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SQL Server Health Check

Best Windows Power Plan for Optimizing SQL Server Performance

Updated October 29, 20251 min read

Written byMark Varnas

CPU performance and Windows power plans

Usually, the balanced power plan is set by default, which is what Microsoft recommends for general use.

Great for saving the planet and being green, but it can be terrible for server performance.

The benefit of setting the server power management to high performance is for SQL Server to have consistent, predictable and high performance.

How to identify the issue?

On Windows Server 2008 and above, you can access the Power Options screen by typing powercfg.cpl in a Run prompt.

Figure 1 - Options of Windows power plans
Figure 1 - Options of Windows power plans

How do I fix it?

  1. Set Windows power plan to High performance.
  2. Validate BIOS power management is disabled or set to OS control.

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