Frames Per Second: 10 Ways to Boost FPS Windows 10 2022 Updated Partition Magic. How to get better frames per second

Most PC games allow you to change various graphics options; exact choices will depend on the game. As a general rule, the more visual effects you turn on to improve visuals, the lower the frame rate will be.

Understanding and Optimizing Video Game Frame Rates

Former Lifewire writer Michael Klappenbach is a computer scientist and expert on games and gaming hardware.

Kayla Dube has over 4 years of filming and filming experience. He often collaborates in production with independent film studios.

One of the most common benchmarks used to measure the graphics performance of a video game is the frame rate or frame rate. The frame rate in a video game reflects the refresh rate of the image displayed on the screen to produce the image and simulate motion / motion. Frame rate is most often measured in frames per second or FPS (not to be confused with first person shooters).

Many factors affect the frame rate, but as with many things in technology, the higher or faster something is, the better. Low frame rates in video games will cause a number of problems that can occur at the most inopportune times. Examples of what can occur at low FPS are unstable or uneven motion during action sequences that require a lot of motion / animation; Frozen screens that make it difficult to interact with the game and a lot of others.

The following FAQs about frames per second answer some basic questions about frames per second in video games, how to measure frames per second, and various tweaks and tools that you can use to improve your frame rate and overall graphics performance.

What Determines the Frame Rate or Frames per Second of a Video Game?

Many factors affect the frame rate or frames per second (FPS) of a game. Areas that can affect the FPS / FPS in the game include:

• System hardware such as graphics card, motherboard, processor, and memory.
• Graphics and resolution settings in the game.
• How well the game code is optimized and developed for graphics performance.

In this article, we will focus on the first two points as the last one is beyond our hands as we are relying on the game developer to write optimized code for graphics and performance.

The biggest factor affecting FPS or FPS performance in a game is the graphics card and CPU. Simply put, a computer’s processor sends information or instructions from programs, applications, in this case a game, to the graphics card. The graphics card, in turn, will process the instructions it receives, render the image and send it to the monitor for display.

There is a direct relationship between the CPU and the GPU, and the performance of the graphics card depends on the CPU and vice versa. If your CPU is too low-powered, it doesn’t make sense to upgrade to the latest and greatest graphics card if it can’t use up all the computing power.

There is no general rule for which GPU / CPU combination is the best, but if your CPU was an intermediate or less advanced CPU 18-24 months ago, there’s a good chance it’s already at the lowest minimum system requirement level. In fact, a significant amount of hardware on your PC is likely to be surpassed by new and better hardware within 0-3 months of purchase. The key is to find the right balance with the game’s graphics and resolution settings.

Regardless of your configuration, you can squeeze extra fps (frames per second) out of your computer. Of course, if you’ve just bought the latest shooter, MMO or racing game and found it completely unplayable even after trying all these tricks, you may need to upgrade your components or invest in better equipment.

What Does FPS Mean in Games?

FPS, short for Frames Per Second, stands for frame rate (or frame rate) and is also expressed in hertz (Hz). It refers to the frequency with which consecutive images (frames.

Specifically, the FPS in games indicates how many frames your graphics card renders and the monitor displays per second. For example, 1 FPS means you can only see one image per second.

FPS depends on the computing power of the graphics card and the refresh rate of the monitor and it is not a stable value. Instead, it will always change, no matter how powerful the system you use or how great the game you play. But the fluctuations will be less noticeable if you get a higher FPS.

To check the current FPS on your computer, go to Settings> System> Display and click Advanced Display Settings. FPS is displayed here as Refresh Rate (Hz).

Why Is My FPS So Low?

As a game lover, you may have paid a lot of attention to in-game FPS for a better visual and gaming experience. But sometimes the FPS can oscillate to a rather low level.

You may ask: why is my FPS so low?

Many people mistakenly believe that low FPS is due to network problems, but that’s not true. As mentioned earlier, low FPS is actually related to both game and PC performance, which is fundamentally different from gaming lag caused by network issues.

