After that, free fixes in Windows, drivers and RAM add more. Here are 15 fixes, roughly in order of impact.
First, find out what is holding you back. The bottleneck calculator shows whether your processor or graphics card is the limit, and the FPS calculator shows which settings your PC can handle.
In-game settings (biggest gains)
1. Use upscaling. FSR (works on almost any graphics card), DLSS (NVIDIA RTX) and XeSS (Intel, and many other cards) render the game at a lower resolution and sharpen it back up. "Quality" or "Balanced" modes often add a lot of FPS with only a small loss in sharpness.
2. Lower the resolution or render scale. If there is no upscaling, drop from 1080p to 900p, or set the render scale to 75–85%. This helps a weak graphics card more than any other single change.
3. Lower the heaviest settings first. These usually cost the most FPS for the least visual difference:
| Setting | Typical FPS cost | Visual difference when lowered |
|---|---|---|
| Shadows | High | Small |
| Volumetric fog / clouds / lighting | High | Small to medium |
| Ray tracing | Very high | Medium (turn it off on low-end PCs) |
| Ambient occlusion | Medium | Small |
| Draw / view distance | Medium (also loads the processor) | Medium |
| Anti-aliasing (MSAA) | Medium to high | Small (use TAA or upscaling instead) |
| Textures | Low, unless VRAM is full | Large; keep as high as your VRAM allows |
4. Start from a preset. Pick the "Low" or "Medium" preset, then raise textures if you have spare video memory. Textures barely affect FPS until VRAM runs out, then they cause heavy stutter.
5. Turn off motion blur, depth of field and film grain. They cost a little FPS and many players prefer the cleaner image anyway.
6. Cap your FPS. If your FPS jumps between 45 and 70, a cap at a steady number (for example 50 or 60) feels smoother than a high but unstable average, and keeps the PC cooler.
Windows and drivers
7. Update your graphics driver. New drivers often improve performance in recent games. Use the NVIDIA app, AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition or Intel Graphics Software.
8. Turn on Game Mode. Settings → Gaming → Game Mode → On. It tells Windows to prioritise the game.
9. Set the right power mode. Settings → System → Power & battery (Power on desktops) → Power mode: Best performance. On laptops, always play plugged in. On laptops, see our laptop guide for the full power checklist.
10. Close background apps. Browsers with many tabs, launchers, recording tools and overlays use processor time and RAM. Check Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) for anything heavy while you play.
11. Make the game use your graphics card (laptops). Settings → System → Display → Graphics, add the game and set High performance. Our laptop guide has the details.
Hardware fixes (free or cheap)
12. Turn on your RAM's rated speed (XMP or EXPO). Many PCs run RAM slower than it is rated. Check the speed in Task Manager → Performance → Memory; if it is lower than the RAM's rating, enable XMP (Intel) or EXPO (AMD) in the BIOS. Make a note of your settings first, and skip this if you are not comfortable in the BIOS.
13. Use two RAM sticks (dual channel). If Task Manager shows "Slots used: 1 of 2", adding a matching second stick can raise FPS noticeably, especially with integrated graphics.
14. Keep it cool and clean. Dust and heat make the processor and graphics card slow down. Clean the fans and vents, and give laptops room to breathe (a cooling pad helps some models).
15. Install games on an SSD. An SSD will not raise average FPS much, but it cuts loading times and reduces stutters in open-world games that stream data.
What does not work
- "FPS booster" and "game optimizer" apps rarely help and some bundle unwanted software. Every useful setting they change is already in this guide.
- Registry tweaks from random videos can cause problems and seldom add FPS.
- Overclocking can add a little performance but raises heat and risk; it is not a fix for a low-end PC.
When it is time to upgrade
If you have applied these fixes and a game still runs below 30 FPS on Low, the hardware is the limit. Use the bottleneck calculator to see which part to upgrade first, and GPU vs GPU to compare cards in your budget.
