fps, even with all the Game Mode stuff turned off.Aloonatic - Wednesday, April 26, 2017 - link
Well, is my face red...ish.It turns out the nvidia control panel settings had been reset so Minecraft was using integrated intel gpu instead of my nvidia card. I've still had to turn a few setting science, however, to run as it did before.
Thretosix - Wednesday, April 26, 2017 - link
Even in the article it claims the purpose wasn't so much to increase the top end of framerates. This will help older PCs more than anything that are running lower on resources as time goes on. What it is really doing is limiting background processes to increase albeit a minimal increase in performance. The article states you may get a few frames saved off the minimum frame rate. Nobody expected this to turn an unplayable game to acceptable performance. Perhaps they should have called this feature something else.TheWereCat - Wednesday, April 26, 2017 - link
Well, I don't really need it to increase my performance but I sure as hell don't want it to cause issues, which in my case it does.