The most reliable way to increase FPS without buying new hardware is to identify the bottleneck first, then change the settings that affect it. A GPU-limited game benefits from lower resolution, ray tracing, shadows, volumetrics, or upscaling. A CPU-limited game needs lower crowd density, view distance, or simulation settings. Stutter and sudden performance drops may instead require shader, memory, storage, background-process, or thermal fixes.
This guide covers average FPS, 1% lows, frame pacing, input latency, and frame generation separately. They are related, but improving one does not automatically improve the others.
Measure performance before changing anything
Do not begin with registry tweaks, “FPS booster” utilities, or a long list of settings. First establish what is actually going wrong.
- Use the same game, resolution, graphics preset, and test route each time.
- Test in the area where performance is poor, such as a city, battle, or streaming-heavy section—not only at the title screen.
- Record average FPS, 1% lows, frame times, GPU utilization, CPU utilization by core if possible, RAM and VRAM usage, temperatures, and clock speeds.
- Change one setting at a time and repeat the same test.
FPS measures frames rendered or displayed per second. Frame time often explains smoothness more clearly: 60 FPS is about 16.7 milliseconds per frame, 120 FPS is 8.3 ms, 144 FPS is 6.9 ms, and 240 FPS is 4.2 ms. A high average can still feel uneven when frame times spike or 1% lows are poor.
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NVIDIA FrameView can record average and percentile FPS, frame-time-related metrics, power, and other measurements across supported Windows systems and GPUs. See the FrameView user guide.
| What you observe | Likely cause | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| GPU stays near 95–100% usage | GPU limit | Lower resolution, ray tracing, shadows, volumetrics, or reflections; enable upscaling |
| GPU usage is low while one or two CPU cores are saturated | CPU or main-thread limit | Lower crowds, view distance, physics, simulation, or background activity |
| FPS collapses in cities, battles, or busy scenes | CPU simulation or streaming limit | Reduce crowd, traffic, object distance, and simulation settings |
| Performance falls after several minutes | Thermal or power throttling | Check temperatures, clocks, fans, power mode, and airflow |
| Stutter occurs while entering new areas | Shader compilation, asset streaming, storage, or memory pressure | Allow shader compilation, check RAM/VRAM and storage, and verify files |
| FPS rises but controls do not feel more responsive | Frame generation or display-pipeline limitation | Compare native FPS, latency, frame times, and generated FPS separately |
Utilization percentages are clues, not absolute rules. A game can be CPU-limited while total CPU usage looks moderate if its main thread is saturated.
Apply the highest-impact in-game settings
Lower resolution or render scale
Reducing output resolution or internal render scale is usually the quickest way to improve FPS when the GPU is the bottleneck. Prefer the game’s render-scale control or a built-in upscaler where available, since reducing the monitor’s desktop resolution can make menus and text look soft.
Lowering resolution will do little for a CPU-limited game. If GPU usage is already low and one game thread is busy, reduce CPU-heavy settings instead.
Use DLSS, FSR, or XeSS
Game-integrated upscaling renders internally at a lower resolution and reconstructs the image at your selected output resolution. It can provide a better quality-to-performance balance than basic resolution scaling.
- Quality: The best starting point, with relatively good image quality and a modest performance gain.
- Balanced: More performance, with greater risk of softness or temporal artifacts.
- Performance: Useful at demanding resolutions, but image quality usually falls further.
- Ultra Performance: Generally a last resort intended for very high output resolutions.
Intel describes XeSS as a game-integrated super-sampling technology. Compatibility and image quality vary by game. Microsoft’s Automatic Super Resolution is a separate Windows 11 feature with narrower hardware and software requirements; it is not a universal replacement for DLSS, FSR, or XeSS.
Disable or reduce ray tracing
Ray tracing and path tracing can be among the most expensive settings in a game. If you need a substantial gain, disable them first. In some titles, reducing ray-traced reflections or global illumination preserves more visual quality than turning off every ray-traced effect.
Reduce shadows and volumetrics
Shadow quality, shadow distance, contact shadows, fog, clouds, reflections, and global illumination can consume considerable GPU time. Try reducing shadow quality by one or two levels, then reduce shadow distance or contact shadows. Next test volumetric fog and clouds, screen-space reflections, ambient occlusion, global illumination, and reflections.
