A beginner-friendly explanation of what Arbiter detects, what Quick Fix buttons change, and how to improve FPS without guessing.
Each card explains the metric in plain language and what to do next. Hover highlighted terms for quick definitions.
If GPU usage is maxed and CPU has headroom, graphics settings usually matter most. If CPU is saturated while GPU is underused, background load or CPU-heavy settings may be the bottleneck.
Average FPS can look good while gameplay still feels choppy. 1% lows and frame pacing reveal those hitches.
When temperatures climb too high, hardware protects itself by reducing speed. That can hurt FPS and frame consistency.
DPC/ISR spikes often come from audio, network, or storage drivers and can disrupt frame delivery.
When RAM is tight, Windows moves data to disk/page file (paging). That can create hitching during gameplay.
If updates, indexing, or antivirus scan at the wrong time, games can hitch while loading assets due to storage I/O contention.
Short definitions of common terms you’ll see in reports.
Represents worst-case smoothness. If this is far below average FPS, gameplay may feel hitchy.
How evenly frames arrive. Even pacing feels smooth, uneven pacing feels stuttery.
Driver-level interrupt handling. Spikes can cause input lag, audio pops, and frame hitches.
Hardware slows itself down to control heat, which can lower FPS and consistency.
Windows offloads RAM data to disk when memory is tight. This is slower and can stutter.
The component currently limiting performance (often CPU or GPU, depending on scene/settings).
These are guided, user-confirmed system setting changes—not hidden automation. ⚡ = has an Apply Fix button in the app. 📋 = manual steps only.
⚡ Power Management
Activates the High Performance power scheme so Windows stops aggressively downclocking the CPU between frames.
Control Panel → Power Options → Select High Performance.
Unlocks and activates the Ultimate Performance scheme, removing remaining park/throttle behavior.
Admin PowerShell: powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61
Disables the power setting that lets Windows idle USB ports, which can cause brief input device stalls.
Power Options → Advanced → USB settings → USB selective suspend → Disabled.
🪟 Windows Settings
Disables Windows background capture and Game DVR recording behavior. Does not uninstall Xbox Game Bar or remove Windows app/protocol links.
Settings → Gaming → Captures → Turn OFF Record in the background.
Turns off Game Mode scheduling behavior, which has been reported to cause inconsistent frame pacing on certain hardware.
Settings → Gaming → Game Mode → Turn OFF.
Opts a specific game executable out of Windows fullscreen overlay behavior, which can reduce input lag and stutter in some titles.
Right-click game .exe → Properties → Compatibility → Check Disable fullscreen optimizations → Apply.
Removes the platform clock override from the Windows boot configuration so the CPU timer is used directly.
Admin cmd: bcdedit /deletevalue useplatformclock then restart.
🎮 GPU / Graphics
Toggles HAGS on/off via registry. Windows 10 20H1+ required. Benefit depends on GPU and driver version—compare before/after.
Settings → System → Display → Graphics → Default graphics settings → Toggle Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling.
Deletes NVIDIA/AMD DX shader cache folders so fresh shaders are compiled, removing hitching caused by stale or corrupt cache.
NVIDIA Control Panel → 3D Settings → Delete shader cache, or delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\NVIDIA\DXCache.
Turning off the in-game GeForce Experience overlay removes a background capture hook that can cause frame drops in some scenarios.
GeForce Experience → Settings (gear) → General → Turn OFF In-Game Overlay.
Keeps GPU drivers current with game fixes and performance patches released by NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel.
NVIDIA: nvidia.com/drivers | AMD: amd.com/en/support | Intel: intel.com/download-center. Use DDU for a clean reinstall.
🔊 Audio / Latency
Disabling Windows audio processing effects reduces the load on the audio driver, lowering DPC latency spikes that can cause audio pops and frame hitches.
Right-click sound icon → Sounds → Playback → right-click device → Properties → Enhancements → Check Disable all enhancements.
🌐 Network
Sets TcpAckFrequency and TCPNoDelay registry keys for your network adapter so small packets are sent immediately rather than batched.
regedit → HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces → find adapter with your IP → add DWORD TcpAckFrequency=1 and TCPNoDelay=1.
⚙️ Process Management
Raises the detected game process to High CPU priority so Windows schedules its threads more favorably over background work.
Task Manager → right-click game process → Go to details → right-click again → Set priority → High.
No automated button—Arbiter identifies the top background processes consuming resources and shows them in the report so you can close them manually.
Close heavy browser tabs, disable Discord overlay (User Settings → Game Overlay), exit Spotify/Slack/Teams before gaming. Check Task Manager for CPU/RAM hogs.
Use this loop to avoid guesswork and measure real improvement.
Pick your primary symptom to quickly see relevant, user-confirmed fixes.
| Symptom | Likely Cause | First Fix to Try | Validate With |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big FPS swings in busy scenes | CPU/GPU contention, frame pacing issues | Power plan + close heavy background apps | 1% lows + frame-time chart |
| Random hitches every few seconds | Capture, updates, or storage I/O contention | Disable capture overhead + pause updates/downloads | Disk activity + frame pacing |
| Mouse feels delayed | DPC/ISR latency or scheduling pressure | Update chipset/audio/network drivers + apply latency-oriented fixes | DPC spikes + responsiveness trend |
| Good FPS at start, worse after 10 minutes | Thermal throttling | Thermal remediation steps, fan curve, airflow cleanup | Clock behavior + temperature timeline |
| Gameplay degrades during launcher/OS activity | Background CPU or disk bursts | Disable nonessential startup/background services before sessions | Process timeline + utilization variance |
Use this as a starting point. Final decisions should be based on before/after capture comparisons and your hardware profile.