How to Get More FPS on Your PC Gaming Setup

The fastest way to boost your frame rate

The quickest gains come from lowering your graphics settings inside the game itself, not from buying new hardware. Start by opening your game's settings menu and reducing resolution, texture quality, shadow detail, and draw distance — each of these cuts the work your graphics card has to do. If you drop resolution from 1440p to 1080p, you can often gain 20 to 40 frames per second when ready. Texture quality and shadow settings usually give you 10 to 20 fps back without making the game look drastically worse.

The second-fastest fix is closing background programs. Discord, Chrome with multiple tabs, Spotify, and Windows Update all consume CPU and RAM while you play. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), click the Performance tab, and look at your CPU and RAM usage before you launch your game. If either is above 70 percent, close programs one by one until you have headroom. This alone can free up 5 to 15 fps.

Key Takeaways

Lowering in-game graphics settings — resolution, texture quality, shadows, and draw distance — typically gains 20 to 40 fps with no hardware purchase.
Closing background programs like browsers, Discord, and streaming apps frees CPU and RAM, often recovering 5 to 15 fps.
Updating your graphics driver can unlock 5 to 10 fps if your driver is more than a few months old.
Enabling game mode in Windows and disabling fullscreen optimizations prevents Windows from stealing resources during gameplay.
If you have already lowered settings and closed programs, upgrading your graphics card or CPU will give the largest remaining gains.

Update your graphics driver

Your graphics driver is the software that tells your GPU how to run games. Outdated drivers often run games less efficiently than newer ones. Open NVIDIA GeForce Experience, AMD Radeon Software, or Intel Arc Control depending on your card, and check for updates. If an update is available, install it and restart your PC. This step takes five minutes and can recover 5 to 10 fps.

If you do not know which graphics card you have, right-click your desktop and look for "NVIDIA Control Panel," "AMD Radeon Settings," or "Intel Arc Control." If none of those appear, open Device Manager (Windows key + X, then Device Manager), expand Display adapters, and read the name. Then visit the manufacturer's website directly to read the latest driver.

Enable Game Mode and disable fullscreen optimizations

Windows has two settings that can steal resources from your game. Game Mode tells Windows to pause background tasks while you play. Open Settings, go to Gaming, click Game Mode, and toggle it on. This prevents Windows Update, notifications, and indexing from interrupting your frame rate.

Fullscreen optimizations is a Windows feature that can actually hurt performance in some games. Right-click your game's .exe file, select Properties, go to the Compatibility tab, check "Disable fullscreen optimizations," and click explore. Test your frame rate before and after — this helps some games and hurts others, so you may need to toggle it back off if fps drops instead.

Check your power settings and monitor refresh rate

If your PC is set to Power Saver mode, your CPU and GPU run at reduced speed to save electricity. Open Settings, go to System, then Power & battery, and make sure you are on High Performance or Balanced. High Performance mode keeps your hardware running at full speed during gaming.

Your monitor's refresh rate also matters. If your monitor is 60 Hz but your GPU is pushing 120 fps, you will only see 60 of them on screen — the extra frames are wasted. Check your monitor's refresh rate by right-clicking your desktop, selecting Display settings, scrolling down to Advanced display, and looking at Refresh rate. If your monitor supports 144 Hz or higher and it is set to 60 Hz, change it to the higher rate. This does not increase fps, but it lets you see the frames your GPU is already producing.

Upgrade your graphics card or CPU if settings are already low

If you have lowered resolution to 1080p, turned off shadows, closed all background programs, and updated your driver, and you still want more fps, your hardware is the bottleneck. A graphics card upgrade gives the biggest boost for gaming — moving from a GTX 1660 to an RTX 4070 can double your frame rate in demanding games. A CPU upgrade helps less in most games, but if your CPU usage is at 100 percent while your GPU is at 60 percent, your processor is holding you back.

Before you buy, test which component is the problem. In-game, open an overlay (Steam has one built in — press Shift+Tab) or use a monitoring tool like MSI Afterburner to watch your CPU and GPU usage. If GPU usage is 95 to 100 percent and CPU is below 80 percent, upgrade your graphics card. If CPU usage is 95 to 100 percent and GPU is below 80 percent, upgrade your processor. If both are maxed out, either upgrade will help, but the graphics card usually gives bigger fps gains.

Adjust resolution scaling and ray tracing

Resolution scaling lets you render the game at a lower resolution internally, then stretch it to fill your screen. This keeps the image sharp enough to see while cutting the GPU workload. In your game settings, look for DLSS (NVIDIA), FSR (AMD), or XeSS (Intel). Set it to Balanced or Performance mode — Balanced usually looks nearly identical to native resolution while gaining 20 to 30 fps, and Performance mode gains even more at the cost of visible softness.

Ray tracing simulates realistic light bouncing but costs 30 to 50 fps. If you are chasing frame rate, turn ray tracing off entirely. If you want it on, set it to Low or Medium instead of Ultra. The difference in image quality between Low and Ultra ray tracing is usually small, but the fps difference is large.

Verify your monitor cable and check for thermal throttling

A loose or damaged monitor cable can cause stuttering that feels like low fps. Check that your cable is plugged firmly into both your monitor and your GPU (not your motherboard — if you have a graphics card, use the ports on the card itself). If you are using an older DisplayPort cable, try switching to HDMI or vice versa, as some cables have compatibility issues with certain refresh rates.

Thermal throttling happens when your GPU or CPU gets too hot and slows itself down to cool off. If your fps suddenly drops mid-game, your hardware may be overheating. read a monitoring tool like HWiNFO64 and watch your GPU and CPU temperatures while playing. If either reaches 85°C or higher, your case may need better airflow — clean dust from your fans and heatsinks, or add a case fan. If temperatures are normal, thermal throttling is not your problem.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will lowering my resolution make the game look bad?

It depends on how much you lower it. Dropping from 1440p to 1080p is usually barely noticeable, especially on a 24-inch monitor. Dropping to 720p looks noticeably softer. Try lowering resolution in small steps — 1440p to 1296p to 1152p — until you find the point where the image still looks good to you and your fps target is met.

Should I enable V-Sync?

V-Sync locks your frame rate to your monitor's refresh rate, which eliminates screen tearing but adds input lag. If your monitor is 144 Hz and you can hit 144 fps, V-Sync keeps it there. If you drop to 100 fps, V-Sync caps you at 72 fps (half the refresh rate), which feels worse. Use V-Sync only if you see visible tearing and your fps is stable above your monitor's refresh rate.

Does overclocking my GPU help?

Overclocking can gain 5 to 15 fps, but it requires downloading software like MSI Afterburner, learning how to adjust clock speeds safely, and risking hardware damage if you push too hard. For most players, lowering settings and updating drivers gives better results with no risk. Overclocking is worth trying only after you have exhausted the safer options.

Why is my fps inconsistent, jumping between 60 and 120?

Inconsistent fps usually means background programs are interrupting your game. Check Task Manager while playing to see if anything spikes in CPU or disk usage. Windows Update, antivirus scans, and cloud sync services are common culprits. Disable them temporarily while gaming, or set them to run only when your PC is idle.

Can I get more fps by overclocking my CPU?

CPU overclocking gains 2 to 5 fps in most games and carries the same risks as GPU overclocking. It is rarely worth the effort unless your CPU is already at 100 percent usage and you have already lowered graphics settings. Upgrading to a newer CPU gives much larger gains but costs more money.

This guide is for general information only and is not medical, financial, legal, or other professional advice. For decisions specific to your situation, consult a qualified professional. See our Editorial Policy.