Do These "Tweaks" Really BOOST FPS..? | HPET, Full Screen Opt., DPI Scaling, and H.A.G.S in EFT

[@klemintime1452]

POLL FOR THOSE WHO WANT INDIVIDUAL PC HELP! forms.gle/7LzfdYq3KqYbPiCw6 I know this is more of a discussion piece, but I really wanted to get to the bottom of these tweaks and clear the air around what they were actually meant to do. Please do feel free to leave any additional information you have in the comments below and thank you so much for watching and reading this comment :)

[@saint_snow]

I tested HAGS off and found that I get much better performance in raids. I test online as that's what matters. Offline without AI, fps is massive and fine for my setup, 4090/12900k. However in raids my fps always seemed off, not ideal, like something wasn't working right. Fps just wasnt as steady, big dips on every map. I decided to turn off HAGS for the first time and found that surprisingly my fps went up 30-40fps in raids in all the maps including streets and was overall stable. I later stumbled across an interesting thread on the nvidia subreddit from 9months ago discussing that apparently HAGS and Nvidia Reflex don't mix. What they discuss seems to hold true for me as well. I have also tested HAGS on but reflex off and make sure the low latency setting in control panel is off as well (honestly you shouldn't really use this at all regardless). Once again, stable fps and higher fps. However it is now capped in the game at 144. Which honestly is fine as the post says to cap the fps regardless in this situation. If you want to go higher than 144, you can circumvent this by disabling vsync in the control panel for tarkov and enabling vsync in game. Then set a custom fps cap in Rivatuner for tarkov(this comes with Afterburner). Whether you run HAGS and turn off reflex or turn off HAGS and keep reflex on in the settings is up to you. You can test which would work better for your system. However, running both at the same time definately is causing issues, not just in tarkov but overall and will cause instability and more latency as well.

[@klemintime1452]

Interesting, I didn't even think of this. I wonder what exactly the link is between the two but I'll see if I can do some testing/research on that. This could explain some of the inconsistencies with those who experience weird stuttering with HAGS. Also the reason I test offline (or mix offline and online) is to try and get some consistency and repeatability in the tests. Its generally good to do both to ensure that the improvement you're noticing isn't due to run-to-run variance (which can be MASSIVE for Tarkov). Thanks for taking the time to test this. There won't be a video on this *this* week but if I'm able to find something on my end I'll make a video about it.

[@saint_snow]

@@klemintime1452 It seems to be because HAGS and reflex essentially are doing the same thing to help the render queue between the cpu and gpu. However when you have both they start to "collide" so to speak. Depending on your system's bottleneck you either do HAGS on and no relfex or reflex on and no HAGS. Personally for me it seems HAGS off with reflex on is the simplest solution and I do see less dips and a 20-40 fps increase online in the same areas on the same maps with the same weather (weather can greatly improve performance when it starts to rain hard or in the current case, has a blizzard). Overall the idea is run one without the other and see which is more ideal even though both options are noticably better than with both on at the same time.

[@wildgg]

Super interesting find! Could you share what nvidia driver you tested this on? Also, please correct me if I'm wrong, you need hags for Frame Generation so that might be something to think about.

[@saint_snow]

@@wildgg You are correct that you do need it for frame gen so in that case turn off reflex. I tested on latest drivers 551.23, but like I said the post on the nvidia subreddit goes back 9months so seems to be a constant thing. Ill also add that for me it seems that either setup works, but when it comes to streets i seemed to have better overall consistancy with HAGS off and reflex on. Oh I use on+boost when it comes to reflex. I tested without ISLC and Process lasso off just to remove potential variables.

[@saint_snow]

Alright I went back just to double check. Sure enough with both HAGS and reflex on I will get a slight fps increase offline with no scavs (essentially the maps are running a bit better). However in online raids, there is a significant decrease in fps with alot more dips. Essentially causing a rough experience with the large flip flopping of low to higher fps. This is the exact experience I was having before turning off HAGS and leaving reflex on. So I can further confirm that having both on will cause clashing and large drops in fps. Having HAGS on and reflex off or HAGS off and reflex on will net a much smoother experience and an easy fps gain of 20+ (as much a 50+ fps). Either seems to be a similar experience for me but do try both setups yourself just in case.

