The guide is aimed primarily at a low to medium power PCs, but will work regardless of hardware configuration as it simply optimizes software and OS configurations to remove unnecessary load off your PC.

Be wary that this guide is volatile and results can differ from one system to another. With that in mind, every change can be easily reversed should the need arise.

Applying all edits will take 20-40 minutes of your time. In my experience all tweaks work best when applied together, but feel free to experiment.

If you want a shortened version of the guide you can start from the section "Basic tricks". It can get you ~50-80% percent of what this guide offers in about 10 minutes of work (results may vary as problems in previous sections can still be there).

This is a necessary step as the guide was written to accommodate many version of Win10, and will tell you what to skip when necessary.

1. Right-click the Start button.
   
2. Click Settings.
   
3. Click System, go to About on the left side of the window.
   
4. Note "OSBuild" in section "Windows specifications".
   
5. If the first 4 numbers are 1903 or higher, you can skip several sections of the guide.

SKIP if you have Windows 10 version 1903 and up, this standalone setting has been removed and is now controlled by the "GameBar".

Game DVR records video in the background while you game so that you can grab a clip of an epic moment that happened out of the blue. This recording also takes up a metric ton of system resources, so if your rig is already chugging along, it can be the final nail in the coffin.

1. Right-click the Start button.
   
2. Click Settings.
   
3. Click Gaming.
   
4. Click Game DVR.
   
5. Click the switch below "Record in the background while I'm playing a game" so that it turns Off.

Game Bar is another friendly tool included by our glorious Microsoft overlords. It lets you take screenshots, record and broadcast video. And even in its dormant state it's been eating away at your resources.

1. Right-click the Start button.
   
2. Click Settings.
   
3. Click Gaming.
   
4. Click Game Bar.
   
5. Click the switch below "Record game clips ..." so that it turns Off.

SKIP if you have Windows 10 version 1903 and up, Xbox Game Monitoring has been removed or reintegrated into other settings, just like the game DVR.

Xbox Game Monitoring is a service that works in conjunction with the Xbox app.
It keeps an eye on what game is currently being played on your PC and a lot of users have reported it clashing with performance when playing games from other services, like Steam. Shocking, I know.
This service runs even if Game Bar is disabled, and you cannot disable it without editing your registry.

1. Right-click the Start button.
   
2. Click Search.
   
3. Type regedit and hit Enter.
   
4. Paste HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\xbgm in adress bar.
   
5. Right-click Start in the right-side pane of the window.
   
6. Click Modify.
   
7. Type 4 into Value data field.
   
8. Click OK.
   
9. The Xbox Game Monitoring service will now be disabled.

Should you need to roll the change back, do the same steps, just type 3 into Value data.

If you have Windows 10 version 1903 and up, Xbox Game Monitoring has been removed or reintegrated into other settings, just like the game DVR.

Game Mode is a mode that aimed at giving you a "better" gaming experience. It missed.
And up until the Creators Update, the Game Mode could be turned On or Off at will.
There was a little switch to control in the Settings app under Gaming>Game Mode. That little switch is gone in the Fall Creators Update. If your PC supports Game Mode, then it will be on.
Don't you just love Microsoft?
But even though the switch is gone, you can still disable Game Mode from the registry.

1. Right-click the Start button.
   
2. Click Search.
   
3. Type regedit and hit Enter.
   
4. Paste HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\GameBar in the adress bar.
   
5. Look for a key called AllowAutoGameMode. Can't see it? Right-click inside the right panel and select New>DWORD (32-bit) Value. Rename the new value AllowAutoGameMode. --- Note: Even if you are running 64-bit Windows you must still create a 32-bit DWORD value.
   
6. By default, this key will have the value 0. It will disable Game Mode.

Should you need to roll the change back, don't create a new key, just type 1 into Value data of the existing one.

Fullscreen optimizations is a new glorious feature that nobody asked for. When enabled, it allows the operating system to optimize performance of games and apps when they are running in full screen mode.
However, this optimization just works often won't work properly and has no effect on app's performance or even tanks it.
Let's cut it.

1. Open the registry editor (as described in steps 1-3 of above section)
   
2. Paste HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\GameConfigStore into adress bar.
   
3. On the right, modify or create a new 32-Bit DWORD value GameDVR_FSEBehavior. --- Note: Even if you are running 64-bit Windows you must still create a 32-bit DWORD value.
   
4. Set the GameDVR_FSEBehavior value to 2 to disable it.

Should you need to roll the change back, don't create a new key, just type 0 into Value data of the existing one.

