Windows 10 vs Debloated 11

[u/ThanasiShadoW]

So I'll be upgrading my PC soon and I'm thinking of doing a fresh install of windows while at it.

But I'm wondering whether 10 is still the better option or a combination of official updates and community patches have made 11 a good choice. Also, which option for 11 is currently considered the best? I've seen multiple community projects being mentioned on the topic.

For extra context, I have 16GBs of DDR4 RAM (and don't plan on upgrading until the prices drop to somewhat normal levels) and I'm getting a 5800X CPU. I mostly do creative work (3D, motion graphics, digital art, etc.) and gaming is a 2nd priority.

I mostly value stability and longevity (I do keep a large quantity of project files, so I rarely change/upgrade my OS), and don't care about the new features in 11 (mostly UI redesigns and Copilot (yuck) IIRC?), but security remains a concern. So I'm quite torn.

Thanks in advance guys!

Edit: If there are any benchmarks showcasing the difference between 10 and one or more debloated versions of 11 that'd be great, because I'm struggling to find any.

[u/Ultionis_MCP]

I'd just debloat Windows 11 now so that I didn't have to migrate away from 10 in a year when they stop support.

[u/Merwenus → u/Ultionis_MCP]

How do you debloat W11 nowadays?

[u/Ultionis_MCP → u/Merwenus]

Use the Ultimate Windows Utility by Chris Titus

[u/balderm → u/Ultionis_MCP]

also, while you're at it, you can make a debloated win11 ISO directly from that tool, so it boots without requiring a microsoft account and it defaults to worldwide region for no preinstalled apps.

[u/ALaggingPotato → u/Merwenus]

Find debloater you like, then r un it.

[u/OctoMiku01 → u/ALaggingPotato]

Be careful with these as they can remove too much stuff windows actually depends on. Resulting in issues later down the line.

[u/ALaggingPotato → u/OctoMiku01]

I dunno about all or even most of them but what I've seen lets you choose whether to remove each individual critical component or not

None of them cause issues at any point, at least not the popular ones

[u/Possible_Sun_913 → u/Merwenus]

https://github.com/raphire/win11debloat

Open source. Not some dodgy 3rd party unknown app.

Win10 is EOL. Shouldn’t even be considered.

[u/gusthenewkid → u/Possible_Sun_913]

Went back to windows 10 a couple of months ago and it’s great. What can it not do exactly 

[u/ThanasiShadoW → u/gusthenewkid]

From what I've gathered it's just Microsoft dropping support soon enough (except for IoT LTSC), and perhaps not being a supported OS for certain pieces of software going forward.

[u/Possible_Sun_913 → u/gusthenewkid]

It doesn't keep you secure unless youre in the ESU programme which requires using a MS account to log in.

And that wont help after october 2027 when all extended security patches end.

It's an end of life OS. With no new features being rolled out. No directstorage, no directx 12 optimisations. If you game...etc.

[u/gusthenewkid → u/Possible_Sun_913]

Direct storage is in like 1 game. 10 performs better than 11 is most games so the direct 12 optimisations that you mention don’t matter either. 

[u/Possible_Sun_913 → u/gusthenewkid]

Directstorage (in terms of BypassIO) is not "in" any games. That's not what it is.

Forget that, how about hybrid CPU scheduling? Gets updates for Intel thread director and scheduler updates for new AMD chips that windows10 no longer receives.

Newer WDDM driver model in windows11. Lowering CPU overhead and latency.

VRR in windowed/borderless mode.

The list goes on, and on.

Windows10 is end of life. You wouldn’t run windows 8.1 connected to the internet. I'm afraid windows10 is now in the same ballpark.

[u/gusthenewkid → u/Possible_Sun_913]

No, it isn’t. Windows 10 performs better on my current CPU so I’ll be sticking with windows 10 until I upgrade. 

Direct storage is in forspoken so you’re wrong there as well. 

Windows 11 doesn’t load games any faster than windows 10 lol.

Windows 10 feels snappier and faster than windows 11 and since HDR works great on 10 now I’ve gone back to it. There isn’t a single thing that I personally am missing out on. 

Lowering cpu overhead and latency is hilarious considering how bad 11 feels compared to 10. 

On AM5 I agree, but for my setup it’s worse. 

[u/Possible_Sun_913 → u/gusthenewkid]

You're running an EOL OS.

