How To Increase FPS on a Laptop

Console gamers have it easy. All their hardware is perfectly tuned for great gameplay, and the games are always developed with the limits of the console's performance in mind. Laptop gaming, on the other hand, can be much less consistent, with mismatched hardware, older graphics cards, outdated software drivers all leading to sometimes poor gaming performance. If you are experiencing video lag or stutters, you might need to tweak your laptop to improve the frame rate, measured in FPS.

When games are displayed on your screen they consist of a fast sequence of images, much like videos. These images are called frames and are created by your video card using data it receives from the games program running on your laptop. The number of frames displayed by your monitor in one second is called the frame rate or frames per second (FPS).

Maintaining a high FPS will keep your competitive edge in gaming. If you’re using a laptop and seeing some lag in your games, there are a few steps you can take to squeeze out some extra frames-per-second.

How To Increase FPS on a Laptop Windows 10

Games are designed to be enjoyed, but that probably won't happen if your FPS isn't strong enough. There are several ways to boost your FPS in your Windows 10 laptop, ranging from updates and tweaks to overclocking.

Update Your Graphics Card Drivers

Running obsolete drivers, which is the core software your GPU utilizes, may be a significant hindrance to your FPS whether you have a low-tier graphics card like an RX 560, a high-tier graphics card like an RTX 3080, or even an integrated graphics processor. To get the maximum performance out of your video card, keep your drivers up to date with the newest bug fixes and enhancements, and acquire them from the manufacturer's website.

Adjust the Performance Settings

Every game is unique, but if your FPS is too low, you may adjust the visual quality on the game's settings page. You may be able to modify the picture quality from "high" to "medium" with a single switch, or you may need to adjust different parameters for viewing distances, shadowing, texture effects, and so on.

Enable Game Mode

Game Mode optimizes your laptop for gaming by configuring a variety of Windows settings with only a single click to increase the display's frame rate:

• Tap the Search button, then click the "Settings" button.
• In the search box of the Settings window, enter "game," and then select "Game Mode settings" from the results.
• Enable Game Mode if it isn't already on by sliding the button to the right. You may need to reboot your laptop for the changes to take effect.

How To Increase FPS in Overwatch on a Laptop

Although you have the finest aim, you may lag behind the battle in Overwatch due to below-average frame rates. In general, for a seamless gameplay experience, you would want average frame rates that are over 60fps. Higher frame rates will benefit gamers with faster refresh rate displays the most.

Changing your in-game settings is the simplest approach to acquiring extra fps. While many elite players have powerful technology, they nevertheless work hard to strike a balance between performance and visual quality.

The following settings are intended to do this, however, you may reduce your graphics settings even more if you're still not obtaining the desired results:

• Adjust the screen resolution and aspect ratio to your original display resolution in the "Settings" under the "Video" tab.
• If you still need more performance after all of the modifications, consider dropping the screen resolution to 1600x900 or even lower. However, the overall image quality will suffer.
• Turn off VSync and Triple Buffering.

Make sure the Display Performance Stats option is turned on. This will allow an FPS counter, VRAM consumption, CPU temperature, and so on to assist you in determining which adjustments are most beneficial to you:

• Set a custom FPS Limit to a figure that is higher than your screen refresh rate but lower than the highest FPS you can achieve.
• Configure the Graphics Quality to the highest setting that works best with your components. Adjust this to Low for low-end systems.

Modify the following settings in your Advanced options:

• Lower your Render Scale to 100%.
• Texture Quality should be set to Low.
• Texture Filtering Quality should be set at Medium  2x
• Reduce the Local Fog Detail to Low
• Disable Dynamic Reflection
• Disable Shadow Detail
• Set the Model Detail to Medium, the Effects Detail to Low and the Lighting Quality to Medium
• Deactivate Antialias Quality
• Refraction Quality should be set to Medium
• Turn off local reflections and ambient occlusion
• Apply all these changes and you're good to go.

How To Increase FPS in CS:GO on a Laptop

If you're constantly getting shot up or can't achieve the kill you want due to low FPS when playing CS: GO, there are changes you can make to boost your FPS.

Install the Most Recent Game Patch

Installing the most recent game patch will solve issues and improve game performance. Check for updates from Steam or the official website, and then install the most recent game patch on your laptop.

Modify the Video Settings

You could significantly raise your CS: GO FPS by adjusting the game's visual settings. Here's how to go about it:

• To run CS: GO, launch the Steam client. Then, to access the game options, click the gear icon. Navigate to Video Settings, and select Advanced Video.
• Modify the game's video settings using the following parameters:
  • Global Shadow Quality: Very Low
  • Model/Texture Detail: Low
  • Effect Detail: Low
  • Shader Detail: Low
  • Multicore Rendering: Disabled
  • Multisampling Anti-Aliasing Mode: None
  • FXAA Anti-Aliasing: Disabled
  • Texture Filtering Mode: Bilinear
  • Wait for Vertical Sync: Disabled
  • Motion Blur: Disabled

If you're still experiencing FPS drops when playing the game, think about playing in windowed mode and decreasing the resolution. When you restart the game, you will see that the FPS of your CS: GO is greater than before.

Why Does My FPS Drop When I Unplug My Laptop?

When your laptop is unplugged or not charging, it is normal for your FPS to drop. When you unplug your laptop, it does everything it can to conserve battery life. To be more exact, it reduces the power consumption of both the CPU and the GPU. If you have a dedicated GPU, it will use the integrated graphics processor rather than the high-performance and power-hungry dedicated GPU. This is especially true if you have your power plan set to Battery Saver or if your graphics card driver has the power-saving option enabled.

Whether you're running the most advanced gaming laptop, or a more conventional one, learning how to do simple tweaks to improve your FPS will allow you to enjoy quicker load times, more responsive gaming, and smoother visuals with a completely efficient gameplay experience.