It's all fun playing games on your PC until the game stutters and crashes, leaving you both frustrated and confused.

Users of Windows 11 have been experiencing similar problems, with most of the games installed on their computers stuttering without any obvious reason. Worry not, as in this guide we'll explore the potential causes of the problem and discuss troubleshooting methods you can use in the event you encounter it.

What Causes Games to Stutter on Windows 11?

Before we move toward the troubleshooting methods, it is important to pinpoint the cause of the problem on your Windows device. It'll help you understand why this problem occurs and allow you to apply the right troubleshooting methods and fix the problem quickly.

Here are a few reasons why your Windows 11 games might stutter, freeze, or lag:

  • First, the graphics driver might be corrupt or outdated.
  • You haven't updated your Windows operating system in a while.
  • Finally, some relevant gaming services are causing issues by consuming resources.

Whatever the reason in your case might be, the methods mentioned below will hopefully help you get rid of the issue in no time.

1. Update Your Graphics Card Driver

One of the most common reasons for game problems is outdated or corrupted graphics card drivers. Ideally, you should keep your drivers updated at all times.

If you have a graphics card suite on your PC, it should keep your drivers automatically updated. If this isn't the case, then you can manually update the drivers in the Device Manager.

Here is how you can do that:

  1. Type Device Manager into Windows Search and click Open.
  2. In the following window, expand the Display adapters section and right-click on your graphics card driver.
  3. Choose Update driver from the context menu.
    Update driver option
  4. Now, click on Search automatically for drivers and wait for Windows to find the available updates.
    Search automatically for drivers option
  5. Then, install the ones that are found and check if the issue is resolved.

If Windows fails to find any new drivers, we have dedicated guides on updating AMD graphics card drivers and Nvidia graphics card drivers which might find a newer version.

2. Clean Install Your Graphics Driver

If you are sure that the issue is with the relevant driver and updating it does not work, then you can try clean installing the graphics card driver and see if that helps.

Clean installing involves uninstalling the previous driver and installing the latest compatible version from scratch. Simply press Win + S, type "Device Manager," an click the result. Then, right-click on the problematic driver in the Device Manager window (it should be under Display Adapters) and choose Uninstall.

Once you have uninstalled the driver, head over to the manufacturer's official website and download the latest version from there. This process might take a while to complete, so hang in there.

3. Edit the Registry

Microsoft has bundled in a few systems in Windows 11 to aid you with your gaming. Unfortunately, most of these services take up quite a lot of resources to function properly, which may cause a problem if your PC is not made specifically for gaming.

In this case, it is best to disable these features so that you can play without any problems.

It was reported by several users that disabling Windows 11's Game DVR feature resolved the issue. Game DVR lets you record gameplay, so if you have no plans to do this in the future, we suggest you disable this feature and see if it helps you.

We will be using the Windows Registry Editor to make this change. However, before you proceed, we highly recommend creating a Registry backup, to be safe.

Once you have created the backup, here is how to proceed:

  1. Press Win + R to open Run.
  2. Type "regedit.msc" into Run and press Enter.
  3. Once you are inside the Registry Editor, navigate to the location mentioned below:
            Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\GameConfigStore
        
  4. Move to the right side of the window and double-click on the GameDVR_Enabled key.
    GameDVR_Enabled value
  5. In the following dialog, type 0 under Value data and click Enter.
    Value data of the Registry key
  6. Now, look for the GameDVR_FSEBehaviourMode key in the same window and double-click on it.
  7. Change its value to 2 and click Enter.
    Value data of Registry key
  8. Next, navigate to the following location in the Registry Editor.
            Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\ApplicationManagement\AllowGameDVR
        
  9. After reaching the location, move towards the right side of the window and double-click on the Value key.
    Value key in the Registry
  10. Change its value to 0 and make sure that the base is set to Hexadecimal.
  11. Click Enter to make the changes and then close the Registry Editor.
  12. Finally, restart your PC and upon reboot, check if the issue is resolved.

4. Update Windows 11

This may seem irrelevant to the issue, but keeping your Windows updated is important to ensure your games and other programs work optimally.

Thus, if you have not installed the latest updates on your system for a while, we highly recommend that you take your time to install all the system updates available. With the latest updates, you won't only gain new features, but you won't also have to worry about issues like incompatibilities, security vulnerabilities, or malware attacks.

To do this, check out our guide on managing updates on Windows 10. Don't worry; the steps are the same for Windows 11.

5. Disable the High Precision Event Timer Device

There's also a chance you are experiencing this problem due to the High Precision Event Timer device, which has a bad reputation for affecting a game's framerate.

Here is how you can disable it to fix the problem:

  1. Press Win + R to open Run.
  2. Type devmgmt.msc in the text field and press Enter.
    devmgmt.msc in Run
  3. In the following dialog, expand the System devices section and right-click High precision event viewer from the list of options available.
  4. Choose Disable device.
    Disable device option
  5. If a confirmation prompt appears, click Yes to proceed.

You can now close the Device Manager and check if you can play the game without any problems now.

Enjoy the Best Gaming Experience on Windows 11

Games crashing, especially right when you are about to accomplish a target are no fun. You should be able to fix the game stuttering issue by following the troubleshooting methods listed above. If the error appears again, we recommend you consider reinstalling the game from scratch and check if that makes any difference.