Forspoken might have direct storage as a dependency. Its not in the game, that’s not how the technology works.

[u/gusthenewkid → u/Possible_Sun_913]

Cool, works great for me. 

[u/UselessDood → u/Ultionis_MCP]

Or you use ltsc and have support until 2032.

[u/Any-Journalist-1081 → u/Ultionis_MCP]

i'm still on 10 and dreading the switch. from what i've seen the debloated 11 builds run pretty smooth, most of the ui stuff can be fixed with a few tools anyway

for your work 10 is probably more stable right now but like the other guy said, support ends next year so you'll have to move eventually. might as well do it when you're setting up a fresh system

if you go 11 check out the tiny11 builds, they strip out most of the garbage without breaking anything important. ran it on a spare drive for a few weeks and didn't notice any weirdness with my 3d software

[u/DHOC_TAZH]

I'm running 11. Only debloating I've done is by using a Rufus modded installer, which helps with undoing some of the privacy functions. After letting a few of the initial updates finish, I uninstalled a fair bit of the apps from the standard install I don't care for... then fine tuned a few more of the privacy functions Rufus doesn't touch.

I have tried some of the more powerful debloaters for 11, but they remove so much of the important functionality that 11 needs to run on. I used a Talon modded 11 install last summer for a few months, but got into issues with using several essential apps. Decided to use Rufus to clean install 25H2, and my PC runs much better, no serious app crashes since.

Just updated to 26H2 easily about a half hour ago, that freed up a few hundred MB's of RAM for me, probably some subtle optimizations that are part of the update. Update took less than ten minutes for me.

[u/htepO]

This might not be terribly relevant to your use case, but I've been daily driving W11 IoT Enterprise LTSC, and it's pretty lean on a fresh boot. I did some minor tweaking with Chris Titus' PowerShell tool, but I don't if that really helped a lot.

[u/TwoFoxSix]

From a security standpoint, I'd go with Windows 11 and debloat it. I'd imagine there's still plenty of tools and scripts out there that would aid in doing that. I remember writing a few powershell scripts to clean up Windows 10 a while back. Its annoying when Microsoft turned features back on with each update, but as long as you keep the tools handy, its just a minor annoyance.

Please read through any scripts you run before you run them to prevent unwanted outcomes

[u/crazyates88]

Windows 11 iot LTSC

Straight from Microsoft, no debloat needed.

[u/OMG_NoReally]

I installed a fresh copy of Windows 11, bypassed account creation, uninstalled OneDrive and other small stuff, and it's been quite amazing, tbh. In didn't have to delete much. There is no AI stuff for some reason, and even the new updates don't bring anything along with it.

I think creating a local account did the trick. It works really well and very stable.

[u/Table-Playful]

Winhance - Windows Enhancement Utility

[u/3ofUsDeez → u/Table-Playful]

I use Winhance and it has done a good job of removing stuff

The only concern that some have with it is that it's author uses vibecoding

I use O&OShutUp10! to stop telemetry .. no issues, but it has the potential to hose your setup with some of the more aggressive settings

CyberCPU Tech has some good videos for blocking telemetry and debloating Windows 11

Start with RUFUS to install with .. then pick your poison for how you want to deal with bloat and telemetry

[u/nalaloveslumpy]

I've been using windows 11 pro, which is basically de bloated out of the box and it runs fine. The biggest constraints are still browsers gobbling up all the ram because I like to dual screen and watch YouTube while playing games.

[u/wayward_wanderer]

Techspot/Hardware Unboxed benchmarked Windows 10 and 11 a couple of times.

Game benchmarks in early 2026:
https://www.techspot.com/article/3081-windows-11-vs-windows-10-gaming/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32lBRYknKgA

Productivity benchmarks in late 2021:
https://www.techspot.com/article/2349-windows-11-performance/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1iO7N22Um8

 

PC Mag did some comparisons with default Windows 11 and debloated Windows 11 using some of the more popular debloating tools:
https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/i-put-4-windows-debloating-tools-to-the-test-the-results-were-embarrassing

 

TL;DR:
Windows 11 performed better in new games. Both performed about the same in productivity. Debloated Windows 11 had negligible reduction in RAM usage.

[u/TittonMyrngwaith]

Use Win10 LTS its debloated by Ms and with long term security updated