[@jarnolaaksonen1931]

🦾 Thanks Klem! Hope this clear things for some people. Quality video as always! :)

[@klemintime1452]

Thank you as always my man 👊

[@Anktionman]

Been watching your videos now for the last few wipes and I think you're doing a great job and I appreciate the time and care you put into the content. I think videos like this one are as important as your testing and recommendation types because many of us who are trying out these tweaks are probably experiencing a similar result. Game setting tweaks and windows settings changes make little difference, and this can be frustrating. Having been chasing frames in Tarkov for a few years now, I've mostly come to grips with that realization. For me, I've had mostly consistent performance until this wipe. My hardware is the same and pretty good by today's standards, but I'm anywhere from 15 to 20 less frames per map. Part of me hopes its just the snow lol, but It's probably something more substantial that's causing underutilization in my system since I've noticed it other titles. Either way I'll continue to tweak and test until I get to the bottom of it, all the while enjoying the content you provide along the way. Thank you!

[@SqueakersOG]

I literally was just saying last night at this point I hope it’s the snow cause I can’t seem to resolve the stutters and low fps I am having. I7 13700k and 4070ti 🙃

[@klemintime1452]

I appreciate your support and the message. I'll continue to keep this up and hopefully explain more of these tweaks to keep people informed and keep these things as clear as possible o7

[@Anktionman]

@@SqueakersOG I recently ran a fresh install of Windows 11 with clean drivers and it is running slightly better, but just doesn't seem right. My specs are 10700K and RTX 3090. I wish I had run tests when before to have a baseline to compare to.

[@calisandqvist2718]

Yo Squeak, same specs as me, you got a disc or anything, would like to compare fps on some places if you down@@SqueakersOG

[@SqueakersOG]

@@Anktionman yeah I completely reset my pc as well. Also moved all my audio finally over to the stream pc so it’s only Tarkov really when playing It was slightly better for me after but just kinda chalked it up to Tarkov honestly. Not having issues with any other games

[@nathhhxd]

that HPET tweak helped me on my old PC because I used to do it for siege because it helped me push over to 200 fps. This PC had a gtx 1070 and a ryzen 5 2600

[@klemintime1452]

Again, one of those earlier Ryzen chips seeing a bonus.... hm. According to another comment, it is likely due to Ryzen Master requiring HPET for it to work properly, but it's still good to note.

[@nathhhxd]

yeah I never used to use ryzen master, I had a very bad 2600 where I couldn't even OC it to its max turbo of 3.9 it barely ran at 3.7 which is only 100mhz over stock haha, I was pretty much doing anything to get more fps. Never really trusted those OC apps such as Intel XTU and Ryzen Master, more of a BIOS fan myself as I know what ive put is locked in when its in bios.

[@gamertechlive1780]

@@klemintime1452 Mostly Ryzen CPU benefit for this option and older intel CPU

[@gamertechlive1780]

@@nathhhxd i Feel you I have been tweaking my 3700x finally running at 4.4 ghz all core Auto OC using PBO manual+EDC bug+ vcore offset+ psu cstate current load+ vcore LCC high+ pref core disabled+ SMT disabled+ HPET disabled (full step device manager+cmd+timer resolutio within processlasso app)+process lasso assigning 2 weakest core (4.4ghz max) for windows & chrome, discord etc. + 6 core (2x 4.425Ghz, 2x 4.45Ghz, 2x 4.8Ghz) to game only, set game priority to real time, set background app to low priority, windows process default+C-state disabled+AMD cool & quiet disabled+ thermal throttle disable+ Core parking disabled+ Windows power plan balance (min. 1%, max 100%)+ RAM manual OC 3733Mhz+ tighest possible primary, secondary, tertiary timings, GDM OFF 1T + debloating windows+ turning off useless services and features+ manually configuring group policy editor (not still done). Is the FPS boost noticeable yep performance is always better than 5600g all the time nearly on par w/ 5600 stock and on some game performs better than 5600 (yep tested when i borrowed my friends system we have same GPU with different CPU).

