Skip to content

Maximum performance

On this page

Recommendation

Situational

For a desktop PC on AC power: minimum idle states and power-saving micro-latencies at the cost of power draw and heat.

For an ordinary gaming PC, the advantage over “High performance” must be verified separately.

Main effect
Elimination of power-saving latencies
Reboot
Not required

What changes

Section titled “What changes”

The “Maximum performance” plan (Ultimate Performance) was created by Microsoft for workstations, and its public purpose is to eliminate power-saving micro-latencies: minimum processor state 100 %, core parking disabled, aggressive turbo mode, disk and USB power-down timeouts zeroed. Cores do not enter deep idle, so returning to a game after Alt-Tab and waking from sleep happen without frequency “ramp-up” and device wake-up.

By default the plan is not included in all Windows editions — on home editions it is not in the default list, and it is the import that makes it available. The BoosterX setting imports the plan into Windows, so the system edition does not limit it: after applying, it appears in the list of plans and can be made active.

Exceptions and differences

Section titled “Exceptions and differences”
  • The target scenario is a desktop PC, almost always connected to AC power. The mode is not suitable for a laptop: throttling from overheating can eat up the entire gain.
  • The aggressive policy increases power consumption and idle temperature — monitor the temperature.
  • If quietness or power saving matters, «Balanced» or PowerX v3.1 is closer.

How to verify the result

Section titled “How to verify the result”

Open the “Power options” window in Control Panel (if necessary, expand “Show additional plans”): “Maximum performance” has appeared in the list and is marked active. An additional sign is that the processor frequency at idle stays near maximum; verify the gaming effect by 1% low and frametime against “Balanced”.

How to change and revert

Section titled “How to change and revert”

Open “Optimization” → “Power options” → “Power plans for import” → “Maximum performance” and apply the setting. Click “Apply” at the bottom of the page; if “Instant apply” is enabled, the change is made immediately, no reboot is required. Then select this plan in the “Power options” window of Control Panel if it did not become active on its own.

To revert, select the previous plan in the same window — the imported plan will remain in the list.

Confirmation

Section titled “Confirmation”
  • Microsoft: Powercfg command-line options — importing plans, listing plans and the active plan, verified 2026-09-19.
  • DocsX’s own observation (2026-09-19, Windows 11 Pro): plans imported by BoosterX settings are displayed in the general list of Windows plans; the Ultimate Performance plan itself is not in the system list.
  • Compare with «High performance» and PowerX v2.1.

Last verified: 2026-09-19.