MPO (Multi-Plane Overlay) is the #1 cause of micro-stutters and frame time spikes in Windows 11, particularly on NVIDIA GPUs. Disabling it via the Windows registry eliminates these spikes for most games. The fix method changed in Windows 11 24H2 — the old OverlayTestMode key no longer works. Here is the exact 2026 procedure for every Windows 11 build.
If your games feel choppy even when your GPU usage and FPS look fine, MPO is almost certainly the culprit. Frame time graphs tell the real story: consistent average framerate with random spikes hitting 30ms, 40ms, or worse. Those spikes are what you feel as stutter, even when your 1% lows look acceptable. The good news is that a registry edit applied in under five minutes resolves this on nearly every system.
What Is MPO and Why Does It Cause Game Stuttering
Multi-Plane Overlay (MPO) is a Windows display compositing feature that allows the GPU to handle multiple image layers independently rather than compositing them into a single frame before sending it to the display. In theory, this reduces CPU overhead for the Desktop Window Manager. In practice, it introduces unpredictable frame delivery timing that manifests as micro-stutters during gaming.
NVIDIA acknowledged the problem in a 2022 support document, noting that MPO can cause black screen flashes, flickering, and frame time instability on systems running Windows 10 and 11. The issue is not limited to older drivers. Users running the latest GeForce Game Ready and WHQL drivers in 2025 and 2026 continue to report MPO-related stutter, particularly in titles using DirectX 12 and games with frequent scene transitions.
AMD Radeon users experience MPO issues less frequently, but the problem does occur, especially in multi-monitor setups and when running games with overlay software active. The fix is the same regardless of GPU vendor.
How to Check If MPO Is Causing Your Stuttering
Before touching the registry, confirm MPO is actually your problem. The clearest diagnostic signal is stutter that disappears in windowed mode but returns in exclusive fullscreen or borderless fullscreen. That pattern is a near-certain indicator of MPO interference.
For a data-driven confirmation, use CapFrameX or PresentMon to capture a frame time graph during gameplay. What you are looking for is frame time spikes greater than 16ms that occur irregularly and do not correspond with GPU load increases. If your GPU is sitting at 85% load and your average frame time is 8ms but you see random 25ms and 40ms spikes, that is MPO, not a GPU bottleneck.
In HWiNFO64, check the Sensors view during gaming. If you see the GPU Render Queue or display pipeline metrics behaving erratically while GPU core load remains stable, that confirms the display compositing layer is causing the issue rather than raw GPU performance.
Method 1: Disable MPO in Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2
On Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2, the correct registry key is OverlayTestMode under the Desktop Window Manager path. This method has been widely documented since 2022 and works reliably on these builds. If you are on 24H2 or 25H2, skip to Method 2 — this key is ignored on those versions.
- Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
- Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Dwm
- Right-click an empty area in the right pane, select New, then DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name it exactly: OverlayTestMode
- Double-click the new DWORD and set the value to 5 (decimal).
- Click OK and restart your PC.
After the restart, launch a game that was stuttering previously and check your frame time graph. In most cases, the irregular spikes flatten out immediately. If you are running Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2 and applied this fix, it will not harm anything, but it also will not do anything. You need Method 2.
Method 2: Disable MPO in Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 (The Correct 2026 Fix)
Microsoft changed the internal architecture of the graphics driver stack in Windows 11 24H2. The OverlayTestMode key in the DWM path is no longer read by the system. The correct key for 24H2 and 25H2 is DisableOverlays, placed under the graphics drivers control set — a completely different registry location that most guides written before late 2024 do not mention.
- Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
- Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers
- Right-click an empty area in the right pane, select New, then DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name it exactly: DisableOverlays
- Double-click the new DWORD and set the value to 1 (decimal).
- Click OK and restart your PC.
