How To Fix Random Framerate Drops / Lags In Games

Most of us had this issue when a perfectly running game would randomly slow down dramatically to a few fps and then rise again or never rise again. In this post I will explain how to fix this problem forever.

While there are many factors which lead to this problem the most commonly occurred factors are given in the list below. If you have an Nvidia GPU forcing a specific performance state for your graphics driver will surely help, especially if you have overclocked your card.
Follow this link to know how.

If your framerate drops when entering crowded areas or during intense fighting scenes, it usually means that the GPU is not able to render frames at the same speed as it receives frames from the CPU. Unfortunately, there are only two ways to fix this, the first one is to try overclocking your graphics card and the second one is to buy an entirely new card. You may also try reducing the resolution and graphic intensity in the game options.



1. Force a performance state for your graphics card, link can be found above. This is the most effective way. Remember : Check whether overheating is the issue for framerate drops before trying this.  If it is, never use this trick!


2. Anti-virus softwares are the most common culprit  for framerate drops, especially if you have memory hungry Norton anti-virus, but disabling all antivirus software will surely  have a positive effect on your framerate.

3. Close all other running processes especially those which are in the system tray.

4. . Reset the overclcocking of your graphics card (Try the first trick before this). If it doesn't help underclock your graphics card about a 100mhz.

5. Make sure your graphics card is not over heating, plenty of monitoring apps can be found through google to check. If your temp is above 95~100 overheating could be the culprit but generally it depends upon the graphics card you use. Some high end ones can withstand above 110 degree celsius.
Graphics drivers will automatically slow down (Throttle) your  card if it overheats, a framerate drop can be the result of this.


6. Even if your graphics card is not overheating, you may try cleaning your pc case to make sure there is enough airflow. Also make sure the fans on your graphics card are spinning.You may also try cleaning the heatsink of your graphics card using a brush after removing the fan. While it may not increase the framerate it will surely increase the lifespan of your internal devices.


7. Use task manager to kill "explorer.exe" after running the game and minimizing it. Although this tip does not work 99% of the time, in some cases framerate drop could be avoided completely using this trick, especially if you do not have a dedicated graphics card. I have used this trick to prevent framerate drops while playing Max Payne 2 on XP OS in my old computer.

8. Update your graphics driver. Especially if the lag occurs in a newly released game.

9. Update Directx, although most games install the necessary Directx files during the install itself, it may help with the framerates.



Thats it. Hope these 9 tips helped you to fix your problem. I personally recommend the first tip as it has cured the same problem in my and many of my friend's computers.