How to Boost FPS on PC: 17 Ways to Fix Low FPS and Stuttering
Low FPS can make a fast PC feel slow. The cause is not always an underpowered graphics card: an incorrect GPU selection, a frame-rate cap, overloaded video memory, single-channel RAM, background recording, heat, or one demanding graphics setting can all hold performance back.
This guide shows you how to increase FPS on a Windows PC without guessing. Start by measuring the problem, apply the fixes that match your bottleneck, and test the same scene after every change.
Quick Answer: How to Increase FPS on a PC
If you want the highest-impact fixes first, use this checklist:
- Plug in a laptop or mini PC and select its performance mode.
- Confirm the game is using the high-performance GPU.
- Update the graphics driver, then restart the PC.
- Turn on Windows Game Mode and close unnecessary overlays or recording tools.
- Lower ray tracing, shadows, volumetric effects, and resolution scale.
- Enable DLSS, FSR, or XeSS in Quality mode when the game supports it.
- Check GPU usage, temperatures, RAM, and VRAM before buying new hardware.
Do not change every setting at once. Record your baseline, make one or two changes, and repeat the same benchmark or gameplay route.
What FPS Means—and What It Does Not
FPS, or frames per second, measures how many frames the PC renders each second. Higher FPS usually makes motion look smoother and can reduce the time between an input and the result appearing on screen.
However, average FPS does not tell the whole story. Also watch:
- 1% low FPS: A useful indicator of brief slowdowns. Higher, steadier 1% lows usually feel smoother.
- Frame time: The time required to render each frame. Sudden spikes appear as stutter even when average FPS looks acceptable.
- Display refresh rate: A 144 Hz monitor can refresh up to 144 times per second. Make sure Windows is actually set to the monitor's intended refresh rate.
- Input latency: Frame generation can increase displayed FPS without improving responsiveness in the same way as a higher native render rate.
1. Measure Performance Before You Optimize
Use the same built-in benchmark, save file, or 60-second gameplay route for every test. Keep the resolution and location unchanged and record:
- Average FPS and 1% low FPS
- GPU utilization, temperature, clock speed, and VRAM use
- CPU utilization, temperature, and per-core load
- System RAM use
- Resolution, preset, and upscaling mode
Windows Task Manager can provide a quick overview. A game overlay or hardware-monitoring utility can show more detail while you play.
Before testing, check your PC specifications so you know which CPU, GPU, RAM configuration, and display you are working with.
How to identify the bottleneck
| What you see | Likely limitation | What to try first |
| GPU stays near full utilization | GPU or graphics settings | Lower resolution scale, ray tracing, shadows, or volumetrics; enable upscaling |
| GPU use is low but one or more CPU cores are heavily loaded | CPU or game engine | Lower crowd density, simulation, view distance, or CPU-heavy effects; close background tasks |
| VRAM is full and frame time spikes | Video-memory pressure | Lower texture quality, texture streaming, resolution, or ray-tracing settings |
| Performance falls after several minutes | Heat or power limit | Improve airflow, use performance mode, clean vents, and check clocks and temperatures |
| Average FPS is reasonable but movement stutters | Frame-time, RAM, storage, shader, or background-task issue | Check RAM capacity/channel mode, storage activity, shader compilation, overlays, and background apps |
These are diagnostic clues, not absolute rules. Some games are limited by more than one component.
2. Plug In the PC and Select a Performance Power Mode
Gaming laptops and some mini PCs reduce CPU and GPU power when running on battery or in a quiet profile.
- Connect the original or correctly rated power adapter.
- In Windows 11, open Settings > System > Power & battery.
- Set Power mode to Best performance when available.
- If the manufacturer provides a control app, select its Performance or Turbo profile for testing.
Higher-performance modes use more power, create more heat, and may increase fan noise. On a thermally constrained system, maximum power is not always the smoothest long-term setting, so compare sustained performance rather than only the first minute.
