Why are my FPS suddenly lower than they used to be?

Five common causes, in order of likelihood: a recent Windows or graphics driver update introduced a regression, your CPU or GPU is thermal throttling (check temps in HWiNFO64), the in-game settings auto-changed after a patch, background apps (Chrome, Discord, browser extensions) are eating resources, or your PSU is failing and undervolting the GPU. Roll back the most recent driver first as a free 60-second test.

How do I tell if I'm CPU or GPU bound?

Enable an overlay (MSI Afterburner / RivaTuner, NVIDIA App overlay, or AMD Radeon Software overlay). Look at GPU utilisation during gameplay. If GPU usage is at 95-100% and you're CPU is below 90%, you are GPU bound — your GPU is the limit. If GPU usage hovers at 60-80% and one CPU core is pegged near 100%, you are CPU bound — your CPU is the limit. The right fix depends entirely on which side is the bottleneck.

What is DLSS and FSR, and which should I use?

Both are AI-assisted upscaling — the game renders at a lower internal resolution and reconstructs the final image at your monitor's native resolution. NVIDIA DLSS works only on RTX GPUs and is the gold standard for quality. AMD FSR works on any GPU (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel) but has more shimmering and ghosting at low quality presets. Intel XeSS works on any GPU and quality is between DLSS and FSR. Use DLSS if you have an RTX card. Use XeSS for older AMD cards. Use FSR as the universal fallback.

Does Windows Game Mode actually help FPS?

Marginally — usually 0-3% improvement in modern Windows 11. Game Mode reduces background CPU contention by deprioritising Windows Update, indexing and similar services while a fullscreen game is detected. The bigger gains come from manually closing Chrome, Discord, browser extensions and any RGB or peripheral software running in the system tray. Keep Game Mode on; don't rely on it.

Should I overclock my CPU or GPU for more FPS?

Overclocking gives small returns (3-8%) for considerable risk. The bigger free wins in 2026 are undervolting (which often gives both higher boost clocks and lower temps), enabling XMP/EXPO on your RAM, and using DLSS/FSR. Modern CPUs and GPUs already boost aggressively at stock; manual overclock headroom is mostly gone. Save overclocking for after you've exhausted the easier wins.

How do I know if my PC is thermal throttling?

Run HWiNFO64 with a sensor overlay. CPU package above 95°C or GPU above 85°C sustained = thermal throttle. Watch for clock speed dropping below base clock under load — that's the smoking gun. Common causes: dust-clogged radiator/heatsink (clean it), dried-out thermal paste on a 3+ year old build (repaste), poor case airflow (more intake fans), or cooler too weak for the CPU (upgrade to a 240mm AIO or premium air).

Is enabling XMP / EXPO actually free FPS?

Yes, and most people forget this exists. Out of the box, DDR5 RAM runs at JEDEC base speed (4800 MT/s on AMD, 5600 MT/s on Intel) even if you bought a 6000 or 7200 MT/s kit. Reboot into BIOS, find XMP (Intel) or EXPO (AMD), enable it, save and reboot. Real-world gain in games: 5-12% on AMD AM5, 3-7% on Intel. Takes 60 seconds and costs nothing. Most builders we troubleshoot have not enabled it.

When is it the hardware, not the settings?

When you've already done all the easy wins (clean driver install, XMP enabled, DLSS/FSR on, settings at sensible mid-high, dust cleaned, undervolt applied) and the game still runs poorly at your target resolution. If a 3-year-old GPU is hitting 100% utilisation at the right resolution and still struggling with modern AAA at high settings, that's not a settings problem — the GPU has aged out and the upgrade is the right answer. The honest tell: GPU at 100% + frame rate still too low = hardware bottleneck.

Troubleshooting · Low FPS

How to fix low FPS. — Diagnose first. Then fix. In that order.

Reddit will tell you to "update drivers and use DLSS". That's the answer when you don't know what's broken. This guide finds out what's actually broken — and then fixes it in the right order, from free easy wins to the hardware swap of last resort.

11 min read
Updated May 2026
Reviewed by Evetech Hardware Team

By the end of this guide, you'll know if you're CPU or GPU bound, which settings to drop first, when DLSS is the right call, how to check thermal throttling, and the honest moment when more FPS is a hardware-upgrade problem.

typical fix range: 30→144
free to upgrade: 10 steps
fixed before hardware: 90%

Diagnose first — CPU bound or GPU bound?

