Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Fallout 4 on PC usually feels laggy for one of five reasons: the machine is below Bethesda’s listed requirements, the graphics settings or resolution are too demanding for the hardware, the graphics driver is outdated, background programs are competing for resources, or the game’s settings or display mode have drifted from a working state. Any of these can explain the problem, but none is guaranteed to be the cause on a given PC, so the first step is to work out which kind of “lag” you are seeing.
Work out which kind of lag you are seeing
“Lag” is used loosely. Bethesda’s own support pages separate a general performance problem from a case where the game world itself moves at the wrong speed, and the checks differ. Before changing anything, match your symptom to one of the rows below.
| What you notice | What it usually means | Where to look first |
|---|---|---|
| Low, steady frame rate across the whole game | The GPU or CPU cannot keep up with the chosen settings | Requirements, graphics settings, resolution, background apps |
| Frame rate that jumps or hitches periodically | Uneven frame delivery (stutter), often tied to load or background activity | Background apps, driver version, settings reset |
| Delayed response to mouse or keyboard input | Input delay, which is not the same thing as low frame rate | Retest with lower settings and a controlled setup; compare with the frame-rate checks |
| Characters, animation, or the world moving too fast or too slowly | A game-speed mismatch rather than a performance shortfall | Refresh-rate and game-speed guidance (see the separate section below) |
Bethesda’s support material does not establish that these symptoms share one technical cause, so treat the five reasons below as candidates to test in turn, not as a diagnosis.
The five possible reasons
1. The PC is below the listed requirements
Bethesda’s support page publishes minimum and recommended PC specifications. If your hardware falls short of the minimum, low frame rates are expected rather than a fault. The page lists these figures:
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| Component | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Operating system | 64-bit Windows 7/8/10 | 64-bit Windows 7/8/10 |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-2300 2.8 GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0 GHz (equivalent) | Intel Core i7-4790 3.6 GHz or AMD FX-9590 4.7 GHz (equivalent) |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
| Storage | 30 GB available | 30 GB available |
| GPU | NVIDIA GTX 550 Ti 2 GB or AMD Radeon HD 7870 2 GB (equivalent) | NVIDIA GTX 780 3 GB or AMD Radeon R9 290X 4 GB (equivalent) |
The support page reviewed for this article carries no publication date, and these are the game’s original listed specifications. They tell you whether a machine is in the supported range, not what frame rate it will reach on modern hardware. Use them as a floor, not a performance forecast, and do not infer a particular GPU purchase from them alone.
2. Graphics settings or resolution are too demanding
This is the most common reason a capable PC still runs poorly. Bethesda’s low-performance guidance recommends lowering graphics options, including resolution, until performance is acceptable. Not every option costs the same. NVIDIA’s older GeForce guide for Fallout 4, published in 2015, measured several settings in its own graphically intensive benchmark:
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- God Rays: the lowest setting cost about 6.5 FPS.
- Screen-space reflections: typically about 4–5 FPS, rising to about 9 FPS in the most detailed locations.
- Rain occlusion: a few frames per second during storms.
- Object-detail fade: a difference of about 1.6 FPS between its minimum and maximum detail levels.
These figures come from one vendor’s test rig and a 2015 build of the game, so read them as relative costs, not as the gains you will get. The practical lesson is that lowering one option can free more performance than another, and that the largest savings usually come from resolution and the handful of expensive effects rather than from every slider at once. Change one setting at a time and retest, so you know which change helped.
3. The GPU driver is outdated
Bethesda explicitly advises checking for the latest graphics-card driver and points to NVIDIA and AMD driver support pages. Download the driver only from the official page for your exact card, and confirm the version you installed afterward. A newer driver is worth testing, but updating does not guarantee a fix: if the card is already near its limit at your chosen settings, the driver will not change that. Bethesda’s separate guidance on abnormal game speed also names outdated video drivers as one possible factor, which is covered below.
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4. Background applications are competing for resources
Bethesda recommends closing running applications before playing. Browsers with many tabs, screen recorders, overlay tools, cloud-sync clients, and other background programs all draw on the same CPU, memory, and GPU. To test this, close everything except the game, play the same area for a few minutes, and compare the result with a session where those programs were running. If performance changes, you have found a contributor; if it does not, move on.
5. Settings or display mode have drifted from a working state
Bethesda’s guidance gives three steps for this case:
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- Restore the graphics options that the Fallout 4 launcher detects automatically. Bethesda’s French-language support page puts it this way: if you run into in-game performance problems, you should restore the graphics options automatically detected by the Fallout 4 launcher. Use the launcher’s own option for restoring detected defaults.
- If problems persist, reset the settings by deleting the Fallout 4 INI files that the support article names. This resets your custom configuration, so back up those files first if you have tuned them.
- Try borderless-windowed mode in the display settings. It changes how the game presents frames to the desktop, which can help on some systems, but it is not a universal fix.
Test after each step. If the first step fixes the problem, you do not need to delete any files.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.When the game world runs too fast or too slowly
Bethesda has a separate support article for the case where the graphics or your actions appear to move too fast or too slowly on PC. It identifies three possibilities: refresh-rate detection, outdated video drivers, and problems related to Creations (Bethesda’s mod and content platform). Its guidance is to keep default settings and use a 60 FPS cap. This article describes an abnormal game speed, which is different from ordinary low frame rate or stutter. Refresh rate is not presented as the cause of general lag, so do not assume it explains a slow frame rate.
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- HDR10 provides brighter highlights and nuanced shadow for added depth - making every scene feel more vivid and realistic
- The 180Hz refresh rate minimizes lag for gameplay with ultra-smooth action. Plus, the 1ms response time helps capture your moves in real-time, allowing you to react fast for gaming precision
- AMD FreeSync reduces choppiness, screen lag and image tearing, ensuring that your fast-paced, complex in-game action is stable with minimal stutter
- Ergonomic stand allows for tilt, pivot and height adjustments to maximize gaming comfort
Suggested order of troubleshooting
- Identify the symptom from the table above: low frame rate, stutter, input delay, or game-speed mismatch.
- Compare your CPU, GPU, memory, and storage with the requirements table. If you are below the minimum, expect limited results until you upgrade.
- Restore the launcher-detected graphics defaults, then lower resolution and the most expensive options, and close background programs before a controlled retest.
- Check the official driver page for your GPU maker and install the current release if you are behind.
- If the problem remains, reset the settings files (after backing them up) or try borderless-windowed mode.
- If the game speed itself is wrong, follow the separate game-speed guidance rather than the steps above.
- Consider hardware replacement only after the earlier steps show that the GPU or CPU is the limit. The support material does not name a specific current GPU as the fix.
Version and platform context
Bethesda’s April 11, 2024 announcement described a PC update that added widescreen and ultra-widescreen support and fixed stability, mod, and bug issues for the Steam, Microsoft Store, and GOG versions. A later official note lists PC version 1.10.984 for a May 13, 2024 update. The sources reviewed establish update history through 2024 only, so check your installed version against the official update notes before assuming a particular fix is present.
Bethesda’s next-gen patch notes also mention a 60 FPS performance mode and a 30 FPS quality mode. Those modes belong to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions. They are not a PC setting, and PC players should not expect them.
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