[@reiga6062]

Something weird I encountered, was that my game felt like it was stuck on 60Hz(default 144, nvidia options are set to 144), like the whole image felt really stuttery and sluggish. I randomly checked the 'Disable fullscreen optimizations', and my game felt way more smoother. I don't think the framerate went up, but the downsides disapeared. I told my friends about it and it worked the same way for them.

[@klemintime1452]

Interesting- that true full-screen exclusive mode might have allowed for that little bit of extra resources to be given. It could have also been an issue with framerate with two separate monitors or app windows being rendered in the background... Either way, these things are *truly* snake oil, only the *understanding* of them. Hopefully, the video helped you better understand what that tweak does so you know it's not like a magical FPS booster. Appreciate you watching :)

[@BautistLOD]

that happened because the game caps your by 2 below the refresh rate and if you check that box it no longer does that

[@thachester]

I could feel the pain when you mentioned HPET.

[@jwilsyo]

after watching your video in regards to cpu vs gpu bottle necks, turning HAGS on was the solution to get my frame time and GPU busy to line up.

[@klemintime1452]

Awesome! I'm assuming HAGS is probably directly helping those two parts sync up their workload better. Great to hear.

[@jwilsyo]

@@klemintime1452appreciate your videos and your hard work sir. there are too many guides out there that tell you to enable this and that but don't really explain the logic behind doing so. enjoying tarkov way more now :)

[@wildgg]

Great video on explaining these tweaks. Like you mentioned it's hard to test/benchmark these individual settings since there is no ingame benchmark to run. With that said though if each one of these recommended tweaks help by even 0.5fps, (yes 0.5 is margin of error) assuming they do help, all of these little tweaks will add up. And I think because they can add up, it's one of the main reasons why people say or claim they gained FPS. "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together"

[@klemintime1452]

True, I just don't want them causing small adverse effects and then having people go on a wild goose chase to find the cause. Every bit helps though 👍

[@cousinlarry99w]

I've spent way too much time trying lots of different ways to optimize windows and if I can offer any advice it would be this: Keep it simple. A lot of times when I followed optimization guides and changed a bunch of settings that I knew nothing about it made things run poorly or just made my system unstable. I recently started from scratch (fresh windows install and default bios settings) and only undervolted my cpu and gpu and used the chris titus tech windows utility to change some things. Other than that I only changed settings in windows that I was 100% sure helped performance. My computer has never run better. I've really enjoyed these videos and testing and concur that way too many optimization guides are absolutely misleading and often times wrong.

[@klemintime1452]

Appreciate this- sometimes you can "over tweak" and ruin your setup more than help it. Keeping it simple is definitely the key, and I hope to stress this is my upcoming Nvidia Control Panel Settings guide (because most of those settings are also mismarketed or simply not explained)

[@pedraaaa]

Thank you very much. I love your explanations.

[@gamertechlive1780]

You can check your timer resolution delay in ms if you're at 15 point something it will impact performance if you're at 1ms then your good. Disabling HPET is not only disabling it in the device manager (this won't disable HPET sometimes it may make it worst turning your 1ms to 15 point something ms delay. You need to combine a cmd command to fully disable it by doing so it might run at 1ms delay so yeah if you don't monitor it using timer resolution you will not notice the actual effect. So the 3rd step is to actually turn on using timer resolution activating the 0.5 ms yep half of 1ms default and a will fix the delay if your default ms is 15 point something ms LOL (forgot how much it is exactly but around that number). Now this will increase FPS on nearly all games by 5-10+ FPS, for CPU bound game which prioritize latency there is a huge boost in FPS. when people said it will de-sync or broke something that's when you only did the 1st step (disable in device manager) so yep its 50-50, you need to follow step 2 and step 3. As for windows full screen and borderless optimization option (window mode) if you always game at full screen you want to disable borderless window feature this will fix stuttering issue. As for HAFS its a mixture I'm not sure myself and still doing more testing for this but what i know is most of user recommend to disable this option. I think HAGS is the same as ultra low latency option in GPU driver settings the latency option is only applicable if your GPU is being utilize a lot around 95% this reduce frame time if you capture a game running with latency on vs off in ultra slow motion both with the same FPS for example caping it at 60FPS even though the game can run at 200+ which mean 60FPS all the time correct? you will notice in the slow motion video that latency turned off = choppy @60fps fix flat no stuttering while latency ultra (max) = smooth super smooth TBH @ 60 fix fps flat no stuttering. Its not noticeable until you do a slow motion video which mean it does do something = faster response time. The other test is when you run a game using a HDD you will get a lower frame time and run a game with HDD w/ latency turned on = now frame time is lower and you will get a FPS boost as well, plus less more stable frame time. again for HAGS i did not test it yet but for HPET & ultra low latency GPU setting/Nvidia reflex and borderless optimization off = all of this boost FPS / fix stuttering issue. Take note if you are not fully utilizing your GPU its better to turn off ultra low latency for both nvidia & amd gpu this will reduce FPS if turned on.

