Fullscreen vs Borderless vs Windowed; Which Gives Better FPS?

Understanding Display Modes in PC Gaming

Display modes are the second name for the visual resolution and related complexities,  the basic meaning is that how a game interacts with the systems, software, and the hardware. There are different display modes like full screen, half screen, borderless, windowed mode, and many others. These basically look similar, but work differently at the back end. Full screen mode gives the full control exclusively, while the borderless and windowed mode run the game with the other applications running simultaneously in the background. These differences directly affect FPS.

For example, in the borderless mode, there is more workload on the GPU, which directly affects the FPS and arises problems like screen tearing, reduced resolution, input lag, and others. This overall affects the smoothness of the gameplay. Many gamers, especially who are beginners, unknowingly split the screen into two, on one side they are streaming and on the other side they are playing their games. Well, this is not good.

Display Mode	FPS Level	Input Lag
Fullscreen	High	Low
Borderless	Medium	Medium
Windowed	Low	High
Hybrid*	Medium	Medium

It creates very much workload on the GPU. The temperature of the GPU also rises, and if it is not controlled, it will lead to the physical damage. Understanding these modes and the reasons behind these helps us to use the PC strength in the right direction. Monitor refresh rate and multitasking needs adequate information to process these kind of screen modes. Before comparing the results, we should also consider the reasons behind every mode, and thus go according to our system’s capabilities.

How Fullscreen Exclusive Mode Works

Fullscreen mode allows the game to take the full control over the GPU as well as the display output. From the name of this mode, we know that on the full screen, the currently running or priority-wise running apps, which can be a game, a video, or whatever, is covering the full screen. In this mode, the background processes that are required for the system, like antivirus softwares which are continuously searching for any virus, and FPS monitoring softwares that are running in the background, but their processing is minimized.While the full-screen exclusive mode, the game communicates directly with the graphic drivers and other processes are strongly minimized.

When You Should Use Each Display Mode

• Use Fullscreen for maximum FPS

• Best for competitive gaming

• Lowest input lag

• Ideal for low-end systems

• Borderless is best for multitasking

• Good for streamers

• Faster alt-tab switching

• Slight FPS loss possible

• Windowed for testing only

• Not ideal for performance

This usually results in achieving a higher FPS and low latency, reduced input lagging, and not any kind of delayed response, especially on the low and mid-range systems. But there is no desktop composition happening in the background. Because of this, the GPU workload is reduced, and hence we get a very good gameplay with higher FPS. The only bottleneck of this mode is that when we are playing a full-screen exclusive mode game and we are trying to switch to another browser or window, this will take a lot of time because the other processes are closed. They are not running simultaneously. That’s why from a new end, a alt-tab will open. This will take time and will also affect the smoothness of the game. Competitive players often prefer this mode because in this mode, they get a smoother gameplay instead of a fluctuating one.

Borderless Windowed Mode Explained

Borderless windowed mode runs the game in a window that totally fills the screen, but in the background other necessary processes are running on, and the windows is still connected to the desktop compositor. The biggest pro of this mode is that it allows instant alt-tabbing, instant moving between the different tabs, smoother multitasking with apps like Discord, OBS, browsers, streaming, editors, background music or something else. But the windows still control the full screen, so for that reason FPS is usually ignored.

Ignored in such a way that it is neglected and most of the time it is below than 60, depending upon the system. On modern systems with stronger GPU, strong hardware and optimized window versions, the FPS difference is small or maybe unnoticeable, but on low spec system, it is clearly noticeable and create a lot problems. Borderless mode is widely used by the streamers and the gamers who value the convenience over powerful performance. And the main problems occur while this mode is the CPU-limitedness and GPU-limitedness.

Windowed Mode and Its FPS Impact

Windowed mode runs the game in a resizable window. The borders are clearly visible. By clicking on any corner, we can resize this window. This mode is considered to be the least performance-specific mode. It is for the convenientness. We cannot get good FPS while using this mode. Although, if we want to do a lot of tasks simultaneously, then this mode is very helpful. Windows actively manage other tasks too, window background processes remain fully active, GPU resources are constantly shared, High championship titles are getting their data from the CPU as well as GPU. This creates a lot of workload. If you are having a low-spec or mid-range system, then this is not suitable for you.

If you are having a high-spec system, then we can use other better modes to get a high FPS, but if you want to simultaneously run more programs, then this can be a better option. As compared to the full screen and borderless mode, in this mode, the FPS is continuously neglected. It is always low and sometimes hits the 20 or 10 FPS. Input lag although increases because it is vice versa of the FPS. Similarly, reduced resolution and delayed responses are also observed. This mode is basically used for the testing, developing, and blueprints in order to quickly assess the changes made. For serious professional gaming, this mode is strictly not recommended. It gives a good multitasking experience, but cannot be used for a performance gameplay.

Final Verdict

At last, according to my experience in this reality field, I would suggest you fullscreen mode if you only want to do gaming, borderless mode if you are not sure for how much time will you be keep playing gaming, and windows mode if you want to run the other processes simultaneously.