---
title: "Core parking: why Windows puts your cores to sleep and when to stop it"
description: "What core parking does, why it shows up as frame-time inconsistency rather than lower average FPS, and how to disable it properly."
url: https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/disable-core-parking
author: Frost LIVE, Founder of Frozen Tweaks
published: 2026-08-30
updated: 2026-10-08
category: "CPU"
source: Frozen Tweaks (https://frozentweaks.com)
---

# Core parking: why Windows puts your cores to sleep and when to stop it

**Short answer:** Core parking lets Windows idle unused CPU cores to save power, and waking them takes time. Disabling it is applied through powercfg against the active power scheme rather than a single registry value. The effect is on frame-time consistency, not average FPS: it removes the small stall when a parked core is needed suddenly.

## In the app

- Switch: Disable CPU Core Parking (CPU, Pro, Advanced)
- Undo: Yes. Switching it off sets core parking to typical Balanced values (10 and 100 percent), which may not match your power plan.
- Game profiles that switch it on: Apex Legends, ARC Raiders, Battlefield 6 and 14 more
- Catalog row: https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks#t-1032

## What it does

Windows parks cores it believes are not needed, dropping them to a low-power state. Unparking is fast but not instant.

In a game that suddenly needs more threads, like a shader compile, a physics spike or a new area loading, that unparking delay lands inside a frame, and you feel it as a hitch rather than a lower average.

## When it helps

- Flatter frame times on CPUs with many cores, where parking is most aggressive.
- Removes a class of intermittent stutter that does not show up in average FPS at all.
- Most visible in CPU-bound competitive games.

## When it hurts

- Higher idle power draw and more heat, which matters on laptops and small-form-factor builds.
- On modern Windows with the Best performance power mode, much of this is already handled: the marginal gain is smaller than older guides suggest.

## What it writes

Read from the app's source. "Switching it off" is what the app writes when you turn the tweak off again.

Commands the tweak runs:

```bat
powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PROCESSOR 0cc5b647-c1df-4637-891a-dec35c318583 100
powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PROCESSOR ea062031-0e34-4ff1-9b6d-eb1059334028 100
powercfg /S SCHEME_CURRENT
```

- `powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PROCESSOR 0cc5b647-c1df-4637-891a-dec35c318583 100`: Keeps every core unparked when plugged in (minimum unparked cores: 100 percent).
- `powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PROCESSOR ea062031-0e34-4ff1-9b6d-eb1059334028 100`: Lets every core stay unparked when plugged in (maximum unparked cores: 100 percent).
- `powercfg /S SCHEME_CURRENT`: Re-applies the active power scheme so the changed core-parking attributes take effect immediately.

Switching it off runs:

```bat
powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PROCESSOR 0cc5b647-c1df-4637-891a-dec35c318583 10
powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PROCESSOR ea062031-0e34-4ff1-9b6d-eb1059334028 100
powercfg /S SCHEME_CURRENT
```

Source: Tweaks/core_parking_off.hpp in the app's source, app 2.0.0, checked 2026-10-08.

## How to undo it

Set the two core-parking values back to your power plan's defaults and re-apply the plan. Switching it off in Frozen Tweaks sets them to typical Balanced values, 10 and 100 percent, which may not match your plan, because custom and OEM power schemes frequently differ.

## Verdict

Worth doing on a desktop chasing frame-time consistency. Skip it on a laptop on battery.

## Related guides

- [Windows 11 Gaming Optimization: What Still Works in 2026](https://frozentweaks.com/guides/windows-11-gaming-optimization)
- [How to Fix Stuttering and Frame Drops: Diagnose Before You Tweak](https://frozentweaks.com/guides/fix-stuttering-frame-drops)
- [How to Increase FPS on PC: The Complete 2026 Guide](https://frozentweaks.com/guides/how-to-increase-fps-on-pc)
- [CS2 FPS Boost: Best Settings and Launch Options for 2026](https://frozentweaks.com/guides/cs2-fps-boost)

## More tweak explainers

- [Dynamic tick and HPET](https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/disable-dynamic-tick)
- [MMCSS and SystemResponsiveness](https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/mmcss-system-responsiveness)
- [Timer resolution (0.5 ms)](https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/timer-resolution-0-5-ms)

---
Written by Frost LIVE, founder of Frozen Tweaks. Canonical version: https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/disable-core-parking