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Change textures only when VRAM is a problem
Texture quality mainly affects VRAM capacity and image detail. If VRAM is not full, lowering textures may produce little average-FPS improvement. If VRAM is exhausted, reducing texture quality can reduce hitching and asset-streaming problems.
Anisotropic filtering is often a relatively inexpensive way to preserve texture clarity. AMD describes it as having a small performance cost in many 3D applications; see its graphics settings documentation.
Reduce CPU-heavy settings for CPU-limited games
When the processor or game’s main thread is limiting performance, lower:
- Crowd, NPC, traffic, or player density
- View, object, and foliage distance
- Physics and simulation quality
- Destruction and world-detail settings
- Multiplayer player-detail options
Lowering textures or resolution will not solve a CPU limit unless it also changes the game’s workload in a particular title.
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Use frame generation carefully
Frame generation inserts AI- or algorithmically generated frames between conventionally rendered frames. This can make motion appear smoother, but generated FPS is not equivalent to doubling the game’s native rendering performance.
Frame generation works best when the base frame rate is already stable and reasonably high. It does not fix a severe CPU bottleneck, shader-compilation stutter, simulation stalls, or poor frame pacing. It can also add latency and produce ghosting, UI artifacts, or image instability. Competitive players may prefer a lower but directly rendered frame rate when responsiveness matters most.
NVIDIA documents per-game and global configuration for supported DLSS frame-generation features through the NVIDIA App; multi-frame generation has separate requirements and controls. Availability depends on the GPU, game, driver, and software version. NVIDIA Smooth Motion is a separate feature with its own requirements, including listed compatibility with RTX 40- and RTX 50-series GPUs and compatible DirectX 11, DirectX 12, or Vulkan games.
Configure Windows for the game
Select the high-performance GPU
On laptops and hybrid-graphics systems, make sure Windows is assigning the game to the discrete GPU:
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- Open Settings > System > Display > Graphics.
- Add or select the game executable.
- Choose Options.
- Select High performance, save, and restart the game.
Microsoft documents this path in its guide to Windows 11 graphics and windowed-game optimizations.
Try Optimizations for windowed games
In Windows 11, Settings > System > Display > Graphics includes Optimizations for windowed games. Microsoft says it applies to compatible DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 games running windowed or borderless and can improve presentation latency, variable-refresh-rate compatibility, and features such as Auto HDR.
It is not a guaranteed average-FPS boost and does not apply universally to every API or game. Test it when borderless mode has poor frame pacing or latency.
Use Best performance when plugged in
On a plugged-in laptop or desktop, open Settings > System > Power & battery and choose Best performance if the option is available. This may help when power limits are restricting the CPU or GPU, especially on laptops.
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Close unnecessary background activity
Check Task Manager > Processes and Task Manager > Startup apps. Close or pause unnecessary browsers, launchers, cloud synchronization, RGB utilities, recording software, third-party overlays, virtual machines, development tools, antivirus scans, and Windows Update activity while testing.
Microsoft recommends reviewing startup applications and resource-heavy processes in its Windows performance guidance. Do not disable random Windows services or security features: the likely gain is small, while the risks include broken updates, networking, anti-cheat, and system protection.
Test Game Mode and hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling
Game Mode and hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling can help some systems and hurt others depending on the Windows build, driver, GPU, and game. Treat both as experiments, not universal FPS boosters. Record a baseline, change one setting, and repeat the same route.
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Set the display refresh rate and frame pacing
A 144 Hz monitor does not force a game to render at 144 FPS. Open Settings > System > Display > Advanced display and confirm that Windows is using the intended refresh rate. Variable refresh rate can make fluctuating FPS appear smoother when supported by the display and GPU.
Microsoft notes that Dynamic Refresh Rate has hardware requirements and can limit maximum refresh in some non-VRR situations. If a game appears to run at a lower refresh rate, test with DRR disabled using the instructions in Microsoft’s refresh-rate guidance.
VSync can reduce tearing but may add latency or affect frame pacing. An FPS cap can reduce heat, power use, and unnecessary rendering when FPS exceeds the display’s useful refresh rate. It is not automatically an FPS booster, although it may prevent thermal throttling and improve consistency. Test caps slightly below the display’s refresh rate when smoothness matters more than the highest possible counter reading.
Update drivers, shaders, and game files
Update or roll back the graphics driver
- Install the latest stable driver from NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, or the laptop manufacturer.
