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4 things you should change in your PC's power plan
When you install Windows, it comes with pre-made power plans that dictate how your computer operates and how some of the components operate. While there's an Ultimate Performance power plan that you can enable, for the most part, you don't need to enable it. Instead, we recommend turning on high-performance mode and then making some more changes on top of that too.
We still need Control Panel a bit too much
Enable high-performance mode
The bare minimum
As we just mentioned, enabling high-performance mode is the first power-related thing you should change when it comes to Windows. Enabling high-performance mode prevents your CPU speed from dropping when idle, while also keeping some components switched on when they would otherwise go to sleep. This setting is fine for desktops, but we recommend trying it out and seeing if it works for you on a laptop.
To enable high-performance mode, do the following:
- Open the Start menu and search for Control Panel. It should be the first search result.
Screenshot of Windows 11 Search with results for Control Panel
- In the View menu near the top right corner, change from Category to Small icons.
- Click Power options.
Screenshot of Control panel in Windows 10 with the Power options button highlighted
- You'll see all your power plans, but you may need to expand the Show additional plans section.
- Click High performance
High performance mode will also have the added benefit of making your PC run faster, but at the cost of more power consumption.
Display and sleep timer
Make your PC stay awake for longer
If you're frustrated by how long your PC stays on (or, rather, doesn't stay on) you can increase the display shut-off timer and the sleep timer from your power settings. This will keep your screen on for longer when you're not using your PC, and you can prevent it from going to sleep by itself, too. This will obviously consume more power, but if you want to keep your screen on for whatever reason without you touching it, that's what this setting is for.
For one, I use it so that I can keep an eye on a web page on my PC while I'm doing other stuff in my apartment. When my screen turns itself off, that can be frustrating, but this gets around that problem.
Turn off USB selective suspend
It can solve problems with USBs and doesn't give many benefits to have it on
Windows by default will shut down certain USBs after a length of time in order to save power, as they're deemed not necessary. While this can help reduce power usage in some instances, realistically the power that you save is minuscule. There are countless reports of people online having problems with their USB devices only to find that it was fixed by turning this setting off, so we recommend switching it off.
Personally, I had an issue with an older USB device also being frequently disconnected when I had this setting switched on, and it was solved by turning this setting off. It doesn't hurt to turn it off and you don't lose anything, so we recommend switching it off right away.
Link State Power Management
This can slow down your GPU
In Windows, there's a power management option called "Link State Power Management." This setting has three options: off, moderate power savings, and maximum power settings. While this setting reduces the PCIe connection to a lower spec when your GPU is idle or not in use, it doesn't save much power. Plus, there are reported incompatibilities that can arise when you use it while overclocking.
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While this feature isn't something you need to disable, it's another one of those features that it doesn't hurt to. It doesn't save much power, and it removes the potential for problems that could crop up. This setting being disabled can cause problems on laptops as it may not turn off the dedicated GPU. Do not use this on laptops unless you know what you're doing.
