Should I always restart my pc before playing games .

[bittuvalorant]

So a friend of mine told me to always restart my pc before and after playing games to get the optimal performance. So what you guys think is it true ? I used to just turn on my pc plug my headphones and launch the game and after playing the game just shut down the pc, is this okay ?

[bittuvalorant]

Well ....I thought so too :)

[Ettanin]

Not that frequent, but since Windows 10 you should, yes, regularly restart your system to avoid side effects of timely accumulated memory leaks and similar bugs, especially with incrementing uptime dependent timers, because since Windows 10, shutting down isn't a true shutdown anymore, but a hibernate. Windows does this to accelerate the startup routine. This feature is called Fast Boot and can be disabled.

A restart forces Windows to perform a true shutdown.

[bittuvalorant]

Postat inițial de Ettanin:

Not that frequent, but since Windows 10 you should, yes, regularly restart your system to avoid side effects of timely accumulated memory leaks and similar bugs, especially with incrementing uptime dependent timers, because since Windows 10, shutting down isn't a true shutdown anymore, but a hibernate. Windows does this to accelerate the startup routine. This feature is called Fast Boot and can be disabled.

A restart forces Windows to perform a true shutdown.

Already disabled this fast boot thingy.

[Kargor]

And on the opposite end of the spectrum, I don't do anything -- I just launch a game when I want to play. I might shut down memory-intensive stuff like virtual machines or Visual Studio, because I'm a bit low on RAM these days, but that's about it.

[tomorrow4eva]

For some operating systems, as programs and unseen tasks start and stop, and the RAM gets written and overwritten, over time potential bugs or lags can build up. Some operating systems (server Linux) don't have much of a problem, but the older versions of Windows (you know, '98, Vista, etc) had noticeable performance issues over time if they were not rebooted periodically. This is where the advice to reboot for performance has it's roots.

These days, Windows is better about tidying up after itself, so whether it will have an impact at all depends on:
How long since your last reboot
Have you been running a lot of different programs
Have you been running resource intense programs
Have you been running anything you know gives you problems

If all you run is Steam, steam games and your browser, I doubt rebooting for each game will make any discernible difference. If you turn your computer off between sessions, you definitely won't see a benefit to another reboot so soon.

TL;DR: This used to be a big deal, these days it's not as useful.