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[WhamBamThankYouMaam]

They could have just made game mode they way it was supposed to be.

 

[Susurrus]

Is this still on track for release this month or have I missed something?

Calm yourself, there's still like half a day left of Microsoft HQ time. Any minute now we'll see OP was right.

 

[Wolzard]

Mac and iOS have the advantage that noone expects longterm backwards compatibility.

if you own a new Mac it's basically expected that older programs are incompatible with it, but on Windows it's expected that even stuff made for Windows 3.1 still works.

the sole reason your default Windows install drive letter is C:, and why subsequent SSDs, HDDs and CD/DVD/BD drives get D:, E:, F, etc., is because A: and B: are by default reserved for floppy drives.
if you connect a USB floppy drive to a Windows 11 PC it will get assigned the letter A:. if you connect a second one it's gonna get B:, because many older programs of the Pre-HDD era expect those 2 drive letters to have the data they need.

that's how far Microsoft goes to keep old software compatible, even if you need to tinker a little bit with compatibility modes and stuff.


so Windows is bloated by default in some regards. and that bloat will never be cleaned up

Microsoft could simply create a subsystem, just like it did for Linux and Android.
The truth is that they don't want to make that effort because they don't need to, due to the system's leadership.

 

[Gitaroo]

with AutoSR would come to PC

 

[kevboard]

with AutoSR would come to PC

AutoSR would also be interesting as a toggle for backwards compatible games on Series X. it should have enough ML TOPS to run it while running back compat titles, as the majority of the GPU is idling anyway in those games.

 

[Gitaroo]

AutoSR would also be interesting as a toggle for backwards compatible games on Series X. it should have enough ML TOPS to run it while running back compat titles, as the majority of the GPU is idling anyway in those games.

I thought XbsX entire system only have the same amount of TOPS as a Geforce 2026 which is not very powerful by today standard. If they can get it to work on PC with Geforce tensor cores or Intel Arc gpu that would be cool. If I were Intel I would be getting involve with MS getting it to run on their mobile NPU right now

 

[kevboard]

I thought XbsX entire system only have the same amount of TOPS as a Geforce 2026 which is not very powerful by today standard. If they can get it to work on PC with Geforce tensor cores or Intel Arc gpu that would be cool. If I were Intel I would be getting involve with MS getting it to run on their mobile NPU right now

the Series X GPU has around 100 TOPS, AutoSR needs 40 TOPS afaik.

even if running autoSR occupied 50% of the entire GPU, it would still be more than enough GPU power to run 360 games, which need less than 15% of the GPU to run full speed.

 

[Gitaroo]

the Series X GPU has around 100 TOPS, AutoSR needs 40 TOPS afaik.

even if running autoSR occupied 50% of the entire GPU, it would still be more than enough GPU power to run 360 games, which need less than 15% of the GPU to run full speed.

I guess it would varies from games to games, some games actually pushes the xbsx quite hard even running at native. I think Gears Judgement is one of them with only 60fps update but still runs at 720p

 

[kevboard]

I guess it would varies from games to games, some games actually pushes the xbsx quite hard even running at native. I think Gears Judgement is one of them with only 60fps update but still runs at 720p

I mean there should be no 360 game that exceeds at most 50% of the GPU, which would be games like Mirror's Edge that run at 4k 60fps, and those games don't need AutoSR in the first place

any native res title (even those with FPS boost) should be at 20% GPU utilisation at most.

 

[vodka-bull]

MS getting scared of the steam machine

 

[Kenji Kono]

the Series X GPU has around 100 TOPS, AutoSR needs 40 TOPS afaik.

even if running autoSR occupied 50% of the entire GPU, it would still be more than enough GPU power to run 360 games, which need less than 15% of the GPU to run full speed.

You sure about that? 360 wasn't x86 architecture unlike Xbox zone and XSX/XSS.

 

[Gitaroo]

I think you will be surprised. They had to drop Gears 3 res to 2x from 3x when they added fps boost for series X. I know it is not apple to apple comparison, if you take Xenia for example, when I turn on 2x scaling, my 4080 GPU usage jumps to 90+% in most games I tried. For whatever reason, likely due to bandwidth issue.

 

[kevboard]

You sure about that? 360 wasn't x86 architecture unlike Xbox zone and XSX/XSS.

the games are recompiled to be x86 apps.

also the emulation overhead for stuff like that would be mainly on the CPU not GPU.

and finally, remember that the Xbox One was able to run those exact same 360 titles at full speed with a 1.3 TFLOPS GPU, and the Series X has a 12 TFLOPS GPU.
some games actually ran faster on Xbox One than on the original 360 because the GPU of the Xbox One boosted their performance.

 

[SupremeJ]

It's rolling out gradually. If you don't want to wait, you can force it:



Benefits:

- console-like interface (I think it's better than the Xbox Series UI!)
- controller or keyboard+mouse usage, with very responsive switch
- all PC Stores in one place, games collected in a central list
- quick game switching with a single button press, a kind of quick resume
- less RAM and VRAM usage
- games are 10-20% faster compared to the previous normal Windows gaming

 

[simpatico]

MS getting scared of the steam machine

It's the OS, not the machine. I'll be dual booting if not outright switching.