CPU-bound vs GPU-bound — Diagnose the bottleneck first.

This is the single most important step and the one most guides skip. The same low FPS symptom has two completely opposite fixes depending on which side of your PC is the bottleneck.

Install MSI Afterburner + RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS). Both free. Configure the on-screen display to show GPU usage, CPU usage per-thread, FPS, GPU temperature, CPU temperature and VRAM usage. Launch your problem game.

Now watch the overlay during actual gameplay (menus don't count — the engine isn't running):

What the overlay shows	You are	Right fix
GPU usage 95-100%, CPU under 90%	GPU bound	Lower settings, enable DLSS/FSR, drop resolution, or upgrade GPU
GPU usage 60-80%, one CPU thread at 99%	CPU bound	Disable Chrome/background apps, drop draw distance & physics, enable XMP/EXPO, or upgrade CPU
GPU 100%, CPU 100% both	Balanced	Honest hardware limit — DLSS/FSR is your best lever
GPU under 60%, CPU under 60%	Stuttering / V-sync / framerate cap	Check in-game cap, V-sync, monitor refresh, power plan

Why this matters: if you're CPU bound, lowering shadows does nothing. If you're GPU bound, closing Chrome does nothing. People spend hours tweaking the wrong setting because they didn't check the bottleneck first.

The wrong fix on the right symptom is just another symptom. Find the bottleneck, then move.
The single biggest mistake in FPS troubleshooting

Drivers — clean install, not "update"

The "have you updated your drivers" advice is correct, but the way most people update is wrong. Installing a new driver over an old one stacks broken bits. The right approach is a clean install with DDU.

DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) — the right way

Download the latest driver from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel directly (not Windows Update — months behind, missing features).
Download DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) from Wagnardsoft. Free, portable.
Reboot into Safe Mode (hold Shift while clicking Restart).
Run DDU, select GPU, click "Clean and restart".
System reboots to a generic display driver. Now install the fresh driver normally.

This single step routinely resolves stuttering, micro-stutters and "my FPS used to be higher" complaints — accumulated driver leftovers from years of updates conflict with current builds.

Other drivers that matter for FPS

Chipset drivers — get directly from AMD or Intel. Particularly important on AM5 (X670, B650) and LGA1851 (Z890, B860) where chipset updates change CPU boost behaviour.
BIOS firmware — often dramatic on AM5. The AGESA microcode updates through 2024-2025 added significant Ryzen 7000 performance.
Resizable BAR / Smart Access Memory — check it's enabled in BIOS. Free 2-5% in many games.

In-game settings tier list — what to drop first

Not all graphics settings are equal. Some cost 30% FPS for a visual difference you'd need to pause and pixel-peep to see. Others cost 5% for a transformative visual upgrade. Here's the honest tier list:

S TIER

Textures — Set as high as your VRAM allows. Free FPS, transformative visual. Only drop if you're out of VRAM (textures pop in/blur).

S TIER

Anisotropic Filtering — Always 16x. Costs almost nothing, sharpens textures dramatically at angle.

A TIER

Anti-Aliasing — Use TAA / DLAA / FXAA at medium. SMAA also good. Skip MSAA — extremely expensive.

A TIER

Draw Distance / View Distance — Keep at high. Dropping to low looks ugly. Cost varies by engine — typically 5-10%.

B TIER

Shadows — Drop from Ultra to High first — often 0% visual difference, 10-15% FPS gained. Going to Medium another 8-12% with mild quality loss.

B TIER

Ambient Occlusion (AO) — Medium or low is fine. Ultra (HBAO+, GTAO) expensive for subtle gain. SSAO is the value tier.

B TIER

Reflections — Screen-space reflections (SSR) at medium. Anything labelled "ray-traced reflections" is F-tier expense for B-tier benefit unless you have a high-end RTX card.

F TIER

Volumetric Fog / Clouds (Ultra) — Often 15-25% FPS cost. Drop to High or Medium — visual difference is barely noticeable in motion.

F TIER

Motion Blur — Off. Always. It's purely a visual obscuration that costs FPS.

F TIER

Chromatic Aberration / Film Grain — Off. Free FPS, removes artificial visual noise designed to mimic film.

F TIER

Path Tracing (Cyberpunk, Alan Wake 2) — Requires RTX 4080+. Beautiful, but everyone else should turn it off and use standard ray-tracing or no RT.

