After a few years of use, the hardware of the computer will become obsolete and needs to be replaced in order to keep it relevant with the newest AAA titles. Or should we?
The reality is computer hardware these days don’t need to upgrade as often as we used to. There are some easy tweaks that could improve the overall PC performance, especially when gaming. That way, you can save money for something else and keep the machine last a little longer.
So, the good news is I have found several tips that would significantly boost game frame rate and reduce micro stutter. All these tips don’t require you to buy anything, just some free tools that will help enhance the performance. Check out the list below!
Table of Contents
#1 Always use the game settings from GeForce Experience
GeForce Experience is a free software by NVIDIA that lets you choose between “Performance” and “Quality” based on the hardware specifications. It offers you the sweet spot between these two and automatically applied the settings on the selected game. So you would get decent frame rates and reasonable visual without having to test the settings manually.
The software comes with a handful of features associated with gaming. You can download GeForce Experience here. It’s totally free and works on the Team Red — AMD graphic cards as well.
#2 Focus the power of your PC when gaming with Razer Cortex
Razer Cortex is another free software that serves a unique function. There are tons of background apps running when you are playing video games. Razer Cortex will freeze these unnecessary apps and focusing the whole performance just for gaming.
This software is proven to increase the game frame rate and reduce lag. It will revert everything back to normal when the gaming session has ended. It works automatically when you are about to play. Razer Cortex also has a cleaner feature named “System Booster” that basically cleans PC from junk files, defragging games, and speed up the machine.
Razer Cortex can be downloaded here.
#3 Enable “Ultimate Performance” or “Ryzen Balanced” mode
Ultimate Performance is a new upgrade from the “High Performance” plan on Windows 10 that lets computers running faster, whereas Ryzen Balanced is the recommended power plan for Ryzen CPU computers to improve performance and efficiency. Both plans have the same effect on gaming, but Ryzen owners may benefit a little more than Intel in this case.
To be able to get the Ultimate Performance plan, there’s a specific guide you need to follow first. On the other hand, Ryzen Balanced requires the latest CPU driver and chipset software installed. I have made a simple tutorial to enable Ryzen Balanced here.
#4 If possible, overclock the CPU and GPU
Overclocking is definitely one important trick to increase frame rates and reduce lags. Many modern CPUs and GPUs can be overclocked easily and safely. You can expect an improvement somewhere between 5% to 20% of frame rates depending on the application and overclocking profile.
But if you are into gaming, then overclocking GPU will give a much noticeable effect than overclocking CPU. Overclocking is not as scary as it may sounds. I have made an article on how to overclock GPU safely which only takes a few minutes to complete.
#5 Keep the computer clean and software up to date
The last one is on the software and how you taking care of your computer system. There are a few good practices that will make the computer feels brand new after years. Do some of these regularly, at least once a month to keep everything is on the best condition.
- Make sure all drivers are up to date
- For HDD, perform defragment
- For SSD, perform TRIM
- Uninstall programs you don’t need
- Run antivirus scanning to prevent malware
- Disable unnecessary background apps
- Turn off cosmetic animations
- Clean computer fans & heatsinks from dust
These tips won’t necessarily make your computer incredibly fast or shadowing the newest hardware generation. The total improvement may not much, but you don’t have to spend an extra dime for it.