The only people who willfully use Windows are gamers. Can't lose those.

 

[kikii]

It's rolling out gradually. If you don't want to wait, you can force it:



Benefits:

- console-like interface (I think it's better than the Xbox Series UI!)
- controller or keyboard+mouse usage, with very responsive switch
- all PC Stores in one place, games collected in a central list
- quick game switching with a single button press, a kind of quick resume
- less RAM and VRAM usage
- games are 10-20% faster compared to the previous normal Windows gaming

installed update yday morning and no xvox mode ^^

just tried that videos method and nahnah ^^

 

[winjer]

 

[hououinkyouma00]

I tried it for like 5 minutes but not being able to use Steam BPM at the same time due to the Xbox button conflicting killed it for me.

Plus 4% performance isn't enough to convince me.

Edit: I'm a fucking retard and can't read. I'll not edit my "retardism" out.

15% is quite good...

 

[Bojji]

Damn, differences are bigger than I thought (I expected no difference).

 

[rodrigolfp]

I tried it for like 5 minutes but not being able to use Steam BPM at the same time due to the Xbox button conflicting killed it for me.


Plus 4% performance isn't enough to convince me.

Just change the button that brings the BPM up, no?

 

[cramoss]

I tried it for like 5 minutes but not being able to use Steam BPM at the same time due to the Xbox button conflicting killed it for me.


Plus 4% performance isn't enough to convince me.

Edit: I'm a fucking retard and can't read. I'll not edit my "retardism" out.

15% is quite good...

Can the steam home button be mapped to another button? Or the game bar? I want to use both but this kills it for me as well

 

[SpokkX]

ok wow that IS a difference.. did not expect that actually. Just shows how much shits is in Windows 11

 

[adamsapple]

so 15% improvement for Nvidia and 2% for AMD ?

Not bad for Nvidia users at all for just an overlay change.

 

[memoryman3]

so 15% improvement for Nvidia and 2% for AMD ?

Not bad for Nvidia users at all for just an overlay change.

I tested this out on an Nvidia GPU and the gains in frame times are minimal and possibly within the margin of error. Does he have another overlay on?

Sadly I did notice that there could be very slight controller input delay on Xbox Mode vs. the standard desktop mode.

 

[winjer]

so 15% improvement for Nvidia and 2% for AMD ?

Not bad for Nvidia users at all for just an overlay change.

Not exactly. 4% improvement to averages and 15% to 1% lows.
Seems like nvidia drivers have some issues with some games, causing bad 1% lows.
Which then also lowers the average. And this Xbox mode fixes it. CS2 is a good example of this.
On AMD it's a lot more consistent, with no game having bad 1%lows.

 

[adamsapple]

Not exactly. 4% improvement to averages and 15% to 15 lows.
Seems like nvidia drivers have some issues with some games, causing bad 1% lows.
Which then also lowers the average. And this Xbox mode fixes it. CS2 is a good example of this.
On AMD it's a lot more consistent, with no game having bad 1%lows.

I mean tbh any gain is a win for something that a lot of people had dismissed outright.

 

[poodaddy]

so 15% improvement for Nvidia and 2% for AMD ?

Not bad for Nvidia users at all for just an overlay change.

Are they still doing a less bloated version of Windows 11 soon? I think that's separate from this unless I'm misunderstanding something, which I very well may be, but I wonder if this will be close to the performance we'll see on that, with or without the Xbox mode.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

So Xbox Mode is them killing explorer.exe and making the Xbox app full screen . . . totally awesome dude!

 

[memoryman3]

So Xbox Mode is them killing explorer.exe and making the Xbox app full screen . . . totally awesome dude!

Explorer.exe is only killed in gaming handheld form factors.

These are the only major differences between Xbox Mode and Desktop Mode.

• Only one window is displayed at a time.
• Apps are displayed full screen when possible.
• Apps that open multiple windows may show only the most recent window.
• Apps that do not support full screen are shown on a black background.
• Window controls such as minimize and maximize do not change window state.
• Some desktop keyboard shortcuts are disabled.

For Handhelds only

Turn on Enter Xbox mode on startup to start Xbox mode automatically after you sign in.

• When this setting is on, Windows limits background processes to improve performance while gaming.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I can't see the battery percent on my Xbox mode anywhere. I've got it turned on but not to be found anywhere, not even a basic battery icon.
Also, at no point does it ask me to restart the PC when switching modes. I remember seeing older vids of people getting an option to switch right away or reboot with clean resources.
The Gamebar onscreen stuff wont stick (No pin option) So no gamebar performance metrics, No achievment popup even though I notifications and away modes set (I think I have em set right).
but I can still see Nvidia overlay and Steam overlay.

I've done my own little benchy marks and I see zero difference in performance.
I'm starting to suspect I got a fake Xbox mode and Microsoft is trolling me.

 

[rm082e]

On AMD it's a lot more consistent, with no game having bad 1%lows.