The honest rule: drop F-tier settings first (often 20-30% FPS gained for no real visual loss), then B-tier (another 15-25% for mild loss), and only touch A-tier (textures, AA) if you absolutely have to.

DLSS, FSR and XeSS — the closest thing to free FPS

Upscaling is the single biggest FPS lever modern games offer. The game renders internally at a lower resolution (e.g. 1440p when you're playing at 4K), then an AI model upscales each frame to your monitor's native resolution. Done right, the result is visually equivalent to native rendering — but at the lower resolution's performance cost.

Tech	Works on	Quality & gain
NVIDIA DLSS 3 / 4	RTX 20-series and up only	Gold standard. 30-80% FPS gain at "Quality" preset, near-native visuals
NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation	RTX 40-series and up	Inserts AI-generated frames. Massive FPS gain — but adds input lag, only useful above 60 FPS base
AMD FSR 3 / 3.1	Any GPU (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel)	Universal fallback. 25-70% gain. Some shimmering at low presets, but FSR 3.1 closed most of the gap
AMD FSR Frame Generation	RX 6000 / 7000 / RTX	Similar to DLSS FG but more compatible. Same input-lag caveat
Intel XeSS 1.3	Any GPU; better on Intel Arc	Quality between DLSS and FSR. Underrated

The pick: always use DLSS if you have an RTX card. Use XeSS on older NVIDIA or any AMD if available. Use FSR as the universal fallback. Preset: "Quality" at 1440p and 4K, "Balanced" at 1080p (low base resolution makes upscaling artifacts more visible).

Windows & background apps — the dirty truth

Modern Windows 11 is hungrier than it admits. A clean install idles at 4-5GB RAM and 2-4% CPU just for system services. Add Chrome with twenty tabs, Discord, OBS, Steam, RGB software, peripheral utilities — you're at 30-50% baseline before the game even launches.

The free wins:

Close Chrome. Every tab is a process. Twenty tabs = 6-12GB RAM and noticeable CPU. Use a separate browser session (Edge or Firefox without your tabs) while gaming.
Close Discord overlay. The overlay is a CPU and GPU hit by itself. Settings → Game Overlay → off if you don't need it.
Disable startup apps. Task Manager → Startup → disable anything you don't actually need on boot. RGB software, Razer Synapse, Logitech G Hub, Corsair iCUE all run continuously.
Set Windows power plan to "Ultimate Performance" or at minimum "High Performance". Default "Balanced" introduces CPU clock-down lag.
Disable Xbox Game Bar capture — Settings → Gaming → Captures → turn off Background recording. This alone can add 5-10% FPS in CPU-bound titles.
Enable Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling — Settings → Display → Graphics → Default settings. Worth 2-4% in many games.
Set the game's GPU preference — Settings → System → Display → Graphics → set your game to "High performance" (forces dGPU on hybrid laptops).

Thermal throttling — the silent FPS killer

If your CPU exceeds ~95°C (Intel) or ~90°C (AMD Ryzen 7000/9000 Tj Max), or your GPU exceeds ~85°C sustained, the chip lowers its own clock speed to protect itself. You'll see "thermal throttling" — temperatures plateau because performance has been cut.

How to diagnose thermal throttling:

Install HWiNFO64 (free). Open the Sensors panel. Look for "CPU Package" and "GPU Hot Spot" temperatures.
Play your game for 15-20 minutes. Watch the temps.
Look at "CPU Core Effective Clocks" — if it drops below the rated base clock under load, you're throttling.
HWiNFO64 explicitly flags "PROCHOT" or "Thermal Throttling" status — yes/no field.

How to fix thermal throttling — in order of effort:

Clean the PC. Compressed air on radiator fins, heatsink fins, case dust filters. On 2-3 year old PCs in SA, you'll find a thick mat of dust. This single step often drops temps 8-15°C.
Check fan curves. Default fan curves on most boards prioritise silence. In BIOS or via the board's software, set fans to ramp aggressively above 60°C.
Verify case airflow. Front intake, top/rear exhaust. Positive pressure (more intake than exhaust). Cables routed out of fan paths.
Repaste the CPU. On 3+ year old builds, the thermal paste is dried out. Fresh Arctic MX-6 will drop temps 5-10°C. (See our thermal paste guide.)
Repaste the GPU. Out-of-warranty cards 3+ years old benefit similarly. New cards: don't (voids warranty).
Upgrade the cooler. If a stock or low-end cooler is on a Ryzen 7/9 or Core i7/i9, that's mismatched. 240mm AIO or premium air (Peerless Assassin, Noctua NH-D15) fixes most thermal issues.