"GameBarPresenceWriter.exe" is a fantastic little thing.
It can either work perfectly... and do absolutely nothing useful, or be so broken as to cause latency spikes, limit performance, cause input lag, and even be the cause of some game crashes.
It was reported to be using around the same, if not more, network data than Overwatch at one time.
If its process tree was ended, it would just start back up.
Microsoft... just... Microsoft.

And you know what's even better? By default it can't even be disabled through registry.
Credit to BrisingrPhoenix from Damage Inc forums for figuring a way to shut it .

1. Paste HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsRuntime\ActivatableClassId\Window
   s.Gaming.GameBar.PresenceServer.Internal.PresenceWriter into the address bar.
   
2. In the left panel Right-Click on the greyed folder (check the folder name if you are unsure, it should be corresponding to the address).
   
3. In the drop down menu click Permissions > Advanced
   
4. The default owner at the top will be listed as TrustedInstaller.
   
5. Hit Change (next to TrustedInstaller) -> Advanced -> Find Now
   
6. Scroll and find your username (it should have your email address). Click it.
   
7. Click Ok on top of the search results (it should close the search window).
   
8. Ok (bottom, closes next window) > Apply > Ok (Apply might be greyed out, if it is then just hit "Ok").
   
9. Select Administrators in the "group or user names". Set a check mark "Allow" next to "Full Control". Click Apply and then Ok (Apply might be greyed out, if it is then just hit "Ok").
   
10. In the right window right click "ActivationType" and choose Modify.
    
11. Set the value to 0. Click OK.
    
12. Congratulate yourself if you get no errors.

If you still get "Insuficient Permissions" error you may have not chosen the correct user. Redo all the steps carefully to see if something went wrong.

Should you need to roll the change back set the value of "ActivationType" to 1.

This problem has been mostly fixed (in like 90% of modern PC's), though some reports still crop up. So let's do a double check (or you can skip this section if you don't want to bother).

Core parking is a low-power sleep state that dynamically disables CPU cores in an effort to conserve power when idle. Sometimes parked cores may not come online as fast as needed and it can cause some performance problems.

This change will allow you to see and change the parking status of your cores using Windows power management. No external tools required!

• Paste HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00\0cc5b647-c1df-4637-891a-dec35c318583 into the adress bar.
  
• On the right, expand the data section and check the description of "Friendly Name" - it should have "Processor performance core parking min cores". That means it's the right key.
  
• Double click "Attributes" and change the value to 0.

If the path is not working for your PC press Ctrl+F.
Encheck everything except Data and search for [@%SystemRoot%\system32\powrprof.dll,-767,Processor performance core parking min cores] without the brackets.
The result should have fields "Attributes", "Description", "FriendlyName", "ValueIncrement", etc. in the right panel.

To roll back set the value of "Attributes" to 1.

Seriously, it's safer this way and registry tweaks will only apply after a restart.

Disable core parking. (only if "Exposing core parking settings" section is done, skip otherwise)

• Go to Settings -> System.
  
• Choose Power & Sleep.
  
• Click Additional power settings -> Show additional plans
  
• Click "Change plan settings" next to the chosen plan.
  
• Click "Change advanced power settings".
  
• Expand "Processor power management" and then "Processor performance core parking min cores"
  
• Set the value to 100%. It disables core parking completely. 0% allows all cores to be parked.

Disable Cloud-delivered protection and Automatic sample submission in Windows Defender.

These features were absent in old WIN 10 versions and with their introduction the performance on many load-sensitive apps tanked. QC is one of them.
Note that they do provide better security.
If you are a savvy internet user you can sacrifice them for marginally better performance. Otherwise leave them on.
If you have a different mainstream antivirus it should be 99% safe for you to disable this (though you might want to take a close look at your own antivirus, they do hog performance).
Use at your own risk.

• Go to Settings -> Update & Security.
  
• Choose Windows Security.
  
• Click on Virus & threat protection.
  
• Click on Virus & threat protection settings
  
• Set switches under Cloud-delivered protection and Automatic sample submission to off.

Set power plan to high performance.

• Go to Settings -> System.
  
• Choose Power & Sleep.
  
• Click Additional power settings -> Show additional plans
  
• Click High Performance.

Close unneeded background applications and avoid streaming music or video while playing. Just google "youtube/soundcloud/etc. to mp3" and listen to downloaded music if you can't live without it.

Why cap FPS? Because we want to remove inconsistencies and stutter.
This is surprisingly important, and helps a lot.

As of NVIDIA driver version 441.87 NVIDIA GPU users can have an alternative path here.
(note that the regular path's RTSS is a more mature tool that works better under heavy CPU load, as you will see less or no screen-tearing. Under moderate load the difference is likely to be imperceptible)

1. Right click on desktop and click NVIDIA control panel.
   
2. Click manage 3D settings on the left.
   
3. Go to program settings.
   
4. Select Quake Champions. Or press Add and select Quake Champions -> Add selected program.
   
5. Set "Max Framerate" to ON and select the limit in accordance to the little snippet I got at the bottom of this section.
   
