Fix Lag During Game Streaming Without Upgrades

I often play League of Legends while encoding videos and chatting with friends on Discord. However, this sometimes causes buffering and game lag issues. When lag occurs, my CPU usage spikes to 100%. I looked for ways to reduce CPU usage without upgrading my hardware and discovered that the problem was due to Windows system settings.

Windows places limits on CPU usage, which is why these performance issues occur during multitasking. To enjoy smooth gameplay and multitasking, I researched how to unlock these CPU limitations.

Windows places limits on CPU usage

Why Doesn't Windows Use All CPU Cores?

By default, Windows doesn’t enable all CPU cores during boot. There are two main reasons for this:

• Compatibility Issues: Some older software and hardware may not function properly when all CPU cores are active. To prevent these issues, Windows limits the number of active cores by default.
• Power Consumption and Heat Management: Keeping all cores active increases power consumption and heat generation, which can affect battery life and system stability. This is especially important for laptops and low-power devices, where these settings are typically disabled by default.

How to Enable All CPU Cores

For high-performance tasks such as streaming or playing demanding games, it’s best to enable all CPU cores to maximize performance. This will help distribute CPU usage and reduce buffering or lag.

Here’s a simple way to enable all CPU cores:

1. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type msconfig and press Enter.
3. In the System Configuration window, go to the ‘Boot’ tab.
4. Click on ‘Advanced options’.
5. Check the box next to ‘Number of processors’ and select the maximum number of cores.
6. Click OK and then Restart your computer.

You can download and run the batch file below. After downloading and executing it, simply reboot your computer, and all CPU cores will be enabled.

How to Use the Batch File

Follow these steps to use the batch file:

1. Download the batch file from the link above.
2. Double-click the downloaded file to run it.
3. When "Press any key to continue" appears, close the window.
4. When you reboot, the process will be complete.

Download link

After doing this, all CPU cores will be activated, and I noticed my CPU usage dropped from 100% to 58% even when running multiple tasks simultaneously. This method greatly improved my system's performance during gaming and multitasking.