If your game is lagging and you have a high ping, there may be some problems with the game servers or network issues between your computer and the servers. But if you have a low frame rate, the reasons are different:

• The graphics card is out of date.
• You are running out of RAM and CPU resources.
• Multiple applications or processes run in the background.
• There were some problems with the hard drive.
• …

Modern versions of Windows do this automatically, so you don’t need to do manual defragmentation. However, you can adjust the schedule if you want. And if you’re using a hard drive, swap it with an SSD as soon as possible to boost your gaming performance.

Quick and Dirty: Use Steam’s Built-In FPS Counter

If you’re launching a game on Steam, even if it’s a game you didn’t purchase on Steam, you can use the framerate counter in the launcher to measure performance. On Steam, go to Settings> In Game> In-Game FPS. Select a location from the menu to turn it on.

The next time you start the game, you’ll see the FPS displayed in the corner with dark gray text (you can check the High Contrast Color box to display it in more legible text).

This option is easy to enable, but it’s fairly simple – there’s no shortcut to turn it on and off in-game, and you don’t have the option to show any other stats that third-party tools might offer. But for something quick and discreet, it’s the perfect solution.

Ubisoft Connect has an FPS counter toggle in Settings> General. Other game launchers such as Epic Games, GOG Galaxy, and EA Play may have a similar function.

For More Detailed Info: Install MSI Afterburner

Sometimes monitoring the frame rate isn’t enough. Other hardware stats can show if a component is depleting. For example, if your CPU is always 100% in the game while your GPU is running at 40%, for example, it is better to spend the money upgrading to a new CPU. Or maybe CPU and GPU usage is fine when VRAM utilization is at maximum, which would indicate texture resolution is set too high for smooth performance.

To see these other stats, I like to use a tool called MSI Afterburner. Technically, its main purpose is overclocking your graphics card, but it also provides an incredibly detailed, customizable overlay with more stats than you could shake. And it works with any graphics card, not only made by MSI.

Install MSI Afterburner, making sure you include the RivaTuner Statistics Server application (which is required for displaying performance information). Open the afterburner settings and go to the Monitoring tab. You will see a huge list of metrics you can view including FPS, GPU Usage, Memory Usage, CPU Usage, Fan Speed, and more.

Browse the list and click the check mark next to any statistic you want to monitor, then select it and check the Show on screen box below the list. After doing so, for each stat you want to monitor, click the Screen Display tab and assign a shortcut to toggle the screen display.

When you are done, click OK and run the game of your choice. Press the keyboard shortcut selected in the settings and you should see a screen in the corner of your monitor full of juicy statistics on your computer’s performance.

The graphics card is the first place to start. You can find advice on buying a graphics card – and here are our tips for installing a new graphics card. You can also get frame rate increases if you install a faster processor or more RAM.

How to Fix Low Game FPS With Windows Tweaks

Now that you’ve followed the basic steps to fix low FPS on your PC, let’s take a look at some Windows settings you can adjust to improve your gaming performance.

4. Adjust Power Options

Windows Power Options allow you to change settings related to the power consumption of your device. In the default plan, Windows tries to balance power consumption with performance. Sometimes, especially on laptops, this can lead to a drop in gaming performance.

It’s a good idea to switch to a high-performance plan. To do this, go to Settings> System> Power & Sleep and click Additional Power Settings on the right. If you don’t see this link text, drag the Settings window horizontally until it appears. This will lead you to the Power Options section in the Control Panel.

Here, select Show additional plans if necessary, and then select High performance.

Remember that this will increase the power consumption of your computer. On a desktop computer, this is not a problem aside from a slightly higher energy bill. But laptops will have poorer battery life, so make sure your system is plugged in.

5. Turn Off Visual Effects in Windows

By default, Windows uses a lot of fancy visuals in the operating system. They make menus and other common items look smoothed, but also consume some resources.

Since every part of the performance helps while gaming, you may want to disable these effects. You probably won’t get much benefit from this unless you’re running a weaker computer, but it’s still worth a try.

