Boost your frame rates and eliminate stutters with these seven fundamental adjustments—perfect for gamers seeking a competitive edge.

1. Keep Your Graphics Drivers Current

Regularly install the latest NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel driver packages. Official “game-ready” updates often include targeted optimisations and fixes for new titles, delivering noticeable performance gains.

2. Fine-Tune In-Game Graphics

Adjust resolution, texture quality, and shadow detail to balance visuals and speed. Dialing back CPU-intensive features—like ray tracing or ultra shadows—can significantly uplift FPS with minimal impact on appearance.

3. Overclock with Caution

Use utilities such as MSI Afterburner or AMD Ryzen Master to incrementally raise clock speeds on your GPU and CPU. Closely monitor temperatures and run stress tests to confirm system stability before settling on your settings.

4. Clean Up System Junk

Utilise built-in tools like Disk Cleanup or third-party apps such as CCleaner to remove temporary files and invalid registry entries. A decluttered system can reduce load times and prevent unnecessary slowdowns.

5. Trim Background Applications

Review and disable unneeded startup programs via Task Manager. Closing resource-hungry background processes frees up CPU and RAM, reserving power for your games.

6. Migrate Games to an SSD

Store your most-played titles on an NVMe or SATA SSD. The dramatically faster read/write speeds cut loading screens and minimise in-game asset pop-in, keeping gameplay seamless.

7. Enable Game Mode and High-Performance Power Plans

Activate Windows Game Mode and select a high-performance power profile. This prioritises CPU and GPU cycles for the game, reducing interruptions from system throttling or background tasks.

Apply these techniques to transform your rig into a fluid, high-performance gaming machine—giving you the competitive advantage in any title.