3. Turn On Windows Game Mode
Game Mode is a sensible default for most Windows gaming PCs because it is designed to optimize system behavior during a game.
- Press Windows + I to open Settings.
- Select Gaming > Game Mode.
- Turn Game Mode on.
Game Mode is not a guaranteed double-digit FPS upgrade. Its more useful benefit is reducing the chance that background activity interrupts a gaming session.
4. Make Sure the Game Uses the High-Performance GPU
On systems with both integrated and discrete graphics, a game can launch on the slower GPU.
- Open Settings > System > Display > Graphics.
- Select or add the game's executable file.
- Choose Options > High performance > Save.
- Restart the game and verify GPU use in Task Manager or your performance overlay.
On Windows 11, Optimizations for windowed games can also reduce frame latency for compatible DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 titles running in windowed or borderless-windowed mode. The option is under Settings > System > Display > Graphics. Restart the game after changing it.
5. Set the Correct Monitor Refresh Rate
A 144 Hz, 165 Hz, or 240 Hz display may still be set to 60 Hz in Windows.
- Open Settings > System > Display > Advanced display.
- Select the gaming monitor.
- Under Choose a refresh rate, select the highest stable rate supported at your chosen resolution.
If the monitor and GPU support a variable refresh-rate technology, enable it in the monitor menu and the GPU software. Variable refresh rate can reduce tearing and make changing frame rates look smoother within the display's supported range.
6. Update the GPU Driver—or Roll Back a Bad One
Graphics drivers contain game-specific fixes and optimizations. Download them from the GPU vendor or, for some laptops and mini PCs, from the system manufacturer when it supplies customized drivers:
Restart after installation and retest. If low FPS began immediately after an update, check the release notes and try the previous stable driver. A clean driver installation is a troubleshooting step, not something every update requires. See our guide to safely updating GPU drivers before using a removal utility.
7. Close Background Apps, Overlays, and Recording Tools
Browsers, launchers, RGB utilities, cloud sync, video calls, and recording software can compete for CPU time, RAM, storage bandwidth, or GPU resources.
Before launching the game:
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
- Sort Processes by CPU, Memory, Disk, and GPU.
- Close only apps you recognize and do not need.
- Disable unnecessary in-game overlays and background recording, then compare frame times.
Do not end Windows services or unfamiliar security processes simply because they appear in Task Manager.
8. Lower Resolution or Use Resolution Scaling
Resolution is one of the largest GPU workloads. A 4K image contains four times as many pixels as 1080p, so lowering the render resolution can make a major difference when the GPU is the bottleneck.
For the clearest image, leave the desktop and display at native resolution. In the game, use a resolution-scale control or a supported upscaler. If no good upscaler exists, test a lower game resolution and compare image quality.
If FPS does not improve when resolution is reduced substantially, the game may be CPU-limited, capped, or affected by another bottleneck.
9. Use DLSS, FSR, or XeSS Correctly
Modern upscalers render the game internally at a lower resolution and reconstruct a higher-resolution output:
- NVIDIA DLSS is available in supported games on compatible GeForce RTX hardware.
- AMD FSR is integrated into supported games, with compatibility depending on the FSR version, game, and GPU.
- Intel XeSS is available in supported games and can run on Intel and compatible non-Intel GPUs.
Start with Quality mode. If the result is still too slow, try Balanced. Use Performance mainly at higher output resolutions or when the extra speed matters more than fine image detail.
The result depends on the game, resolution, mode, GPU load, and implementation. Upscaling also helps most when the GPU is the bottleneck; it may do little for a CPU-limited game.
If an AMD game supports both in-game FSR and driver-level Radeon Super Resolution, use the in-game FSR implementation rather than stacking both upscalers.
