CorePin

Per-game CPU optimization for Windows games.

CorePin gives you control over CPU core placement, scheduling, process priority, power behavior, and background workloads on a per-game basis. It then applies those settings automatically whenever the game starts.

Built-in performance profiling and comparison tools help you measure whether a change actually improved frame pacing or performance instead of relying on guesswork.

CorePin provides controls and evidence, not a one-click guarantee of higher frame rates.

Download the latest release | User Guide | Security | Troubleshooting

What CorePin Can Do

CPU placement	Select exact cores or use profiles designed around V-Cache, frequency, hybrid P/E cores, cache groups, and no-SMT layouts.
Scheduling	Control affinity behavior and choose how CorePin cooperates with AMD and Windows game scheduling.
Process behavior	Apply per-game process priority and affinity-enforcement options.
Power	Apply game-specific power behavior through CorePin-managed power plans.
Background workloads	Isolate background processes or use Smart Background Optimization to reduce interference with latency-sensitive games.
VR	Manage supported VR companion placement and OpenXR launch behavior.
Launchers	Optionally close unrelated launcher processes after a game starts.
Graphics	Set graphics-adapter preference where Windows supports it.
Measurement	Record gameplay and inspect FPS, frame pacing, CPU/GPU behavior, clocks, memory, storage, and available hardware telemetry.
Comparison	Compare one candidate run against a baseline to see what actually changed.
Benchmarking	Run a repeatable DirectX workload to compare system, driver, cooling, or configuration changes.

Optimize Each Game

CorePin detects the topology of your processor and creates useful starting profiles for the hardware it finds. Depending on the CPU, available profiles can include:

• V-Cache layouts for CPUs with dedicated cache-focused cores or CCDs
• Frequency layouts favoring the highest-clocked cores
• Hybrid-core layouts for Intel P-Core and E-Core processors
• Cache-group aware layouts
• No-SMT layouts
• manually configured core selections

You can also create and reuse your own CPU profiles.

Core placement is only one part of the optimization. Each game can combine a CPU profile with settings such as:

• process priority
• affinity enforcement
• power behavior
• CPU scheduling ownership
• background core isolation
• Smart Background Optimization
• VR companion placement
• launcher cleanup
• graphics-adapter preference

Set It Once, Then Launch Normally

After a game has a profile assigned, you do not have to launch it through CorePin. Start the game from its usual launcher, a desktop shortcut, the Start menu, or another normal launch method.

The lightweight CorePin service watches for the configured game process, applies the saved settings when it starts, and restores temporary changes after it exits. The CorePin UI does not need to remain open while you play.

Works With AMD and Windows Scheduling

Modern AMD X3D systems already have chipset and Windows mechanisms that can steer recognized games toward preferred CPU cores. CorePin can cooperate with that behavior instead of simply replacing it.

With AMD/Windows when active, CorePin checks whether AMD and Windows are placing the game as expected:

• If the expected placement is active, CorePin leaves AMD and Windows in control.
• If the game is not recognized or the expected placement does not engage, CorePin falls back to the CPU profile you selected.
• You can choose to always leave placement to AMD and Windows.
• You can instead choose to always have CorePin manage a game's placement.

This is especially useful on dual-CCD Ryzen and X3D systems, where the best placement strategy can depend heavily on the game. CorePin is also useful on Intel hybrid systems, simulator and VR rigs, PCs with significant background workloads, and games sensitive to frame-time consistency.

Game Library

CorePin can discover installed games from:

Steam | Xbox app and Microsoft Store | Epic Games Store | GOG Galaxy | EA app | Ubisoft Connect | Battle.net | Amazon Games App | Meta PC VR

Portable, standalone, or unsupported games and applications can be added manually by selecting their executable.

The library associates games with their CorePin settings. It does not replace your existing game launcher.

Measure Real Gameplay

Optimization without measurement can easily turn into guesswork. CorePin can record a single game session and analyze what actually happened while you were playing.

A CPU profile is optional for recording, making it easy to establish a normal Windows-managed baseline before comparing it with a CorePin-managed run.

After the game exits, CorePin builds a clear session diagnosis from the measurements available on the system. Reports can include:

• average FPS, 1% lows, and 0.1% lows
• frame time, frame pacing, and latency-related measurements
• CPU utilization, effective clock speed, and observed game affinity
• GPU utilization, clocks, and memory
• system and process memory pressure
• storage activity
• GPU temperature, power, and fan speed when the hardware exposes them

Analyze the Part That Matters

Gameplay is rarely perfectly repeatable. Drag across the performance charts to select a representative portion of a recorded session. CorePin recalculates the statistics and diagnosis for that range, allowing you to exclude loading screens, menus, cutscenes, or other sections that would distort the result.

CorePin also records logical CPU activity and observed game affinity, making it easier to confirm whether the intended core-placement strategy was actually used.

Compare Against a Baseline

Set a representative run as your baseline and compare one candidate run against it. CorePin can show changes in average FPS, 1% and 0.1% lows, frame pacing, CPU and GPU behavior, memory usage, and storage behavior.

