How to Increase FPS in Games

Increasing FPS in games raises the frame rate the GPU and CPU produce by updating drivers, lowering the most demanding graphics settings, enabling upscaling, and removing background load that limits the hardware. Frame rate, measured in frames per second, depends on the graphics card, the processor, the resolution, and the in-game settings, so a sequence of changes lifts the number without new hardware. This article lists what affects frame rate, then walks through the procedure in order of impact: update the GPU driver, lower the most demanding settings such as shadows, ray tracing, and anti-aliasing, enable upscaling like DLSS, FSR, or XeSS, lower the resolution or use resolution scaling, cap background apps, raise the power and fan profile, enable Game Mode, check for a CPU or GPU bottleneck, and overclock the GPU.

Each phase states its goal and gives the exact steps. The result is a higher and steadier frame rate on the same hardware, with the heaviest settings traded for performance and upscaling reconstructing detail at lower render cost.

What Affects Frame Rate in Games?

Increasing FPS in games requires knowing which hardware and settings limit the frame rate before any change is made. The factors that determine frame rate are listed below, in order of typical impact:

• The graphics card renders each frame, so the GPU sets the ceiling for frame rate at a given resolution and settings.
• The processor prepares draw calls and game logic, so the CPU caps frame rate in CPU-bound and high-refresh scenarios.
• The resolution sets the pixel count per frame, so 4K demands roughly four times the GPU work of 1080p.
• The in-game settings control shadow, lighting, and effect quality, with a few settings consuming most of the GPU load.
• The background load from other apps reduces the CPU and memory available to the game.

Increasing FPS targets the frame rate the hardware produces, while the system-level settings sit in the guide to optimizing Windows for gaming. The graphics card sets the performance ceiling, so a card near the bottom of the best GPUs for gaming list limits how far settings changes raise the frame rate.

Update the GPU Driver First

Updating the GPU driver applies game-ready optimizations that raise frame rates before any setting is changed. Nvidia, AMD, and Intel release drivers tuned for new games, often adding measurable frame rate on launch day. Follow these steps:

1. Identify the GPU model in Task Manager under Performance, or in the Nvidia, AMD, or Intel control panel.
2. Download the latest driver from Nvidia, AMD, or Intel, or update through GeForce Experience or AMD Adrenalin.
3. Choose a clean installation in the installer to remove leftover files from previous driver versions.
4. Restart and confirm the new driver version in the GPU control panel before testing the game.

A game-ready driver adds 5% to 15% more frame rate in newly released titles compared with an outdated version, according to Nvidia’s and AMD’s published driver notes. The guide to updating drivers in Windows covers the clean-installation option and the DDU tool for a complete driver removal when a standard update underperforms.

Lower the Most Demanding Settings

Lowering the few settings that consume the most GPU load raises frame rate with the smallest loss in visual quality. A handful of settings account for most of the rendering cost, so reducing those first yields the largest frame rate gain per quality loss. Follow these steps:

1. Lower shadow quality and resolution, which is one of the heaviest settings in most games.
2. Disable or lower ray tracing, since ray-traced lighting and reflections carry the largest single performance cost.
3. Reduce anti-aliasing, switching from MSAA to a lighter method such as TAA or FXAA.
4. Lower volumetric effects, ambient occlusion, and view distance, which each add GPU load with diminishing visual return.

Shadows, ray tracing, and anti-aliasing consume the largest share of GPU load in most games, so lowering these three recovers more frame rate than reducing textures or other settings. Texture quality affects video memory more than frame rate, so it stays high unless the GPU runs out of video memory at the chosen resolution.

Enable Upscaling With DLSS, FSR, or XeSS

Enabling upscaling renders the game at a lower internal resolution and reconstructs it to the display resolution, raising frame rate while keeping near-native detail. DLSS, FSR, and XeSS each upscale a lower-resolution image, cutting the GPU’s render cost. Follow these steps:

1. Open the game’s graphics or display settings and find the upscaling option, listed as DLSS, FSR, or XeSS.
2. Enable DLSS on Nvidia RTX cards, FSR on any GPU, or XeSS on Intel Arc and other GPUs.
3. Select the Quality or Balanced preset, which renders at a higher internal resolution than the Performance preset.
4. Compare frame rate and image clarity, then lower the preset to Performance if more frame rate is needed.

DLSS, FSR, and XeSS raise frame rate by 30% to 70% at the Quality preset depending on the title and resolution, with the largest gains at 4K where the native render cost is highest. DLSS works only on Nvidia RTX cards, while FSR runs on any GPU, so the available option depends on the graphics card listed in the best GPUs for gaming comparison.

Lower the Resolution or Use Resolution Scaling

Lowering the resolution or render scale reduces the pixel count per frame, which raises frame rate in proportion to the pixel reduction. Resolution sets how many pixels the GPU renders, so a lower resolution or render-scale percentage cuts the workload directly. Follow these steps:

1. Lower the in-game resolution from 4K to 1440p or 1440p to 1080p when upscaling is unavailable.
2. Use the render-scale slider to render below the display resolution while keeping the user interface sharp.
3. Keep the display at native resolution and let render scaling or upscaling reduce only the 3D render cost.
4. Test frame rate at each step to find the balance between resolution and frame rate.

Dropping from 4K to 1080p reduces the pixel count by roughly 75%, which raises frame rate substantially in GPU-bound games. Render scaling keeps the user interface at native resolution while lowering only the 3D render cost, which preserves text and menu sharpness that a full resolution drop blurs.

