Check your system tray for programs that may be running in the background.
Resolution - Games will look best when they’re running at your monitor’s native resolution, but you can make a big FPS improvement by dropping the resolution down. The game will look blockier, but should instantly feel smoother. Changing your resolution can give you one of the biggest performance boosts you can get. For example, switching from 1920×1080 to 1600×900 will often give you about a 20% boost in FPS. Anti-aliasing (AA) - This is the technique that smooths out the pixelated edges on objects, making edges look more natural. There are lots of different AA options (MSAA, FSAA, etc. ), but for now you just need to know that most of them have a big performance cost. Try turning AA off completely and see how your game plays. If you’re getting super-smooth performance and want to try some AA, try FXAA if available first, as this is the cheapest AA solution. Also, stick to 2X or 4X solutions. Texture Quality - If you’re getting intermittent stuttering while playing (as opposed to a low frame rate), you may want to lower your texture quality. This is especially important when playing newer video games with older video cards. Shadow Quality - Detailed shadows can take a whole lot of processing power, so try dropping your shadow quality to get a major performance boost. V-Sync - This locks the vertical sync to your monitor’s refresh rate which may force the game to run at a lower frame rate. You can disable this setting for a potential speed boost, however it may introduce screen tearing.
There are two major graphics card manufacturers on the market, Nvidia and AMD. You may run into a game that was designed around one particular graphics card. The developer may provide a patch that resolves issues with a graphics card brand that is known to cause performance issues. Check discussion forums and developer websites for more information.
Nvidia graphics card drivers come with the Nvidia Control Panel software that allows you to change programs from using the Integrated Graphics card to your dedicated Nvidia graphics card. To open the Control panel, right click on an empty space on your desktop and click on “NVIDIA Control Panel. ” On the left hand side click on “Manage 3D Settings. ” In the main window pane click on the “Global Settings” tab and set the drop down labeled “Preferred graphics processor” to “High-performance NVIDIA processor” then close the window. This will change the graphics card settings for all programs. Check under the game’s settings to see which video card is being used as the primary display driver. If you have more than one video card installed, changing this setting to your video card that features high performance may resolve the issue. You can set your BIOS to disable the integrated graphics card. Check with your computer’s user manual or manufacturer’s website for more details on how to disable the integrated graphics card.
Other users may be facing the same issue as you and can sometimes provide a similar solution.
The process for this will vary wildly depending on the game you are playing. Look for location filters in your server browser, locations in the server name or description (US-West, EU, etc. ), or region settings in the matchmaking menu. Not all multiplayer games allow you to select a region, and may automatically try to connect you to the closest server or player to you.
Remove the power cable from your modem and from your router, if you have a separate one. Let your network hardware rest unplugged for about 30 seconds. Plug your modem back in and wait for it to boot up. This could take a minute or two. Plug your router back in after the modem finishes turning on, if you have one. The router may take an additional minute or two to turn back on.
Most QoS default settings will prioritize gaming and web browsing over other traffic. You may need to look up specific settings for your router. See Access a Router for instructions on accessing your router’s configuration page. The QoS settings, if they are available, can usually be found in the “Traffic” section.
A VPN cannot make you magically closer to the server. If you’re trying to connect to a server overseas, you still have to contend with the speed of light and a VPN won’t make much of a difference. In many cases, a VPN will actually increase your ping, as it’s another hop your traffic needs to go through. VPNs are only really useful if your ISP throttles your gaming traffic or routes it in an unusual way. See Connect to a VPN for instructions on finding and connecting to a VPN service.
See Overclock a Graphics Card for instructions on overclocking your video card. See Overclock a CPU for instructions on overclocking your CPU.
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RAM - Most games released these days require 4 GB of RAM at minimum, with 8 GB being recommended in most cases. RAM is pretty cheap, and installing it is easier than you may think. See Install RAM for instructions. Video Card - One of the best ways to improve your video games’ performance is by upgrading your video card. These can get a little expensive, but even a mid-range card can provide a significant performance boost if you haven’t upgraded in a while. See Install a Graphics Card for instructions. CPU - Your CPU is less important to gaming than it used to be, but if you’re running a really old computer you may want to upgrade to a quad-core processor. Upgrading your CPU is usually the most complex task when it comes to computer upgrades, because it usually necessitates a new motherboard (and RAM), which will also require reinstalling Windows. See Install a New Processor for instructions.
