How to increase PC FPS in Games

[Daliath.]

 

No matter your setup, it's possible to squeeze out extra fps (frames per second) from your PC. Of course, if you’ve just bought the latest shooter, MMO, or racer and have found that it’s completely unplayable even after trying all these tricks, you may need to invest in better hardware. The graphics card is the first place to start, and you can find graphics card buying advice and reviews right here - and here are our tips on installing a new graphics card. You might also get a boost in fps if you install a faster processor or more RAM.

 

            Get the latest drivers for your graphics card
Running old drivers isn't a good idea if you want the best performance, but a surprising number of people fail to update to the latest versions. It's much easier these days (with certain brands, at least) since pop-up notifications tell you when a new driver is available.

First, find out which graphics card you have, and also check which version of Windows your PC is running. Head to Device Manager in the Control Panel and click on Display adapters. You'll see the name of your graphics card.o find out the specific version of Windows, right-click on My Computer and choose Properties (or click on System in the Control Panel). This will tell you whether you have the 32- or 64-bit, as well as exactly which version of Windows is installed.

 

         Optimise game settings
Updating drivers will get you only so far. The biggest gains in frames per second come from tweaking and compromising on graphics settings. Ideally, you want to run your game at your monitor's native resolution. For most PCs and laptops that's 1920x1080, if not higher. To find out your monitor's resolution, right-click on the desktop in Windows 7, 8 or 10 and click on 'Screen resolution'. In earlier versions, click 'Properties' instead.

The highest selectable resolution should tell you the native resolution, and should say 'recommended'. You can also search Google for your monitor's make and model if you're still unsure.

Lowering the resolution should give you more frames per second, but don't adjust the resolution here. Instead, load your chosen game and look for the graphics settings. Here you can change the resolution and many other settings.

 

       Overclock your hardware
This isn't something we recommend for everyone, but if you know what you're doing and understand that there's a risk of breaking your graphics card, CPU, and RAM, you can run them faster. This should give you a few extra fps.

Your first port of call should be the graphics card, since this has the most direct impact on fps. You may find an option to overclock the GPU in the driver itself (launch the interface from the relevant icon in the Windows Notification area). Alternatively, you might need to track down third-party software.

Overclocking the CPU and RAM is easier, as you should find the settings in your PC's BIOS. Simply reboot, press Delete (or whichever key takes you to the BIOS) and look for the performance settings.