To turn off visual effects in Windows, type performance in the Start menu and select Adjust Windows Appearance and Performance. On the resulting Visual Effects tab in the menu, you’ll see a list of visual features that you can turn on or off.

Click the Customize button for best performance to turn off all these effects, then click OK. It will take a while for Windows to turn it off. When you do this, the interface won’t look as neat, but you won’t notice it anyway when you play the game.

6. Disable the Game Bar and Background Recording

Windows 10 and 11 include a Game Bar feature that lets you record game clips, take screenshots, and even stream your gameplay. While this is useful in some situations, it can also negatively affect game performance.

If you don’t want to use this feature for something, you should turn it off to avoid potential disruptions. Go to Settings> Games> Xbox Game Bar and turn off the Turn on Xbox Game Bar slider at the top to prevent it from running.

After that, you should go to the Capture tab and make sure that the Record in the background while I’m playing a game toggle is turned off. This is another gaming feature in Windows that makes it easier to capture important moments but consumes system resources that are better geared to graphics performance.

7. Enable Game Mode in Windows

Also in the Games section of Settings, go to the Game Mode tab. Confirm here that you have the slider turned on.

Microsoft’s vague explanation of this feature says that in Game Mode, Windows “prioritizes the gaming experience” because “it helps achieve a more stable FPS depending on the specific game and system.” It also prevents Windows Update from interfering with the game.

Fix Low FPS With In-Game Options

Then we move on to the settings that can be changed in most games that can solve the problem of low FPS.

8. Change the Game’s Graphical Settings

Most PC games allow you to change various graphics options; exact choices will depend on the game. As a general rule, the more visual effects you turn on to improve visuals, the lower the frame rate will be.

To improve overall, try lowering the Graphics Quality slider as less graphics intensive will help the game run better. For example, going from Epic or Ultra graphics quality to high should help a lot.

You can also turn off individual visual effects, such as reflections and fog. While these can make the game look nice, they are a load on the GPU. To increase FPS even further, turn off these additional options.

Also, keep an eye out for options that allow you to limit the frame rate. They can be useful if your GPU is sending more frames than your monitor can keep up, but obviously limiting FPS can result in low FPS. If you have a 144Hz monitor, you don’t want to limit the game to 60fps.

If you’re really having trouble running your game smoothly, consider lowering the resolution. For example, changing from 1920×1080 (1080p) to 1080×720 (720p) will have a positive FPS effect. And for games where performance counts more than appearance (like competitive online games), this is a fair trade-off.

9. Use Fullscreen Mode

Most games will allow you to play in full screen, windowed, or borderless windowed mode. Select full screen for maximum performance.

This is because applications and games running in this mode have full control of the screen output. While a borderless window may be more convenient, the game does not enjoy display-exclusivity in this mode and therefore may drop to a lower frame rate.

10. Repair or Reinstall the Game

If you only have FPS issues in one game, corrupt files could be the cause of the problem.

Some games may have a Repair option (on Steam you’ll find it by right-clicking it, selecting Properties> Local Files and selecting Check Game File Integrity) that may fix this.

Otherwise, try uninstalling and reinstalling the game to see if it improves performance.

Tip: If that doesn’t help you free up a lot of disk space, you can find large files that you no longer need and delete them.

4. Overclock your hardware

This isn’t something we recommend to everyone, unless you know what you are doing and understand that you may be risking damaging your graphics card, CPU, RAM, or actually your entire computer.

The first thing you should overclock is your graphics card. Most video card drivers allow you to overclock your video card, so this is the recommended method, although you may need to find third-party software if your drivers don’t include overclocking options.

(R9 280X gains an extra 10fps thanks to OC. Image courtesy of Techpowerup)

You can also overclock your CPU and RAM. It’s much easier if you can just find the overclocking settings in your computer’s BIOS. However, overclocking your graphics card will provide the greatest frame rate gain.

5. Use PC optimization software

Many programs run in the background of your computer and can use up your memory and CPU power. There are many PC optimization tools out there to remove these unnecessary processes that could ruin your game performance.

