In all likelihood, you spent a lot of money on your PC, so it makes sense to get the most performance out of it as humanly possible. Though most people know about Windows 10's High-Performance power plan, few know of its hidden Ultimate Performance mode, which drags every bit of juice out of high-end systems.
To do so, Windows 10's Ultimate Performance plan does everything it can to reduce the micro-delays between your system needing power and it actually receiving it. It makes several adjustments, including never turning of your hard disk, increasing the Java timer frequency, and optimizing video quality playback.
However, it's worth noting that those looking to enable the mode for gaming will be disappointed. The plan is geared towards scenarios where the system requires sudden ramps in power, not when it's already dedicating all of its resources to an application. As a result, ultimate power mode will probably net at most a tiny boost to fps, at the cost of more power consumption.
Generally, the plan is best used if you're 3D modeling, video editing, photo editing, or doing server-related tasks. With that said, let's jump into how to enable it.
Turn on Ultimate Performance Mode in Windows 10
Windows 10's Ultimate Performance power plan won't show by default unless you're using the OS' Workstation Edition. Thankfully, enabling it on all devices only requires a single command.
- Open Command Prompt as Administrator
Type “CMD” in the start menu, right-click the “Command Prompt” field, and choose “Run as Administrator”.
- Enable the Ultimate Performance Power Plan
You can now enter the following command:powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61. Press Enter to run it and wait for the “Power Scheme GUID: XXXX
XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXX (Ultimate Performance)” message.
- Open Power Plan Settings
In the Start Menu, type “Choose a power plan” and select the relevant settings dialog.
- Activate the Windows 10 Ultimate Performance Plan
Windows 10's Ultimate Performance mode should be tucked away at the bottom of your “Selected plan” subheading. Select it and you're ready to go.
Some More Tips About Power Plans
- If necessary you can reset or restore any of the pre-defined Windows power plans via Windows 10 power options.
- If you switch frequently between power plans, we suggest using a taskbar-button.
- To analyze and optimize battery usage of portable devices, you might want to check out the hidden battery report of Windows 10.
- HDDs in portable devices can be turned off after certain idle-time which might be useful in certain scenarios to safe battery.
- By using modern standby mode in Windows 10 your device can receive emails while asleep. To save battery you might want to turn this off.