This is the fix that works in 2026. The GraphicsDrivers control set is where Windows 11 24H2 and later reads overlay configuration at boot, rather than querying DWM settings at runtime. After restarting, verify using the method in the final section below.
| Windows Build | Registry Path | DWORD Name | Value | Works in 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 11 22H2 | SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Dwm | OverlayTestMode | 5 | Yes |
| Windows 11 23H2 | SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Dwm | OverlayTestMode | 5 | Yes |
| Windows 11 24H2 | SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers | DisableOverlays | 1 | Yes |
| Windows 11 25H2 | SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers | DisableOverlays | 1 | Yes |
Additional Windows 11 Gaming Fixes to Combine With MPO Disable
Disabling MPO eliminates a significant source of stutter, but Windows 11 ships with several other features that reduce gaming performance. Applying these fixes together produces the cleanest frame delivery you can get without hardware changes.
Disable Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) and Memory Integrity: VBS adds a hypervisor layer that creates overhead on every kernel call. Go to Settings, then Windows Security, then Device Security, then Core Isolation, and toggle Memory Integrity off. Restart after applying. On some gaming PCs, disabling VBS recovers 5 to 15 percent performance in CPU-bound scenarios.
Disable Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS) on older GPUs: HAGS benefits modern RTX 40-series and RX 7000-series GPUs but introduces latency on older cards. If you are running an RTX 20-series, RTX 30-series, or older AMD RX 5000/6000 GPU and still see stutter after the MPO fix, disable HAGS via Device Manager, then Display Adapters, then your GPU Properties, and disable Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling.
Disable the GameInput service: Press Win + R, type services.msc, find GameInput Service, right-click, and set Startup type to Disabled. This service has been linked to input latency spikes and occasional frame drops in several titles since its introduction in Windows 11.
How to Verify MPO Is Disabled
After applying the registry fix and restarting, you can confirm MPO is actually off rather than just trusting the edit worked. The fastest method is dxdiag: press Win + R, type dxdiag, go to the Display tab, and check the MPO line under Driver Features. It should read Disabled.
For a more thorough check, open GPU-Z and look at the Advanced tab for your display adapter. The overlay plane count should show 0 or reflect that plane overlay support is inactive. Alternatively, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\ and locate display.ini — with overlays disabled, you will see configuration flags reflecting the single-plane composition mode.
The definitive test is a before-and-after frame time capture with CapFrameX. Record five minutes of gameplay in a title that was stuttering before the fix. Compare the frame time graph to your pre-fix recording. The irregular spikes above 16ms should be absent or dramatically reduced. If stutter persists at the same rate, check that you used the correct registry path for your Windows build. You may also want to read about improving Windows 11 gaming performance for additional optimizations that pair well with the MPO disable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does disabling MPO improve FPS or just reduce stuttering in Windows 11?
Disabling MPO primarily reduces frame time variance rather than increasing average FPS. Most users see their 1% lows improve significantly, sometimes by 20 to 40 percent, while average FPS stays roughly the same. The result feels like a major performance improvement because gameplay smoothness is driven by frame time consistency, not just peak framerate numbers.
How do I disable MPO in Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2?
On Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers in Registry Editor, create a new DWORD (32-bit) named DisableOverlays, and set its value to 1. The older OverlayTestMode key under the DWM path does not work on these builds. Restart your PC after applying the key.
Will turning off Multi-Plane Overlay cause any display or HDR issues?
Disabling MPO can affect HDR performance on some displays, as MPO is part of how Windows handles HDR tone mapping layers. If you use HDR actively, test gameplay after the fix and confirm that HDR output still looks correct. Some users report no change; others find they need to toggle HDR off and on again after applying the fix. The stutter improvement outweighs this minor adjustment for most gaming setups.
Does disabling MPO fix stuttering in all games or just specific ones?
MPO-related stutter is most pronounced in DirectX 12 titles, games with in-game overlays, and titles that switch between fullscreen and windowed modes frequently. Some older DirectX 11 games are unaffected. Expect the biggest improvement in modern titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, and Call of Duty, which make heavy use of the DX12 present path. Check our guide on reducing input lag on PC for complementary fixes that work well alongside MPO disable.