Windows includes a few built-in optimization tools, but there are many others, such as the Razer Game Booster, that can do a lot of the hard work for you.

You can also take a look at this “Autoruns” tool to identify and manually manage the processes that run automatically on your Windows PC, including many services and items not listed on the “Startup” tab of the Task Manager.

The frame rate will vary depending on what is happening on the screen. When there’s a lot of action, it can drop significantly, so try to set your graphics settings where the game will run acceptable when that happens.

More Tips For Boosting FPS

Here are some other tips for boosting FPS in PC games:

Close background applications: Only enough CPU, GPU, and disk resources are available. If background apps are using resources, fewer resources are available for the game you’re playing, which means lower FPS. Close background applications – especially resource-intensive ones – while playing a game. You can check which applications are using a noticeable amount of system resources from the Task Manager if you want.

Connect Laptop: Connect your laptop while playing games. Windows usually throttles your hardware and makes it run slower on battery to conserve power, so plugging in can greatly improve FPS.

Avoid Recording Your Gameplay: If your PC is set to automatically record your gameplay using a feature like Game DVR in Windows 10 or NVIDIA ShadowPlay, it will reduce the FPS. Turn off any gameplay recording features and you’ll see a higher frame rate.

Try Game Mode: Windows 10 has a “Game Mode” that automatically de-prioritizes background tasks and allocates more resources to your games when you play them. To enable game mode for a single game, press Windows + G to open the in-game game bar, and click the “Game Mode” icon to the right of the Game Bar that appears. We haven’t seen huge improvements to this feature, but it’s worth a try. Based on our testing, we do not recommend using most third-party game booster tools.

Pump Up Your Hardware: If you want your existing hardware to run faster, you can overclock it. You can overclock the GPU and CPU, although GPU overclocking will be more important for FPS in most games. Remember that overclocking makes your computer use more power and run hotter, which can damage your hardware or just make your system unstable when overclocked.

Restart the computer: If your computer is unusually slow and the frame rate is lower than normal for no particular reason, try restarting your computer. Restarting your computer can solve all sorts of problems.

Upgrade your hardware: If you’re not satisfied with your game’s FPS, even after following all of the other tips, you can always improve it by purchasing and installing a faster GPU – or simply by purchasing a new PC with more powerful hardware. Depending on the game and your computer hardware, a faster processor or more RAM may also help.

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Chris Hoffman is the editor-in-chief of How-To Geek. He has been writing about technology for over a decade, and for two years he was a columnist for PCWorld. Chris has written for The New York Times, has been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations such as NBC 6 in Miami, and his work has been covered by news sites such as the BBC. As of 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read nearly a billion times – and it is right here at How-To Geek.
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Click the Customize button for best performance to turn off all these effects, then click OK. It will take a while for Windows to turn it off. When you do this, the interface won’t look as neat, but you won’t notice it anyway when you play the game.

Overclock your hardware

It’s not something we recommend to everyone, but if you know what you are doing and understand that there is a risk of damaging your graphics card, CPU, and RAM, you can run them faster. That should give you a few extra fps.

Your first connection port should be your graphics card as this has the most direct effect on fps. You can find the GPU overclock option in the driver itself (launch the interface from the corresponding icon in the Windows notification area). Alternatively, you may need to track down third-party software.

Overclocking your CPU and RAM is easier since you should find the settings in your computer’s BIOS. Just reboot, hit Delete (or any key that will take you to BIOS) and look for performance settings.

Use optimisation software

Many programs run in the background in Windows and consume resources including memory and CPU time. You can use computer optimization tools to make sure that no unnecessary processes are running that could slow down the game’s performance. You can also clean up temporary files and defragment your hard drive (don’t do this on an SSD).

Windows includes some optimization tools, but you can also try Razer Cortex, which does a lot of the hard work for you and is compatible with Windows 7, 8, and 10.

If you have Windows 10, be sure to install the Creators Update, released April 2017. This includes a Game Mode feature that prioritizes PC resources in any game you play by delegating background tasks to specific CPU cores for overall performance boost.

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