PC gaming is about to change in a big (and hopefully positive) way. With Windows 11 launching on October 5, PC gamers will have a suite of new gaming features that can potentially make their games look better and load faster.
The biggest change that a large number of PC gamers will likely notice after they upgrade to Windows 11 is in how the OS will handle HDR (High Dynamic Range). The set of techniques, which let a monitor display a wider range of brightness, is a bit of a pain to handle on Windows 10 PCs at the moment. After turning HDR on, users were able to enjoy HDR-compatible content. However, standard dynamic range content looks strange on Windows 10, almost like it has a bad filter over it. Windows 11 solves this issue with Auto HDR, which, as its name implies, automatically adds HDR to SDR content seamlessly.
Windows 11 also borrows one of the Xbox Series X’s prime features, Direct Storage. With this feature, PCs that have an NVMe SSD will be able to load games faster by loading data directly onto a system’s GPU rather than its CPU. While Direct Storage on PCs hasn’t been properly tested yet, Microsoft has claimed that it will reduce overall CPU usage and improve system performance. For those who aren’t upgrading, Direct Storage will also be available on Windows 10.
Naturally, Microsoft is also including its premier game subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, with Windows 11. While users will still have to pay for a Game Pass subscription, they should be able to access games with ease thanks to the Xbox App being built into Windows 11 itself.
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