How to Improve Performance in Almost Any Computer Game

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Perhaps one of the most frequently mentioned ways to improve PC gaming performance (at least that I’ve seen in recent years) is GPU overclocking. While this can definitely give you a few extra frames (like fps), it’s also extremely harmful to your card if you don’t know what you’re doing – and even sometimes when you know what you’re doing.

Instead, I recommend changing a few key settings in your game to improve performance. Of course, this may not always result in the best graphical fidelity, but sometimes you may need to sacrifice beautiful graphics for better performance.

Change these settings first

Credit: Ubisoft

If you’re having performance issues, try disabling a few key settings first.

First, disable vertical sync. While it promises to smooth out frames, in many games you’ll find that V-Sync actually hurts performance more than it helps. This is because while it prevents screen tearing, it forces your graphics card to match your monitor’s refresh rate. It can also cause a slight input lag, which can sometimes feel like performance issues if you’re playing a fast-paced game.

You’ll also want to start reducing the quality of the shadows. While higher shadow settings may look good, they are also extremely demanding, especially in newer games. Sometimes these shadows are also tied to lighting, but often you’ll see them as separate settings. I recommend turning them down to medium or high if you have a powerful enough system. In most cases, Ultra causes more performance issues than visual improvements.

Ambient occlusion is another setting related to lighting and shadows, but it’s a little more complex. Ambient occlusion essentially controls how objects cast shadows on other objects—for example, a desk or computer monitor casting shadows on a chair. You can usually turn this setting off without much noticeable difference, and it will often net you five to ten extra frames per second (FPS).

Even though ray tracing has come a long way since its mainstream adoption, it is still one of the most performance-hungry features modern video games offer. So I recommend turning it off in most games unless you don’t mind losing the extra performance it may cost you. (It looks really nice.) I would say that at best these settings should be set to Low or Medium on the highest level. Just remember that you will see a dramatic drop in performance when using it.

The same goes for reflections. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2 have dedicated reflection sliders so you can choose exactly what quality of reflections you want from mirrors and water. While they can be nice to look at, you’ll often lose a few frames per second to these smoother reflections, and in most cases there aren’t enough reflective surfaces in the game to make that much of a difference.

Smoothing

You’ll also want to work with anti-aliasing effects. While these can help smooth out the edges of your gaming experience, they can also be quite expensive, especially if you’re using one of the more intense options. Anti-aliasing options range from basic Supersample Anti-Aliasing (SSAA), which renders the game at a higher resolution before downscaling it to fit the monitor, to faster options like Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA), which uses guessing algorithms. which edges need to be smoothed after the image is rendered.

Depending on which type of anti-aliasing you choose, you may see smoother edges but a slight performance hit. There are also other types of anti-aliasing, such as Multisample Anti-Aliasing (MSAA), which is the most common option. This renders only the edges of the scene at a higher resolution, saving performance and providing quality similar to what SSAA offers. You’ll also see a temporal anti-aliasing option (TAA or TXAA), which works similar to MSAA, rendering edges at a higher resolution. However, TAA also takes into account temporal detail, meaning that it uses previous frames to predict what anti-aliasing to use in future frames.

Ultimately, your best option will vary, but I’ve had great success with MSAA because it doesn’t have the high cost of SSAA. However, for most possible shots, you’ll probably want to use FXAA or TAA, although they’re both prone to artifacts (visual errors that appear on your display) and won’t always look better.

DLSS, FSR, XESS and dynamic resolution

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Finally, if you’re really having performance issues, I highly recommend trying DLSS, FSR, XESS, or Dynamic Resolution. DLSS, which stands for Deep Learning Super Sampling, and FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) are dynamic resolution options that rely on your graphics card to render your game at a lower resolution and then upscale it using artificial intelligence algorithms. XESS is a similar but newer and rarer equivalent. These settings can often provide additional FPS without compromising visual quality in much the same way as simply lowering the resolution.

DLSS only works on Nvidia graphics cards and is often considered the highest quality option for this particular feature. However, AMD’s FSR is just as effective at boosting performance, but without as much graphical fidelity. It works with both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards, making it a solid option for almost anyone. By far DLSS provides better rendering between the two, so give it a try if you have an Nvidia card.

XESS works similarly, although it builds on various Intel technology features that are built into the company’s new processors and GPUs. In games, it’s even less powerful than DLSS and FSR, and provides smaller performance gains and a larger quality penalty, depending on the game. If you see an opportunity to use it in your game, you can try enabling it, but don’t be surprised if DLSS or FSR gives better results.

If you want to go even further, or if DLSS and FSR are not available, you can also use Nvidia Image Scaling (NIS). This feature is built directly into the Nvidia Control Panel and Nvidia GeForce Experience and allows you to set the resolution you want for scaling and the resolution you want to render the game at. However, you’ll have to manually adjust settings like sharpening, which can all too easily result in over-sharpening the image or reducing the overall quality of the image overall. However, it can be handy if you have time to sit and find the ideal settings for each game you plan to play.

Finally, some games have a built-in dynamic resolution option. This is not an AMD or Nvidia feature and is often much worse than DLSS or FSR. Some games do have great dynamic resolution, but for the most part you’ll see an even bigger drop in quality when using this feature since it targets a specific frame rate and dynamically changes your resolution during gameplay to match it. This sounds good in theory, but in practice it just creates an unpleasant experience that is not very pleasant.

Unfortunately, the list of games that support DLSS and FSR is still growing, so not every game will offer this functionality. Until that happens, try moving to other settings that may be more intensive, such as post-processing, texture quality, and viewing distance.

Buy a new video card

Of course, the best way to increase productivity is to just bite the bullet and buy new equipment. Stay tuned to Lifehacker for all the best GPU deals, including Nvidia’s new super cards and AMD’s upcoming chip refresh .

For now, here is a list of the most popular AMD and Nvidia graphics cards – the higher the number, the better the card: Nvidia

ASUS TUF Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 4070 OC Edition gaming graphics card
$649.00 at Amazon

Buy now

Buy now

$649.00 at Amazon

AMD

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