Undervolt and overclock — the unsung heroes

In 2026 the biggest free performance lever isn't overclocking — it's undervolting. Modern CPUs and GPUs ship with conservative voltage curves that allow stability across the worst silicon Intel/AMD/NVIDIA produce. Your specific chip is almost always better than that. Lowering voltage at the same clock means lower temps, which means the chip boosts higher for longer.

CPU undervolt:

AMD Ryzen 7000/9000: use PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive) with a Curve Optimizer offset of -20 to -30. Tested and proven on every chip we've benched.
Intel Core Ultra 200S: use Intel XTU. Voltage offset of -50mV to -100mV typically stable. Temperature drops 8-12°C, boost clocks rise.

GPU undervolt:

NVIDIA: MSI Afterburner — set core voltage offset, drag curve at e.g. 0.875mV to your stock max boost frequency, flatten anything above. Saves 30-60W and runs cooler.
AMD: Adrenalin software → Performance → Tuning → Manual → undervolt slider. AMD makes this simpler than NVIDIA.

Overclocking — manual overclock headroom on modern CPUs is minimal (CPU is already self-boosting near its limit). GPU overclocks of +100-150 MHz on core and +500-1000 MHz on memory are usually free, but the gains are 3-6%. Save it for after the other steps.

When it's the hardware — the honest moment

All the steps above are about extracting maximum performance from what you have. Eventually that runs out. The honest tell that you've hit the hardware ceiling:

GPU usage at 95-100% during gameplay.
Settings already at sensible high (not ultra) with DLSS/FSR Quality enabled.
Clean GPU driver install, latest stable.
Temperatures within safe range (CPU under 85°C, GPU under 80°C — no thermal throttling).
XMP/EXPO enabled, RAM at rated speed.
Frame rate still below your target.

That's not a settings problem. That's the GPU genuinely reaching its silicon limit. The upgrade is the right answer.

Key takeaways

Diagnose before you fix. Use MSI Afterburner to identify CPU bound vs GPU bound — the fix differs entirely.
Three free wins everyone misses: enable XMP/EXPO, do a DDU clean GPU driver install, turn on DLSS or FSR.
Drop F-tier settings first (volumetrics, motion blur, chromatic aberration) — 20-30% FPS for zero real visual loss.
Check thermal throttling with HWiNFO64. Dusty PC + dried thermal paste accounts for half the "my FPS dropped" tickets.
If GPU is at 100% and FPS is still low at sensible settings — it's hardware time, not settings time.

Frequently asked questions

Why are my FPS suddenly lower than they used to be?
Most common: a recent driver or Windows update. Roll back the latest GPU driver as a 60-second test. Other causes: thermal throttling (check temps), reset settings after a patch, background apps, failing PSU.
How do I tell if I'm CPU or GPU bound?
Use MSI Afterburner overlay. GPU at 95-100% = GPU bound. One CPU thread at 99% with GPU at 60-80% = CPU bound. The fix differs entirely depending on the answer.
What is DLSS and FSR, and which should I use?
AI-assisted upscaling. DLSS is NVIDIA only (RTX-class), highest quality. FSR works on any GPU and is the universal fallback. XeSS is between the two. Use DLSS if you have RTX, otherwise FSR or XeSS.
Does Windows Game Mode actually help FPS?
Marginally — 0-3%. Keep it on, but closing Chrome and Discord gets you more.
Should I overclock my CPU or GPU for more FPS?
Undervolting is better. Modern chips already boost aggressively at stock. Lower voltage = lower temps = higher sustained boost. PBO Curve Optimizer -20 on Ryzen or -75mV on Intel XTU is usually free.
How do I know if my PC is thermal throttling?
HWiNFO64. CPU over 95°C or GPU over 85°C sustained. Watch for clock speed dropping below base under load — the smoking gun.
Is enabling XMP / EXPO actually free FPS?
Yes. DDR5 ships at JEDEC base speed until enabled in BIOS. Real-world gain in games: 5-12% on AMD AM5, 3-7% on Intel. Most people we troubleshoot have not enabled it.
When is it the hardware, not the settings?
When GPU is at 100% with sensible settings, DLSS/FSR enabled, latest drivers, temps fine. That's the silicon ceiling — upgrade time.