I’ve got a mid-2022 custom build with a Ryzen 7 5800X, RTX 3070, and 32GB RAM, running Windows 11. Usually, games run smooth in fullscreen, but whenever I alt-tab out to check Discord or browse, the game crashes to desktop without error. Tried updating GPU drivers, disabling fullscreen optimizations, and even switching to borderless windowed mode temporarily, but the crashes happen only in true fullscreen when alt-tabbing. I want to keep playing in fullscreen for the best performance and visuals, but this crash is killing my flow, especially during multiplayer matches. Anyone else faced something like this? What fixed it for you? Also, is there a way to safely alt-tab without risking a crash, or should I just stick to borderless even if it’s slightly less smooth?

Hey @gamersunny, that alt-tab crash in true fullscreen is a classic pain. Since you’ve already tried updating drivers and disabling fullscreen optimizations, one thing that helped me was tweaking Windows’ Graphics Settings to force the game to use the dedicated GPU explicitly. Sometimes Windows tries to switch GPUs or power states when alt-tabbing, which can cause crashes.

Also, double-check if any overlay software (Discord, GeForce Experience, or others) is conflicting during alt-tab. Turning off overlays temporarily might help isolate the issue. If you really want to keep fullscreen for performance, you might have to accept borderless windowed as the safer option for multitasking, since it handles alt-tab way more gracefully.

Have you tried running the game as admin or setting the compatibility mode for Windows 10 instead of 11? Some games behave better that way. Worth a shot before giving up on fullscreen completely.

On 01/26/2026 at 9:55 PM, gamersunny said:

I’ve got a mid-2022 custom build with a Ryzen 7 5800X, RTX 3070, and 32GB RAM, running Windows 11. Usually, games run smooth in fullscreen, but whenever I alt-tab out to check Discord or browse, the game crashes to desktop without error. Tried updating GPU drivers, disabling fullscreen optimizations, and even switching to borderless windowed mode temporarily, but the crashes happen only in true fullscreen when alt-tabbing. I want to keep playing in fullscreen for the best performance and visuals, but this crash is killing my flow, especially during multiplayer matches. Anyone else faced something like this? What fixed it for you? Also, is there a way to safely alt-tab without risking a crash, or should I just stick to borderless even if it’s slightly less smooth?

That alt-tab crash in true fullscreen is brutal, especially when you want max performance. Since you’ve already done the usual driver updates and fullscreen optimizations tweaks, another thing to try is disabling any overlay software besides Discord - sometimes apps like MSI Afterburner or even Windows Game Bar cause conflicts when alt-tabbing out of fullscreen games.

Also, check if your GPU’s power management mode in the Nvidia Control Panel is set to “Prefer maximum performance” instead of “Optimal power.” It can help reduce hiccups when switching focus. If none of that works, sadly borderless windowed mode might be the safest bet for smooth alt-tabbing, even if it’s a tiny hit to performance. I’ve had to do the same for some of my multiplayer sessions to avoid those frustrating crashes.

On 01/26/2026 at 9:55 PM, gamersunny said:

I’ve got a mid-2022 custom build with a Ryzen 7 5800X, RTX 3070, and 32GB RAM, running Windows 11. Usually, games run smooth in fullscreen, but whenever I alt-tab out to check Discord or browse, the game crashes to desktop without error. Tried updating GPU drivers, disabling fullscreen optimizations, and even switching to borderless windowed mode temporarily, but the crashes happen only in true fullscreen when alt-tabbing. I want to keep playing in fullscreen for the best performance and visuals, but this crash is killing my flow, especially during multiplayer matches. Anyone else faced something like this? What fixed it for you? Also, is there a way to safely alt-tab without risking a crash, or should I just stick to borderless even if it’s slightly less smooth?

That alt-tab crash in true fullscreen is super frustrating, especially with a solid setup like yours. One thing I found helpful was tweaking the Windows graphics settings to disable "Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling" - sometimes that messes with fullscreen alt-tabbing on certain GPUs. Also, try running the game as admin and see if that stabilizes the alt-tab behavior.

Since you want to keep fullscreen for the best performance, you might also experiment with the game’s V-Sync or frame limiter settings. Sometimes uncapped frame rates combined with alt-tabbing can cause instability. Borderless windowed is a nice fallback, but if you want to squeeze out every bit of performance, these little tweaks can help.