Have you ever been told to open Core Isolation and disable Memory Integrity? It’s a widely talked-about way of reclaiming lost frames and genuinely sounds like the ultimate free upgrade. I was just about to follow this recommendation when I paused and dug a bit deeper. What started as a search for a few extra frames quickly turned into a lesson in Windows security. Disabling this feature may involve trading foundational kernel security for benefits that wouldn’t be evident on your system.

The FPS gain is real, but rare

Why older advice about disabling it no longer holds up

Before I explore the security implications, I should share what it felt like with Memory Integrity enabled and later disabled. The difference barely registers. Sometimes you notice a frame or two, and in other games, nothing at all. I found this surprising for a widely recommended tweak.

I tested Counter-Strike 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and Valorant — an even mix of a Twitch shooter, a GPU-heavy single-player game, and a title that runs kernel-level anti-cheat.

The recommendation became common during Windows 11’s early years, when many new PCs shipped with Memory Integrity enabled by default. On older computers, this feature cost frames, and it was sometimes noticeable. Most advice came from that experience but is largely outdated with modern hardware.

For the larger part, the MBEC (Mode-Based Execution Control) is a major reason performance varies. Microsoft itself has attributed this performance jump to a hardware generation:

For older processors, the check is implemented via software, and this is where you see performance dips, which will typically show up during driver calls, audio processing, anti-cheat checks, and other kernel transitions. Single-player GPU-bound games wouldn’t feel it because it doesn’t show up in ordinary frame rendering.

Judging from my frame counter, it felt like nothing was actually at stake. However, Windows insists on running Memory Integrity in the background, and I needed to know why.

What Memory Integrity does

Why modern anti-cheat now depends on it

Memory Integrity is the user-facing name for HVCI (Hypervisor-protected Code Integrity). It’s a locked room that the hypervisor builds to inspect every kernel-mode component before it runs. This way, the only things that ever get to touch the kernel are signed and verified first. You may see Memory Integrity and HVCI used separately, but they are the same feature. However, don’t mistake either for Secure Boot or TPM.

Secure Boot checks what is allowed to load when a computer is turned on, while TPM stores and protects cryptographic keys. Memory Integrity begins after those stages and, while the system is running, continuously monitors drivers and kernel-mode processes.

It’s more common to see anti-cheat systems that require Secure Boot and TPM 2.0, but some still recommend or benefit from enabling Memory Integrity because they integrate with Windows security features.

However, BYOVD, an attack that predates most of these games, is the reason all of these exist.​​​​​​​

The protection you’d be switching off

BYOVD attacks are exactly why this exists

BYOVD means Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver. Rather than writing malicious kernel code from scratch, an attacker finds an old but legitimately signed driver that has a known flaw. They install this driver and run their own code inside the kernel using the flaw. That level of kernel access usually allows attackers to evade antivirus checks. The entire job of Memory Integrity is to cut off that attack surface. In this kernel-level attack, the attacker doesn’t need an active connection; a single file on your drive will suffice.

This risk is a problem associated with what you are willing to install rather than where you actually buy your games. You have less exposure when everything on your computer comes from a trusted source. The risk is heightened the moment you get involved with cracked launchers, third-party cheat engines, or random “free trainer” downloads.​​​​​​​

Fixes that don’t cost you kernel protection

My real bottleneck was an old audio interface driver and a leftover RGB utility. These were two drivers that Windows Security had flagged; they weren’t related to Memory Integrity. Updating them was more useful for my frame rate than disabling Memory Integrity. You should look through the driver warnings in Core Isolation, as they often point to which drivers are problematic. Now, I follow a different set of recommendations:​​​​​​​

Several settings — DLSS, FSR, XeSS, Game Mode, and HAGS — don’t touch the kernel and are often better places to look to avoid security trade-offs.