From what I saw on those graphs, the improvements were smaller as the resolution increased. I run 4k native on my 9070 XT, so I'm guessing this wouldn't make much difference for me?

 

[seb85]

Not yet available in Europe

 

[dgrdsv]

From what I saw on those graphs, the improvements were smaller as the resolution increased. I run 4k native on my 9070 XT, so I'm guessing this wouldn't make much difference for me?

Even peak 15% won't make any difference for anyone.
That's 60 vs 69 FPS for example.

It's interesting that there is any improvement though. My bet is that this is a benchmarking error.

 

[Fess]

I'm trying it now.
WHY do I see the mouse cursor even though I use the controller???

Edit: Still not Xbox Mode, just says compact mode. Latest version on Windows, Xbox App, Gamebar, insider. What's the deal??

 

[Magic Carpet]

I'm trying it now.
WHY do I see the mouse cursor even though I use the controller???

Be glad, there are still games that need that mouse.

 

[memoryman3]

I can't see the battery percent on my Xbox mode anywhere. I've got it turned on but not to be found anywhere, not even a basic battery icon.
Also, at no point does it ask me to restart the PC when switching modes. I remember seeing older vids of people getting an option to switch right away or reboot with clean resources.
The Gamebar onscreen stuff wont stick (No pin option) So no gamebar performance metrics, No achievment popup even though I notifications and away modes set (I think I have em set right).
but I can still see Nvidia overlay and Steam overlay.

I've done my own little benchy marks and I see zero difference in performance.
I'm starting to suspect I got a fake Xbox mode and Microsoft is trolling me.

You have indeed gotten a different Xbox Mode. The one the saves RAM is only present on gaming handhelds as of now.

The Xbox Mode on desktop only makes changes to the GUI, and switching is instant with Win + F11.

 

[Fess]

Be glad, there are still games that need that mouse.

The pointer should only show when you move it, as soon as you use the controller the mouse pointer should disappear.

But it seems like I'm still just using compact mode for some reason. Used a guide which said I should flick a switch on in Settings/Gaming/Xbox Mode but I can't even see that option in the menu.

 

[Magic Carpet]

The pointer should only show when you move it, as soon as you use the controller the mouse pointer should disappear.

True Dat. The pointer just sits there like a broken pixel. MS will need to fix that.

 

[Magic Carpet]

You have indeed gotten a different Xbox Mode. The one the saves RAM is only present on gaming handhelds as of now.

The Xbox Mode on desktop only makes changes to the GUI, and switching is instant with Win + F11.

Your supposed to gently let me down that I wasted all that time the past couple of days.
sigh

 

[SupremeJ]

The one the saves RAM is only present on gaming handhelds as of now.

Not true. On desktop too. I tested it.

Some games use up to 1 GB less VRAM in desktop XBOX Mode.

 

[winjer]

 

[twilo99]

Not sure about Xbox mode but this here seems to be working

 

[Bojji]

Not sure about Xbox mode but this here seems to be working

It should be default.

 

[winjer]

Not sure about Xbox mode but this here seems to be working

Although this is an improvement, it is being done by ramping up the CPU clocks to max during app launches.
This is not fixing or optimizing Windows. It's more of a band aid on a much bigger problem that MS has ignored for many years.

 

[Fess]

I'm not doing a three thousand steps manual install. When will they roll this out to everybody so you can just flick a switch after a windows update?

 

[RafterXL]

Sounds impressive until you look at the actual benchmarks and realize that Counter Strike is doing the heavy lifting for those averages. Most of the games show no difference past 1080p. It is very easy to use, although it doesn't work with my Dualsense and I have to use the keyboard to navigate anyway. You can hit the Windows key to switch back to the desktop so that's ok, I guess.

Overall, if feels less like a general PC gaming improvement and more like a preview of the next Xbox console/PC.

 

[twilo99]

Sounds impressive until you look at the actual benchmarks and realize that Counter Strike is doing the heavy lifting for those averages. Most of the games show no difference past 1080p. It is very easy to use, although it doesn't work with my Dualsense and I have to use the keyboard to navigate anyway. You can hit the Windows key to switch back to the desktop so that's ok, I guess.

Overall, if feels less like a general PC gaming improvement and more like a preview of the next Xbox console/PC.

It will likely improve over time.

The Xbox app was a mess when they launched it and it's solid now so they will likely keep working on this as well

 

[twilo99]

This guy wouldn't be able to be be more annoying even if he tried

 

[DenchDeckard]

I've got it now. Seems fine. I don't know if I'll use it.

 

[//DEVIL//]

Windows 11 KB5083631 Update: What's New, Plus How to Enable Xbox Mode and Haptic Feedback (Step-by-Step Guide) - Tips 2 Fix

Windows 11 KB5083631 preview update is now available, introducing Xbox Mode, faster startup performance, File Explorer improvements, and direct download links (MSU). Microsoft released this optional non-security update on April 30, 2026, making it one of the most feature-packed updates of the...

tips2fix.com

if anyone wants to give it a try. i got it to work with this.