5 Effective Ways to Increase FPS and Improve Gaming Performance
There is nothing worse than trying to play your favorite video games and struggling to get the FPS that allows you to play the game smoothly and without any jitters, lags, or stutters.
Most likely your machine is old and you are trying to keep it working until you can buy or build a new gaming PC.
And why not.. Maybe you also have a computer with leading technical specifications and a modern graphics card but - for some reason - it provides a lower than expected frame rate with games.
Anyway, in this article we will review with you a set of effective and proven methods to increase the number of frames per second (FPS) when playing your favorite games, whether you are using an old or new desktop/laptop computer.
Method 1: Connect the battery charger to the laptop
Many people use their laptop to play their favorite games from time to time in addition to their other work, but there is a fact that says that not connecting the battery charger to the laptop while playing games leads to a significant reduction in the frame rate.
This makes sense to some extent. Windows sets performance settings for when your laptop is plugged in and out of the charger, so when the charger is not connected, the device's performance is reduced to ensure you get the most out of your battery and make it last longer.
While when connected, the maximum performance that can be achieved from the hardware components such as the processor, graphics card, RAM, hard disk, etc. is consumed, it will work more efficiently because there is direct power and not only relying on the amount of power in the battery.
That’s why you’ll get more frames when you connect your laptop’s battery charger while gaming. Just try this method and you’ll definitely feel a huge difference in performance.
Read also: The best programs to test the laptop battery and test its efficiency
Second method: Reduce the game's graphics settings
Most video game lovers prefer using desktop computers because of their powerful capabilities and they provide a much better gaming experience than laptops. But if the experience is not like that for you and you get a really low FPS rate in a game, one of the easiest and quickest solutions you can do is to simply go into the graphics settings of the game and then reduce the graphics level.
You can either do this automatically, as some games have an option to lower the graphics to Medium or Low. Or manually by going to each setting in the menu and adjusting it to a lower level than it is to turn all settings to the lowest possible level. Things like Shadows, Texture, Anti-Aliasing, etc. greatly affect the frame rate, and if they are turned off or reduced to suit the capabilities of the graphics card, you can play the game smoothly but at the cost of sacrificing quality.
But if you have lowered the graphics settings to the maximum possible and the frame rate is still the same or slightly higher than you expected, the next option is to lower the resolution of the game you are playing. Games consist of thousands of images displayed on the screen in rapid succession.
The job of your graphics card is to process each of these images (frames) so that the display can receive them. The higher the resolution, the more pixels there are in each image, the faster the graphics card's processor will be able to produce this image, which can sometimes cause slowness. So when you lower the resolution in the game you are playing, you will reduce the number of pixels in each frame, which reduces the workload on the graphics card, allowing it to produce frames at a higher rate.
To do this, all you have to do is go to the game's graphics settings control screen, and there you will find a setting called Video Mode, Display Resolution, or Screen Scale, so reduce it. Then click on the Apply button, and when the confirmation window appears, click on the Keep Changes button. This option will help you increase the FPS effectively, but also with the sacrifice of quality, which will be weak and will not highlight many details in the game.
See also: How to force programs to use the external graphics card in Windows 10
Method 3: Update the graphics card driver
Your problem may not be that your device is old and can’t provide a higher frame rate, you’ve just lowered the graphics settings for the game and are still getting lower frames. In this case, you may need to check if your graphics card driver is up to date, and if not, you need to update it immediately as this can help improve gaming performance significantly, too. The task is very easy, just find the graphics card model used in your device (in case you don’t already know it) and then go to the manufacturer’s official website and download the latest available version of the driver for Windows.
To make it easier for you, we have previously reviewed in topics on the Computer Shot blog the correct methods for updating the Nvidia graphics card driver , updating the Intel graphics card driver , and updating the AMD graphics card driver . The method should not be difficult even if you are a novice computer user. Once you have finished updating the graphics card driver to the latest version, try running the game again. No improvement yet? Well, we have more methods, so follow the next lines.
Method 4: Overclocking the graphics card and central processor
As a last resort for some users who have an old graphics card, or a solution for any game that just wants to get higher frames while playing it, one way you can increase the frame rate is to overclock your hardware resources. You can start by overclocking your graphics card first as it is an important part of gaming performance and we have previously explained how to do this using MSI Afterburner.
Watch this topic: The correct steps to overclock the graphics card
Although it is a simple task, it is also a dangerous one and any mistake could damage your graphics card. Generally, doing this should result in more frames than usual in the game you are trying to play, which may help you postpone upgrading to a new graphics card for a while longer. You can also overclock your processor and RAM, which are important components that contribute to gaming performance.
Method 5: Upgrade the device's internal hardware
If none of the above methods work for you to increase the frame rate in games, it is likely that your computer is not able to provide acceptable performance for this game - often because it is new and therefore its capabilities are not compatible with the requirements to run the game at the lowest level.
If so, the best option is to buy a new graphics card or upgrade your computer as a whole in terms of motherboard, processor, graphics card, RAM and hard drive. If you have a modern computer but it does not have an external graphics card, you should buy one if you really want to enjoy a better gaming experience.
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But if your machine is old or you have a laptop that you can't upgrade, the best solution might be to buy a whole new computer. You can assemble it yourself according to your budget, but keep in mind that the top-of-the-line technical specifications you need to run the latest games are usually expensive.
Share with us in the comments below the methods you use to improve gaming performance so we can enhance the content of the article for the benefit of all...