[@Mithaldu]

for some of these it might be worth trying to see if you can detect any difference in furbench, passmark etc. for cpu or gpu bound scenarios

[@klemintime1452]

Good idea- I believe I read somewhere that at least HPET might have some impact on those applications, but I'd have to bench those and see.

[@airnox726]

HPET will only be disabled by bcdedits On modern pc's, the device manager option is placebo and HPET will still be used. It should also be on in bios (default so don't look) and only disable through cmd

[@inreisen]

A really weird situation that I happened to see in Tarkov today. When I enable AMD FSR 1.0 in-game, it doesn't get enabled in the first time. I was checking my GPU usage on an offline raid in Shoreline in a specific place where I get around 80-90% GPU Usage, when I turn AMD FSR 1.0 for the "first " time my GPU Usage didn't change at all. But for a second time(disabling it and re-enabling it) it did its job and reduced my GPU Usage from 80-90% to 50-60%. So my theory is that some settings don't get enabled when you "first" time enable them, you need to either restart the game or try it for a second or even a third time. Another problem is that DLSS and FSR 2.2 shows rain and snow stuff "too much". I was playing the same offline raid on Shoreline and it was raining snow(sorry for my bad English idk how do you say that so I will just say raining snow). I realized that with AMD FSR 1.0 and with no downscalers(I mean no DLSS, FSR 1.0 nor FSR 2.2), raining snow's "opacity" is really low it doesn't bother you that much and doesn't block your vision. But with DLSS or AMD FSR 2.2 enabled, "opacity" is nearly 100% you see all the raining snow blocking your vision. Same scenarios also happens with the usual Tarkov rain(without the snow). Idk wtf is going on with these downscalers. I have a CPU Bound scenario and I was using DLDSR with DLSS for smoother experience but this day I switched to AMD FSR 1.0. The thing is, none of these are 100% stable to work with.

[@klemintime1452]

That lesser opacity is from the ghosting caused by the upscale. They are attempting to deal with the fast motion of the snow as it falls past your screen. If you set FSR 2.2 or DLSS to a lower mode and go into the hideout with a red dot, you'll see a similar ghosting effect when moving the dot around the screen. Now imagine that ghosting applying to all that thick snow, and that's why!

[@BautistLOD]

i say lets make a petition to add fsr 3 frame gen to tarkov

[@youyou-ti6cp]

i have an old pc with an i7 3770 and HPET is off in the bios by default for 64bit os. when i switched it on the performance in gears 4 was horrible

[@andreyz94]

I just got a 3070ti, whenever Nikita decides to update to unity 2023 and up the graphics on the game as he said too, wtf am I gonna need to run it then if it's considered a bottleneck with a 5800x3d? Do i have to sell my house for a 5090 ti super?

[@klemintime1452]

Keep in mind the graphics overall doesn't necessarily mean it will run worse. There could be plenty of issues in the pipeline right now that we do not know about.

[@theboy2777]

LMAOOO.

