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Power Throttling

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Recommendation

Leave as default

Leave the mechanism enabled.

When disabled globally, background processes may consume more energy, raise temperatures and compete harder for resources. The game itself may not run any better.

Scope
Background processes
FPS and memory
FPS is not affected

What changes

Section titled “What changes”

Power Throttling is a built-in Windows mechanism for reining in background work: Windows identifies background and low-priority processes and runs them more economically — at reduced frequencies and on efficient cores. A game application in the foreground should not automatically be treated as such a background load.

The tweak has three states (according to the visible BoosterX description): “Best” and “Optimal” leave the mechanism enabled, while “Disabled” forcibly turns it off globally. Applying “Disabled” reliably may require a reboot.

Exceptions and differences

Section titled “Exceptions and differences”

Why the tick is under “Legacy”: the mechanism has been built in since Windows 10 1709 and underpins the energy efficiency of Windows 11 — disabling it globally contradicts modern power settings. On laptops the tick is hidden (according to the BoosterX catalog).

The visible trade-off after “Disabled”: background processes (browser, updaters, synchronization) more often run at full frequency — power consumption and temperature rise, and the background load interferes more with frametime. Disabling does not affect thermal limits or overheating protection (according to the visible BoosterX description). If a specific application is being throttled by mistake, fix its mode on a case-by-case basis.

How to verify the result

Section titled “How to verify the result”
  1. Enable “Disabled”, reboot and create an identical background load (for example, several tabs with video).
  2. In Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) → “Performance”, compare the CPU frequency and temperature before and after.
  3. If temperature and consumption rose without any benefit to the game, restore the mechanism.

How to change and revert

Section titled “How to change and revert”

In BoosterX, open “Optimization” → “Legacy” → “Power Throttling”, select a state and click “Apply”. If “Instant apply” is enabled, a separate click is not required. Reboot and repeat the check.

Confirmation

Section titled “Confirmation”

Last checked: 2026-09-19.