Cap Background Apps and Enable Game Mode

Capping background apps and enabling Game Mode frees CPU time and memory that other processes take from the game. Background applications and browser tabs consume CPU and memory a game needs, and Game Mode raises the game’s priority. Follow these steps:

1. Close browsers, chat clients, and launchers before gaming to release CPU and memory.
2. Open Task Manager and end non-essential background processes that consume CPU or memory.
3. Disable startup apps in Task Manager’s Startup tab so they do not relaunch.
4. Enable Game Mode under Settings, Gaming, to raise the active game’s priority.

Background apps such as browsers and cloud-sync clients consume CPU cycles and memory that raise frame rate when freed, with the largest effect on CPU-bound games. The full set of system-level changes appears in the guide to optimizing Windows for gaming, which covers power plans and overlays alongside background apps.

Raise the Power and Fan Profile

Raising the GPU power limit and fan profile prevents thermal throttling that lowers clock speeds and frame rate under load. A GPU that overheats reduces its own clock speed to stay safe, so a higher power limit and more aggressive cooling sustain higher clocks. Follow these steps:

1. Open MSI Afterburner and raise the Power Limit slider to its maximum allowed value.
2. Set a custom fan curve that increases fan speed earlier to hold the GPU below its throttle temperature.
3. Confirm the GPU stays under 83°C during a game using an on-screen overlay.
4. Improve case airflow if temperatures stay high despite the raised fan curve.

A GPU throttles when the core reaches roughly 83°C to 87°C depending on the model, dropping clock speed and frame rate to protect the silicon, according to Nvidia’s and AMD’s thermal specifications. Monitoring temperature confirms whether throttling limits frame rate, which the guide to monitoring CPU and GPU temperatures covers, and GPU cooling methods explain how to lower the temperature.

Check for a CPU or GPU Bottleneck

Checking which component runs near 100% usage identifies whether the CPU or GPU limits frame rate, directing the next optimization. A bottleneck is the component held at full load while the other has spare capacity, and the limiting component determines which settings to change. Follow these steps:

1. Open an on-screen overlay in MSI Afterburner with RTSS or the game’s built-in performance display.
2. Watch CPU and GPU usage during gameplay, noting which sits near 100% while the other stays lower.
3. Identify a GPU bottleneck when GPU usage stays near 100%, which lower settings or upscaling relieve.
4. Identify a CPU bottleneck when CPU usage caps frame rate at high refresh, which lower resolution does not fix.

A GPU bottleneck, where GPU usage stays near 100%, responds to lower settings, upscaling, and a lower resolution. A CPU bottleneck, where one or more cores cap frame rate, responds to fewer background apps and a faster processor rather than resolution changes, since lowering resolution raises GPU headroom that the CPU cannot use.

Overclock the GPU for Extra Frames

Overclocking the GPU raises its core and memory clock speeds, adding frame rate on the same hardware when settings changes are exhausted. A GPU overclock increases clock speed beyond the factory setting, producing a measurable frame rate gain after stability testing. Follow these steps:

1. Install MSI Afterburner and a benchmark such as Unigine Heaven or 3DMark for stability testing.
2. Raise the core clock in small steps, testing each increment for artifacts or crashes.
3. Raise the memory clock after the core clock is stable, testing again for errors.
4. Run a long stability test and save the profile once the overclock holds without artifacts.

A GPU overclock typically adds 5% to 10% more frame rate, with the gain limited by the card’s power and thermal headroom. The full procedure, including power-limit and fan-curve setup and the artifact-testing method, appears in the guide to overclocking your GPU, which also covers undervolting as a lower-temperature alternative.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Increasing FPS fails or destabilizes the system when changes target the wrong component or skip testing. The mistakes that limit or reverse frame rate gains are listed below:

• Lowering resolution on a CPU-bound game raises GPU headroom the CPU cannot use, so frame rate stays capped.
• Disabling textures to gain frames trades visual quality for little gain, since textures use video memory more than GPU load.
• Skipping the driver update misses game-ready optimizations that add frame rate at no quality cost.
• Overclocking without stability testing causes crashes and artifacts that an untested overclock introduces.
• Ignoring thermal throttling leaves the GPU losing clock speed to heat, capping frame rate despite other changes.

A frame rate that stays low after every change usually points to a CPU bottleneck or a thermal limit rather than a settings issue, which the bottleneck check and the temperature monitoring guide confirm. Stutter that persists separately from low frame rate belongs to the fix for lag and stuttering.

Key Takeaways

• Update the GPU driver first, which adds game-ready optimizations at no quality cost.
• Lower shadows, ray tracing, and anti-aliasing, the three heaviest settings in most games.
• Enable DLSS, FSR, or XeSS to raise frame rate by 30% to 70% with near-native detail.
• Lower resolution or use render scaling in GPU-bound games to cut the pixel count.
• Check for a CPU or GPU bottleneck to direct the right setting changes.
• Raise the power and fan profile and overclock the GPU for extra frames after settings are tuned.

Last Thoughts on Increasing FPS in Games

Increasing FPS in games follows an order of impact: update the GPU driver, lower the heaviest settings, enable DLSS, FSR, or XeSS upscaling, lower resolution or render scale, cap background apps, raise the power and fan profile, check the CPU or GPU bottleneck, and overclock the GPU. Upscaling and the heaviest-settings reduction deliver the largest gains per quality loss, while the bottleneck check directs the rest. Readers can continue with the guide to overclocking your GPU, the guide to optimizing Windows for gaming, the best GPUs for gaming overview, or the PC tutorials hub for related procedures.