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Troubleshooting Frame Rate and Performance Issues

Common Symptoms of Performance Issues 

  • Low frames per second (FPS).
  • Choppy game play.
  • Choppy or poor-quality video display.

Quick Fixes

  • Try switching from windowed or borderless windowed to full screen, or vice versa. In some cases, doing so may increase your FPS while playing.
  • Close any unneeded programs while playing, as they can adversely impact your computer's performance. These programs include web browsers, background programs running in your system tray, etc.
  • Be sure that your computer isn't downloading Windows updates, other games, etc. Performing tasks that involve writing to your drive can drastically decrease your computer's performance.

Troubleshooting Performance Issues

Adjust your in-game video settings

  1. From the in-game play screen, select the Esc button.
  2. Within the Game Menu, select Settings, and then Video.
  3. Scroll down and select Auto Settings.
  4. Resume game play to test the change.
  5. If lag isn't improved, select All and lower the settings until game play improves.

Set Windows power settings to High Performance

If your computer's power profile isn't set to High performance, it could be throttling performance.

To access Power Options in Windows:

  1. Press Windows + R, type "powercfg.cpl" into the Run window, and then press Enter.
  2. Select the radio button next to the High performance power plan. You may need to click Show additional plans first.

Checks for Windows updates

Check for Windows updates

To learn more about how to check for Windows updates, go to Microsoft Support.

Reduce startup applications

Try clean booting into Windows by following the instructions at Microsoft Support.

Clean booting into Windows prevents any unnecessary programs or services from starting up, and helps narrow down the cause of your issues. If you continue to have trouble after performing a clean boot, it's safe to assume that background programs and services aren't the root cause. You can go back to your normal startup.

Ensure your video drivers are up to date

To determine which video card you have:

  1. Press Windows + R, type "dxdiag" into the Run window, and then press Enter.
  2. Click the Display tab and you can see information about your video card under the Device section.

AMD

To update your video drivers, go to AMD Support.

Intel

To update your video drivers, go to Intel Support.

Nvidia

To update your video drivers, go to Nvidia Support.

Verify integrity of game files

To learn how to verify your game files, go to Steam Support.

Scan for malware

Try scanning for malware. Malware can cause many adverse effects on your computer. These effects vary widely depending upon the type and purpose of the malware. High resource usage can be one of the symptoms, which directly impacts your gaming experience. If you have your own preferred anti-virus or anti-malware software, use it to scan your computer.

Reset your video driver software to the default settings

Video drivers often come bundled with software that lets you set custom preferences, create graphics profiles, and control other video card settings. Examples of these programs are Catalyst Control Center (AMD) and Nvidia Control Panel. These settings can interfere with in-game video settings, which can cause FPS issues. Resetting your software to the default settings may help alleviate issues.

AMD

To reset your driver software to the default settings:

  1. Right-click on your desktop and select Catalyst Control Center or AMD Radeon Settings.
  2. In the upper-right corner of the window, select Preferences.
  3. Select Restore Factory Defaults.

Intel

To reset your driver software to the default settings:

  1. Right-click on your desktop and select Graphic Properties.
  2. Click 3D.
  3. Click Restore Defaults.

Nvidia

To reset your driver software to the default settings:

  1. Right-click on your desktop and select Nvidia Control Panel.
  2. Click Manage 3D Settings.
  3. In the upper-right corner, click Restore Defaults.

Check for evidence of overheating

Overheating can cause performance issues with any computer, and the symptoms can vary depending on the situation.

Some common signs of overheating:

  • Weird fan sounds.
  • Blue screen of death.
  • Constantly reboots or shuts down.
  • Non-fan-based CPU overheating.
  • High temperature.
  • Your computer sounds like it might take flight at any moment.

If you suspect your computer is overheating, you can try the troubleshooting from Intel Support to start.