[@andreyz94]

They don't really have a good track record to go off your expectations unfortunately@@klemintime1452

[@johnnywick1110]

I benchmarked all these myself as well and everything besides HAGS had at best a 0.3 fps difference which was probably just a temp, system fluctuation. HAGS did give me like 1+ fps more. It all depends on your system. Some older pcs or just other pc's in general may or may not benefit from these settings. You can never tell anyone which setting is truly better or not because all pc's are different. For example I get 5+ more fps for unchecking the use physical cores only option, while others may actually lose fps or see no difference.

[@yl-01]

Hey Klem I figured out why HPET helped so much in my case, I used XTU and Ryzen master, both REQUIRED HPET meaning that the moment you launch them the HPET is enabled, other wise it's software disabled. Thats why when I reinstalled win 11 and started to tweak the systems for 5950x and 9900k there was such a difference. TLDR it's off by default, only turns on when a app is needed hence lot of those need restart.

[@klemintime1452]

I see, I assume that has to do with event timers being synced up in the bios too. I'll keep that in mind if people have issues with those software!

[@RebelliousX]

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance did not like my system's dpi scaling which was 125 percent, the game window width of full hd 1920 was multiplid by 1.25 which resulted in window width of 2400 pixels. Changed dpi per application and issue is fixed. about hpet and hags, they are dependent on games. Some will see big improvements and others won't or even degrade. Disabling then on older CPUs like intel 8th gen or ryzen 3000s or eve 5000s can help.

[@milanfarago9175]

Nice video, but I don't understand one thing, I have a 1920x1080p 27" monitor, if I turn on the override high scaling behavior and the disable fullscreen optimization in rocket league, it will be much better. How is this because it's only a low dpi monitor.

[@sergtrufanov5565]

Hello Clementine, dunno if you read comments on your old videos, but still. I tried disabling hpet on my intel xeon e3-1270, yeah i know its potato nowadays, but it still can handle games well. So i had like 4-6 min customs loading times in pve on a ssd! after disabling hpet i loaded in leas than minute... Gonna try pvp today, i had 13 min ground zero load lol

[@Hldv12]

I have 12900KS 5.2ghz and 3080ti playing on 1440p ultrawide monitor my gpu usage is always dropping bellow 50% I don’t know what to do

[@klemintime1452]

CPU bottlenecks suck, but at least you have the headroom to crank some settings. There aren't many tweaks for CPU-bound cases (besides process lasso, OCing, and a couple settings in game along with windows tweaks)

[@franckdruart8120]

Use resampling x2 mate ! Tell me if you saw any improvment ?

[@Raecrisos]

Disabling HPET helps loading loot for my Ryzen 7 5800x despite chipset and bios update. On my Intel it doesn't do much seems like a bug fix for AMD processor possible due to a known slow load on StoreMI

[@JSpectre98]

so just let it ON for intel?

[@sergtrufanov5565]

​@@JSpectre98my Intel had massive improvement regarding loading loot phase. I had like 4-5 min loading times in PvE customs, on ssd. Now it's less than a minute

[@Raecrisos]

@@JSpectre98 You can try it. For my i7 12700K it didn't really help but it does for AMD Ryzen

[@lindhan7601]

Same here, got the laptop version R7 5800h and it increased my fps in CS2 with like 60-80fps at my own local server.

[@ronniecantiga5629]

​@@lindhan7601 Being that HPET off creates in consistent framerate or gives an improper measurement that frame increase is just a facade.

[@ThePlaion]

What about Win32PrioritySeparation? Good number probably can get good resoults.

[@klemintime1452]

Maybe that will be in Snake Oil Ep. 2 👀 lol

[@orlandoluckey5978]

this one actually helps. from what i understand it deals with the foreground boost and thread scheduling i think i could be wrong on that part. what i do know for sure though is that in advanced system settings under the "advanced" tab theres the option to select "programs" and "background services" the win32 priority seperation option in the registry editor correlates to these 2 settings in the advanced system settings. 26 being programs and 28 being background services. hexadecimal of course

[@anngelsinner6887]

I have more fps when i have max graphics than low?