10. Lower the Settings That Cost the Most FPS
Do not move every option from Ultra to Low. Reduce the expensive settings first and keep the options that have little performance cost on your system.
| Setting | Typical performance cost | Recommended starting point |
| Ray tracing / path tracing | Very high GPU cost | Off first; then re-enable selectively if headroom remains |
| Resolution scale | Very high when GPU-limited | 100% native, or use Quality/Balanced upscaling |
| Volumetric fog, clouds, and lighting | High in many games | Medium |
| Shadow quality and distance | Medium to high; can affect CPU and GPU | Medium |
| Reflections and ambient occlusion | Medium to high | Medium or screen-space options |
| Crowd density, simulation, and view distance | Often CPU-heavy | Medium when CPU-limited |
| Anti-aliasing | Low to high depending on method | Use the game's temporal AA or upscaler; avoid heavy supersampling |
| Texture quality | Usually affects VRAM more than raw GPU speed | Keep high if VRAM has headroom; lower it if VRAM is full or stutter appears |
| Motion blur, film grain, depth of field | Usually small FPS impact | Personal preference |
Ultra settings often deliver a small visual improvement for a large performance cost. High or Medium is usually a better target for consistent frame rate.
11. Understand Frame Generation and Input Latency
Frame-generation features create additional displayed frames between traditionally rendered frames. They can make motion look smoother, especially in demanding single-player games, but generated FPS is not equivalent to native FPS:
- Input is still sampled around the underlying render pipeline.
- Image artifacts may appear around fast motion, UI elements, or scene changes.
- The feature works best when the base frame rate is already reasonably smooth.
For a competitive game, prioritize a high native frame rate and low latency. If the game offers NVIDIA Reflex or another built-in latency-reduction option, test it. Do not enable two competing frame-generation methods at the same time.
12. Check VRAM Before Lowering Texture Quality
Texture quality does not always reduce average FPS significantly—until the game exceeds available VRAM. Once video memory is overloaded, the system may move assets between VRAM and system memory, causing hitching, delayed textures, or sharp frame-time spikes.
Monitor VRAM use in the game's overlay, Task Manager, or GPU software. If it stays at or near the limit, lower textures, texture pool size, ray tracing, or resolution. Our guide explains how to check how much VRAM you have.
13. Use Enough RAM—and Enable Dual-Channel Memory
When system RAM fills up, Windows relies more heavily on storage, which can create stutter. Close memory-heavy background apps before assuming you need an upgrade.
Memory bandwidth is especially important for integrated graphics because the GPU shares system RAM. A supported dual-channel or dual-rank configuration can improve bandwidth and often helps 1% lows and gaming performance. Read why dual-channel RAM matters for integrated graphics.
More capacity alone is not an automatic FPS upgrade. Upgrade when monitoring shows that capacity or bandwidth is the constraint.
14. Prevent Thermal Throttling
When the CPU or GPU reaches a temperature, power, or current limit, it can reduce clock speed. The exact safe and throttling temperatures vary by chip and system, so avoid relying on one universal threshold.
Check whether clock speed and performance fall as temperature rises. If they do:
- Move the PC away from walls or enclosed shelves.
- Keep intake and exhaust vents clear.
- Clean dust using the manufacturer's maintenance guidance.
- Use the correct power adapter and performance profile.
- On a laptop, test on a hard, flat surface instead of fabric.
- Replace thermal paste only if you understand the disassembly and warranty implications.
Compact PCs have limited cooling volume, so sustained performance matters more than a short peak benchmark.
15. Put Games on an SSD and Keep Free Space Available
An SSD usually does not transform average FPS in a GPU-limited benchmark. It can, however, shorten load times and reduce some asset-streaming stalls or texture pop-in in games that continuously pull data from storage.
Keep Windows and the game drive from becoming completely full, and check drive activity if stutter occurs while moving rapidly through the game world. If storage is tight, use these safe ways to free disk space.
16. Test Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling—Do Not Assume
Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling (HAGS) changes how some graphics scheduling work is handled. Its effect varies by GPU, driver, Windows build, and game.