- Restart the PC.
- Test the affected game using the same route.
- If performance worsens, return to the previous known-good driver.
Drivers can improve one game while causing regressions in another. Laptop users should check whether the manufacturer’s driver is needed for hybrid graphics, display switching, or power management. Use a clean installation only when a normal update does not resolve a suspected corrupted installation or repeated driver conflict.
Allow shader compilation to finish
Shader compilation can cause first-launch stutter, hitching after a driver or game update, and pauses when entering new areas. Let the game complete its shader-compilation process where available.
Do not repeatedly delete shader caches as a generic FPS fix. Clearing a cache may help corrupted data, but the next launch can stutter while shaders are rebuilt. AMD explains that shader cache stores compiled shaders to reduce repeated compilation and CPU work in its shader-cache documentation.
Verify files and test without mods
If only one game is affected, use the launcher’s Verify, Repair, or Verify integrity command. Also check recent patches, reset corrupted graphics settings if necessary, temporarily remove mods, and disable overlays. Intel includes software updates and launcher repair or verification among its low-frame-rate troubleshooting steps.
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If a PC starts at 90 FPS and falls to 55 FPS after ten minutes, thermal or power throttling may be the problem rather than a lack of graphics settings.
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Monitor GPU and CPU temperatures, clock speeds, fan speeds, power limits, and the point at which performance declines. For laptops, connect the AC adapter and use the manufacturer’s performance profile while plugged in. For desktops, remove dust, improve case airflow, and check that fans and vents are unobstructed. Raising the rear edge of a laptop can help airflow, but never block its intake vents.
Thermal improvements can restore performance that the hardware is losing to heat. They cannot create performance beyond the system’s normal capability.
Consider Resizable BAR only if supported
Resizable BAR allows compatible systems to expose more of the GPU’s frame buffer over PCIe. Support depends on the GPU, motherboard, processor, firmware, and Windows driver model. It is not a software-only tweak and does not guarantee a fixed FPS gain.
Check the requirements from your motherboard and GPU manufacturers, record existing firmware settings, and enable it only when the platform officially supports it. Benefits vary by game; if instability appears, restore the previous setting. Microsoft documents the feature’s platform requirements in its Resizable BAR support documentation.
Keep a simple test record
Game:
Resolution:
Preset:
Upscaler:
Frame generation:
Average FPS:
1% low:
GPU utilization:
CPU main-thread utilization:
GPU temperature:
CPU temperature:
Change made:
Result:This prevents placebo improvements and makes it easier to reverse a change that introduces stutter, latency, heat, or visual problems.
What not to do
- Do not install utilities promising dramatic universal FPS gains.
- Do not permanently disable antivirus, Windows security, or random system services.
- Do not delete registry keys or system files without a verified purpose.
- Do not set a game to Realtime process priority.
- Do not delete shader caches before every gaming session.
- Do not download drivers from unofficial sites.
- Do not globally force maximum GPU performance without considering heat and power use.
- Do not assume total CPU percentage reveals a game’s main-thread limit.
- Do not treat generated FPS as equivalent to conventionally rendered FPS.
When software optimization has reached its limit
You may have reached the practical limit of the current PC when the GPU remains saturated even at reduced settings, the game’s main CPU thread is consistently limiting performance, available VRAM or RAM is insufficient, or temperatures remain constrained despite sensible cooling improvements.
Older hardware may see only modest gains from software changes. An SSD can improve loading and sometimes asset-streaming behavior, but it does not automatically raise average rendering FPS. More RAM helps when memory capacity is the bottleneck, not in every game. When the hardware is already the limiting factor, honest diagnosis is more useful than another registry tweak.
Quick Recap
The fastest troubleshooting order
- Decide whether the issue is low average FPS, poor 1% lows, stutter, latency, or sudden drops.
- Record a baseline in the problem area.
- Plug in the laptop and select the high-performance GPU.
- Reduce settings that match the bottleneck.
- Enable Quality upscaling.
- Try frame generation only after base FPS and frame pacing are acceptable.
- Close unnecessary overlays and background tasks.
- Update or roll back the graphics driver.
- Check temperatures, clocks, power limits, and airflow.
- Allow shader compilation, verify files, and test without mods.
- Consider Resizable BAR only when officially supported.
- Keep the changes that improve measured performance without unacceptable image-quality, heat, or latency trade-offs.
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