[@klemintime1452]

There's a whole lot of reasons this *could* happen, but it could be that you're switching to being GPU-bound, causing it to feel smoother. Ensure that you're in the same spot at the same time for testing too, because there are a TON of variables.

[@wildgg]

Like Klemintime said, it could be that you're switching to being GPU bound. Tarkov is more CPU/RAM depended/sensitive than most other games, so when ever you lower your graphics settings you're putting more load on the CPU. By doing so you make the CPU do more tasks than it's already doing, if you can relief the CPU of some of these tasks you can see a performance increase. Now how much this effects your performance really depends on your PC specs but imo you should use settings that puts your GPU and VRAM load around the 90% mark, this way you can put as much work load on the GPU without becoming fully GPU bound. (being fully GPU isn't necessary bad but over doing it can result in loss of performance)

[@DanMProductionsBois]

​@wildgg is this 100% true? Because I have a 7800xt 16gb and an i7-7700k and if I can put some pressure off of the cpu that would be great. Although last time I checked ( I could be wrong ) I'm pretty sure neither cpu or gpu were even above 70% load.

[@wildgg]

@@DanMProductionsBois Like I said above it really depends on your specs, in some cases you also need enough ram to allow going up in settings but this is something you need to test for your self, just keep upping one setting at a time that puts more load on your gpu. With all that said thought and not to be rude, a 7700k is really getting old at this point and you're heavely CPU bound no matter what.

[@DanMProductionsBois]

@wildgg haha not rude my friend. C Facts don't offend me. Yes it's old. I'm just saving some $$ because I'm going to have to buy a whole new mobo. Then put everything in her so for the time being trying to inch every bit of fps I can. I dominate on factory because of fps and can only imagine having over 120+ on gunfights on other maps. I'll keep fiddling but in the end I think im maxed out on frames until a new cpu. Appreciate the reply.

[@sh3940]

Its sad this game has so many problems. I really hope there is real competition one day. This game is lightning in a bottle, and it doesnt deserve it.

[@WayneDog]

I thought GPU bound scenarios where hard to find in tarkov?

[@klemintime1452]

Sometimes- it depends on the map and the balance you have with settings. Streets is CPU bound, but maps like woods can often get GPU bound.

[@KoNine9]

Nice video but it didn't helped me :( Maybe somebody here has an idea. System : I7 12700k @4.9 3080 32gb 3600mhz ram xmp on 980 pro nvme ssd Tarkov only uses 2-3 cores up to 95%, doesn't matter what I do in process lasso. It just won't use more cpu. Doesn't matter the ingame settings. My gpu is at 50% My ram is around 10-15gb And my vram is on 5-7gb (medium textures) Any idea how I get tarkov to use more of my cpu? I can't even run customs on steady 144fps. In dorms I drop to 80...when I ads I drop 30fps.. So I come down sometimes to 50fps. My game is running smooth beside that.

[@DanMProductionsBois]

I'm in the same boat. I7 - 7700k (oc @ 4.8hhz) 7800xt 16gb 48gb 3600mhz

[@airnox726]

Try turning off hyperthreading and your e cores in bios

[@BautistLOD]

the black screen between desktop and game at fullscreen is because of differentiating refresh rate and not any bullshit you just said

[@klemintime1452]

I looked around to find sources of what you said and I do see that can be *another* cause, though it is not the sole one. I got the information I said directly from a Microsoft devblog (linked in the description) and the intel article linked in this comment directly cites this as a cause of potential minor black screen bugs when alt-tabbing. Simply put, I think we're both right. www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000095065/graphics.html

[@BautistLOD]

@@klemintime1452 okay then but from my experience if the game is correctly at 144hz at fulscreen and the desktop too then there is no black screen but thats just me

[@utahnl]

When an application goes into fullscreen exclusive mode (fullscreen optimization disabled) the application takes full control of the display and the display mode. When you alt-tab windows has to take control of the display back and sets it back to the display mode that windows wants. The issue is, windows is generally too retarded to recognize that the application uses the same display mode that windows uses and so it still tries to reset the display mode, causing a blackscreen and potential flashes.@@klemintime1452