If the option is available under Settings > System > Display > Graphics > Change default graphics settings, benchmark the same scene with HAGS on and off. Restart the PC after each change and keep the state that produces better frame time and stability on your system.
This replaces a common but unreliable recommendation to always turn HAGS on—or always turn it off.
17. Check Caps, V-Sync, and Game-Specific Problems
If FPS stops at an exact number such as 30, 60, 120, or 144, look for:
- An in-game frame-rate limit
- V-Sync behavior
- A GPU-driver frame cap
- Laptop battery-saving software
- A monitor refresh-rate setting
- A game-engine or menu cap
V-Sync can remove tearing but may add latency or reduce FPS in steps when performance falls below the refresh rate. With a compatible variable-refresh-rate display, many players use variable refresh rate plus a sensible frame cap; the best configuration depends on the game and display.
If only one game performs badly, verify its files, rebuild shaders if the game provides that option, reset its graphics configuration, and check the developer's current known-issues list. Reinstalling Windows should be a last resort, not an FPS optimization step.
Recommended Settings by Goal
Competitive games
- Prioritize native render FPS and low latency.
- Lower shadows, effects, volumetrics, and visual clutter.
- Use a stable cap if it improves frame pacing.
- Enable the game's built-in latency-reduction feature when supported.
- Avoid frame generation if its latency or artifacts interfere with play.
Single-player games
- Start with a High preset rather than Ultra.
- Use Quality upscaling and compare image quality.
- Enable frame generation only when the base frame rate is already comfortable.
- Trade ray tracing against resolution and frame-rate targets.
Integrated-graphics and mini PCs
- Target 1080p Low or Medium settings first.
- Use Quality or Balanced upscaling when supported.
- Confirm RAM is running in the intended multi-channel configuration.
- Keep the vents clear and test sustained clocks.
- Reduce textures if shared memory or available VRAM becomes constrained.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my FPS suddenly drop after playing for a while?
Heat or a sustained power limit is one possibility, but not the only one. Monitor temperatures, clock speeds, VRAM, RAM, and background activity when the drop happens. A memory leak, shader compilation, storage activity, or a newly started background process can produce similar symptoms.
Does an SSD increase FPS?
Usually not by much in average-FPS tests when the CPU or GPU is the main limit. An SSD can dramatically reduce loading time and may reduce asset-streaming stutter or texture pop-in in some games.
Does more RAM increase FPS?
Only when RAM capacity or memory bandwidth is the bottleneck. It can make a large difference when the system is running out of memory or when integrated graphics is held back by a single-channel configuration. Adding unused capacity alone does not automatically increase FPS.
Should I turn hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling on or off?
Test both. There is no best setting for every combination of game, GPU, driver, and Windows build. Restart after changing it and compare 1% lows and frame times, not only average FPS.
Is GPU overclocking safe?
Overclocking is not risk-free. It can increase heat, power use, fan noise, crashes, and visual artifacts, and it may affect warranty or support terms. The gains are often smaller than those from fixing a clear software, cooling, or settings bottleneck. If you proceed, use conservative changes, monitor the system, and understand how to restore defaults.
Can I get more FPS than my monitor's refresh rate?
Yes, the PC can render more frames than the monitor refreshes, and a higher render rate can still reduce the age of the frame shown. The display cannot present every complete frame beyond its refresh rate, however, and uncapped rendering can use more power or cause tearing. Choose a cap and synchronization setup that matches your game, latency target, and display.
Final Checklist
The best frame-rate optimization process is simple:
- Measure average FPS, 1% lows, frame time, utilization, memory, and temperature.
- Identify whether the GPU, CPU, VRAM, RAM, storage, heat, or a cap is responsible.
- Apply the highest-impact fix for that bottleneck.
- Repeat the same test.
- Keep the change only if performance, frame pacing, or stability improves.
Updating drivers and lowering a few expensive settings may be enough. If they are not, the measurements will tell you whether a RAM configuration, cooling problem, or hardware upgrade is the next sensible step.