This helps answer questions such as:

• Did forcing this game onto the V-Cache CCD actually help?
• Did disabling SMT improve slow frames or only reduce average performance?
• Did isolating background workloads improve frame pacing?
• Did a driver, BIOS, cooling, Windows, or power-plan change make a measurable difference?

See Performance Profiling for the complete recording and comparison workflow.

Benchmark Your PC

CorePin also includes a repeatable gaming-style benchmark. System Benchmark measures the PC as it is currently configured. It does not assign a game CPU profile and does not require the CorePin service.

• Quick Benchmark measures CPU simulation and DirectX 12 graphics.
• Full Benchmark adds DirectX 11 and ray-traced shadows when supported.
• Demo Mode runs the animated scene without measuring or saving a score.

Completed results remain in local history. Mark a representative result as a baseline and compare later runs after changes such as:

• BIOS or CPU tuning
• memory settings
• graphics drivers
• cooling or power configuration
• Windows updates
• hardware upgrades

The benchmark is a repeatable comparison workload, not a prediction of FPS in a particular game.

See System Benchmark for testing guidance and score explanations.

Quick Start

CorePin currently targets 64-bit Windows 10 and Windows 11.

1. Download the latest CorePin release.
2. Extract the complete archive to a normal local folder.
3. Run CorePin.UI.exe.
4. Approve the first-run administrator prompts. CorePin creates its power plans, installs the service, and starts it automatically.
5. Confirm that Service shows Running and Versions match.
6. Open Core Pin Profiles and review the profiles detected for your CPU.
7. Open Game Library and refresh your installed libraries, or add a custom executable.
8. Open a game's menu, select Edit profile, and choose its settings.
9. Launch the game normally.

Administrator approval is required for operations that install, start, stop, update, or remove the Windows service and for managing CorePin-owned power plans. Normal profile and library editing does not require the UI to run as administrator.

To undo CorePin's system-level changes later, open Service and select Remove CorePin system changes.... This removes the service and CorePin-created power plans without deleting your library, CPU profiles, or performance reports.

Local by Design

CorePin is a local Windows utility. It does not require:

• a CorePin account
• a cloud backend or remote management service
• an inbound network connection
• a web server or remote-control API
• product-usage telemetry collection

The Windows service is used locally to detect configured games and apply their saved affinity, scheduling, priority, power, and background-optimization behavior.

CorePin stores its runtime configuration and local data under:

C:\ProgramData\CorePin

Some UI convenience features make outbound HTTPS requests, including release checks, game artwork downloads, and provider metadata used by certain library scanners.

See Security for the complete trust model, service capabilities, network behavior, local data, and elevation requirements.

Preview builds may trigger Windows SmartScreen because public binaries are not currently code-signed. Release packages include checksums so downloaded files can be verified.

What to Expect

There is no single best CPU profile for every game, or necessarily for two PCs with the same processor. CorePin's generated profiles are useful starting points, not guaranteed recommendations.

A good configuration may improve frame pacing, slow-frame performance, average FPS, temperatures, fan noise, or background interference. Not every useful change appears as a higher FPS number.

More cores, higher priority, stronger isolation, or a different power plan are not automatically better. A poorly matched configuration can reduce performance or introduce stutter, while a game already limited by the graphics card may show little change from CPU scheduling adjustments.

Results can also vary with game and driver updates, Windows updates, temperatures, background applications, overlays, anti-cheat software, launchers, and the gameplay scene being tested.

For meaningful comparisons:

1. Compare similar gameplay sections.
2. Change one major setting at a time.
3. Run each configuration more than once.
4. Treat small differences cautiously.
5. Consider frame pacing and slow-frame metrics alongside average FPS.

CorePin provides the controls and measurements needed to experiment; it does not assume every system needs the same optimization. Missing hardware measurements are shown as unavailable rather than being treated as zero.

Documentation

Document	What You Will Find
User Guide	Installation, CPU profiles, game libraries, service settings, and everyday use.
Performance Profiling	Session recording, charts, analysis ranges, metrics, and run comparison.
System Benchmark	Quick, Full, and Demo modes, benchmark scores, history, and baselines.
Troubleshooting	Service, game matching, profiling, hardware measurement, and recovery help.
Security	Local trust model, elevation, Windows service behavior, data, and network activity.
Documentation Index	Complete user, developer, and release documentation.

Project Status and Support

CorePin began as a personal utility and remains a personal, spare-time project. It is shared freely because it may be useful to other PC gamers and enthusiasts, but it is not a commercial product or a supported service.

There is no guaranteed support response time, release schedule, compatibility update, feature delivery, or bug-fix timeline. Issues, questions, ideas, and pull requests are welcome and may be reviewed when time and interest allow.

For a useful bug report, include the CorePin and Windows versions, CPU and GPU models, affected game, clear reproduction steps, and relevant screenshots, performance data, or logs. Please check the User Guide and Troubleshooting first when possible.

License

CorePin is free and source-available. It may be used, copied, forked, modified, built, and run for personal, hobby, educational, research, and internal business use.

Commercial resale, paid redistribution, paid hosting, paid bundling, or rebranding CorePin as a commercial product is not permitted without prior written permission. See LICENSE for the complete terms.

CorePin also contains third-party components and assets distributed under their respective licenses. See Third-Party Notices for attribution and licensing details.