6. Skip the regular path steps 1/2.

Regular path step 1: Download and install MSI Afterburner.

1. Go to https://www.msi.com/page/afterburner
   
2. Click Download.
   
3. Unpack the *.exe and run it.
   
4. Make sure you have Rivatuner Statistics Server checkbox marked.
   
5. Install and run Afterburner.
   
6. Click on startup icon on the left to make it grey (we won't be needing Afterburner, but it's a nice tool to have and it ensures that everybody has the correct version of RTSS and can help you monitor CPU/GPU load).
   
7. Don't touch anything else.
   
8. Close Afterburner.

Regular path step 2: Cap frames in Rivatuner Statistics Server

1. Run RTSS.
   
2. Click the top-left switch "Start with Windows".
   
3. Click on "Add" in the bottom left.
   
4. Go to Quake Champions.exe select it and click Open.
   
5. On the right side locate "Framerate limit". Don't touch anything else just set the limit in accordance to the little snippet I got below.
   
6. Never close RTSS, just minimize it. It goes in the system tray.

On capping frames:

• Check your monitor refresh rate first.
  
• If it's 60 and you can't hold stable 90+ FPS then set the FPS cap to 60.
  The added frametimes and input latency are imperceptible (we're using RTSS/new NVIDIA tech for this exact reason) and you get stellar frametime stability (every frame is shown on your monitor with the same time interval) and eliminate framedrops - both things contribute to the removal of stutter.
  
• If you can hold stable 90 or even better 120+ FPS on a 60Hz, see what works best for you - capped is the same as above, uncapped you will get highly inconsistent frametimes (microstutter) but at that point it might be micro enough, that you might not notice it (I sure as hell still do).
  
• If refresh rate is higher than that (120Hz or 144 Hz) finish applying every setting in this guide and launch a couple of QC games to see how much FPS you are getting. If you can't get 120 or 144 FPS respectively, lower your monitor refresh rate to match the FPS that you can consistently get and cap that FPS value.

Disclaimers:

• Don't use the in-game frame limiter, it's bad.
  
• Read up if you are wondering why I'm recommending RTSS and not GSync/FSync.[www.blurbusters.com]
  
• I don't recommend RTSS' Scanline Sync because while on paper it's nice, in reality it's not fully developed (it fails to work if your CPU is loaded more than 60-70% making the picture worse) and offers marginal improvement at the cost of more input lag.

1. Right click on desktop and click NVIDIA control panel.
   
2. Click manage 3D settings on the left.
   
3. Go to program settings.
   
4. Press Add and select Quake Champions -> Add selected program (or just select it)
   
5. Preferred refresh rate: Set to Application Controlled (if you don't have this setting it's fine too).
   
6. Power managment mode: Set to Prefer Maximum Performance
   
7. Vertical Sync: Set to Off
   
8. Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames: Set to 1 (some people advocate the use of 2 frames, but for me it just caused random freezes. I recommend running 1 + the settings below at least once)

If Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames setting is missing that means you have a newer version of NVIDIA drivers. The setting is now called "Low Latency Mode" - turn it on. (There's also an ultra setting, but it may drop your performance.)

Don't put too much trust in advice to play on all Low, it will free up your GPU but can potentially bottleneck your CPU and cause a lot of damage stuttering.

This is due to a disproportionate distribution of load, because your GPU can do graphical calculations easier and yet on some lower settings some of them will be offloaded to the CPU. Take texture filtering - basically a free action for most modern GPUs as it takes little resources, but offload it to CPU and even though the quality is lower, it will take more computing power.

You should look for ways to balance the load between GPU and CPU and avoid loading them up to 100%.

Settings that apply to everyone

• Uncap FPS in game.
  
• Turn V-Sync off.
  
• Display mode to Fullscreen.
  
• Resolution - your monitor resolution.
  
• On the main screen, to the left of the champions tab there's a globe - click it and choose servers with sub 50 ping (this setting sometimes resets, especially after an update).

General guideline (try at least once before tinkering).

• Shadow Quality - Medium
  
• Lighting Quality - Medium
  
• Effects Quality - Medium
  
• Texture Quality - Low
  
• Details - Medium
  
• Post Processing - Low
  
• Antialiasing - FXAA
  
• Texture Filtering - High
  
• Gore - ON
  
• Resolution Scale - 80%.

And if this guide helped you, share it with folks who are struggling with FPS, stutters or other performance problems in QC or other games.