How to Get More FPS in Games on PC: A Complete Guide
Whether you’re playing the latest AAA titles or competitive esports games, frame rate matters. Higher FPS means smoother gameplay, faster response times, and a more enjoyable overall experience. If you’re noticing your frames dropping below your desired threshold, don’t worry—there are plenty of proven methods to boost your FPS without breaking the bank. Let’s dive into the most effective strategies for getting more frames per second on your gaming PC.
Optimize Your In-Game Graphics Settings
The quickest way to gain FPS is by adjusting your game’s graphics settings. Most modern games offer extensive graphics customization options that can dramatically impact performance. Start by launching your game and heading to the settings menu—you’re looking for the Graphics, Video, or Display tab.
Here are the settings that typically have the biggest impact on FPS:
- Resolution: Lower resolution equals higher FPS. If you’re running 1440p, try dropping to 1080p to see the performance difference. This is often the most impactful adjustment you can make.
- Ray Tracing: Disable this feature entirely if your GPU struggles. Ray tracing creates realistic lighting but demands significant processing power.
- Shadows: Reduce shadow quality or disable dynamic shadows. Switch from high-quality to medium or low settings.
- Anti-Aliasing: Lower this setting from ultra to medium or disable it completely. Anti-aliasing smooths jagged edges but impacts performance.
- Ambient Occlusion: This subtle effect can be disabled without significantly impacting visual quality.
- Motion Blur: Turning off motion blur often gives you a cleaner image and better FPS, plus it improves visibility in competitive games.
A practical approach is to create a baseline by setting everything to low, then gradually increase individual settings until you find your FPS sweet spot. Most gamers aim for at least 60 FPS for smooth gameplay, though 144+ FPS is ideal for competitive titles.
Update Your GPU Drivers
Outdated drivers are a common culprit behind poor gaming performance. Graphics card manufacturers regularly release driver updates that optimize performance for new games and fix existing issues. Updating your drivers is completely free and takes just a few minutes.
If you own an NVIDIA GPU, visit the NVIDIA driver download page and select your graphics card model. AMD users should visit AMD’s support site, while Intel GPU owners can find drivers through Intel’s website. Download the latest driver version and follow the installation prompts. Many drivers require a restart, so plan accordingly.
Consider checking for driver updates monthly, as new optimizations are released frequently, especially around major game launches.
Close Unnecessary Background Applications
Your PC is likely running numerous background processes while you game—streaming services, Discord, Chrome tabs, Windows updates, and antivirus scans all consume system resources. Closing these applications frees up CPU and RAM for your game, potentially boosting FPS significantly.
Here’s how to manage background applications:
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager
- Click the “Processes” tab and review what’s running
- Close non-essential applications by right-clicking and selecting “End Task”
- Avoid closing Windows system processes (anything starting with “Windows” or “System”)
For competitive gaming, consider enabling Game Mode in Windows 10/11, which prioritizes gaming resources and suspends non-critical background tasks automatically.
Adjust Power Settings and Enable Performance Mode
Windows has different power plans that affect how your CPU and GPU operate. The “Power Saver” mode limits performance to reduce energy consumption, while “High Performance” mode maximizes output for gaming.
To switch power plans:
- Right-click the battery icon in your system tray
- Select “Power settings”
- Choose “High Performance” from the available plans
This simple change ensures your hardware isn’t throttled, allowing it to run at full capacity during gaming sessions. Users with laptops should plug in their device while gaming—unplugged laptops automatically reduce performance to preserve battery life.
Overclock Your GPU (Advanced)
If you’re experienced with PC hardware, overclocking your graphics card can yield impressive FPS gains—sometimes 10-20% improvements. Overclocking safely increases your GPU’s clock speed to make it process data faster.
Before overclocking, download a free utility like MSI Afterburner, which allows you to adjust GPU core clock and memory clock settings. Increase these values gradually in small increments (25-50 MHz at a time), testing stability between adjustments. Monitor your temperatures to ensure your GPU doesn’t exceed 80°C.
Overclocking does carry risks, so proceed carefully and research your specific GPU model thoroughly before beginning. If you’re uncomfortable with this process, skip it—the previous tips alone will likely provide significant performance gains.
Monitor Your Temperatures
Overheating can cause thermal throttling, where your GPU automatically reduces performance to cool down, resulting in lower FPS. Ensure your PC has adequate airflow and that your fans are functioning properly.
Download a temperature monitoring tool like HWiNFO or GPU-Z to check your GPU and CPU temperatures while gaming. Ideal gaming temperatures are below 75°C. If temperatures exceed 80°C, clean your PC’s dust filters, ensure case fans are spinning, and verify that thermal paste on your CPU is fresh.
Upgrade Your Hardware (Long-term Solution)
If you’ve implemented all the software optimizations and still aren’t hitting your target FPS, hardware upgrades are the ultimate solution. The GPU is the most important component for gaming performance, so upgrading your graphics card offers the biggest FPS improvement. CPU upgrades help with games that demand high processing power and can eliminate bottlenecks.
Additional RAM (up to 32GB) helps in some demanding titles, while an SSD ensures games load quickly, though this doesn’t directly impact in-game FPS.
Final Thoughts
Boosting your PC gaming FPS doesn’t require expensive hardware upgrades. Start with free optimizations like updating drivers, adjusting graphics settings, and closing background applications. These methods alone can often net you 20-40 additional frames per second. From there, explore advanced tweaks like overclocking or consider hardware upgrades if needed. The key is testing each change individually to see what works best for your specific setup. Happy fragging!