If your PC struggles to hit 60 FPS, you are not alone — and you don’t need a hardware upgrade to fix it. Most FPS problems are caused by wrong settings, background processes, or Windows configurations that can be fixed in under 30 minutes. This guide covers every proven method to boost FPS on a low-end or budget PC in 2026.
What Is FPS and Why Does It Matter?
FPS stands for Frames Per Second. It measures how many unique images your PC renders each second. Higher FPS means smoother motion, faster reactions, and a more responsive game.
● Under 30 FPS: Unplayable in fast-paced games
● 30–60 FPS: Acceptable for casual gaming
● 60 FPS: The baseline for competitive gaming
● 144+ FPS: The gold standard for competitive multiplayer
Step 1: Lower Your In-Game Graphics Settings
This is the fastest and biggest FPS improvement available. Open your game’s video settings and change the following:
● Resolution: Keep at your monitor’s native resolution if possible. If you need more FPS, try 1600×900 instead of 1920×1080
● Shadows: Off or Very Low (shadows are extremely demanding on GPUs and CPUs)
● Anti-Aliasing: Off or FXAA (the cheapest option)
● Texture Quality: Low or Medium
● Effects Quality: Low
● VSync: Always OFF — this caps your FPS and adds input lag
● Motion Blur: Always OFF
● Ambient Occlusion: Off
● Draw Distance / View Distance: Medium (going too low hurts gameplay)
Expected FPS gain: 20–60% depending on the game
Step 2: Set Windows Power Plan to High Performance
Windows “Balanced” mode throttles your CPU when it detects low load, then ramps up. This transition causes sudden stutters and FPS drops.
How to fix it:
1. Press Windows + R → type “powercfg.cpl” → press Enter
2. Select “High Performance”
3. If you don’t see it, click “Show additional plans”
Expected FPS gain: 5–20%, especially in CPU-intensive games
Step 3: Close All Background Applications
Before launching your game, close:
● Web browsers (Chrome uses 500MB–2GB of RAM)
● Discord video streams (voice-only is fine)
● Any active downloads
● Spotify or streaming services (use your phone instead)
● Windows Update — pause it during gaming in Settings → Windows Update → Pause for 7 days
Expected FPS gain: 5–30% on low-RAM systems (4GB–8GB)
Step 4: Update Your GPU Drivers
Outdated GPU drivers miss game-specific optimizations. Every major GPU driver release includes FPS improvements for recently popular games.
● NVIDIA users: Download GeForce Experience or visit nvidia.com/drivers
● AMD users: Download AMD Adrenalin software or visit amd.com/drivers
● Intel integrated graphics: Visit intel.com/graphics-drivers
Restart your PC after updating. Expected FPS gain: 5–15%
Step 5: Disable Xbox Game Bar and Game DVR
Windows 10/11 records your gameplay in the background even when you’re not streaming. This consumes CPU, RAM, and disk write speed.
How to disable:
1. Press Windows + I → Gaming
2. Turn off “Xbox Game Bar”
3. Turn off “Record in the background while I’m playing a game”
4. Turn off all “Captures” options
Expected FPS gain: 3–15%, especially on lower-end hardware
Step 6: Adjust Your In-Game Resolution Scale
Many games have a “render resolution” or “3D resolution” setting separate from your display resolution. Setting this to 75–85% gives you more FPS without changing your screen resolution.
Where to find it:
● Fortnite: Settings → Video → 3D Resolution
● Warzone: Settings → Graphics → Render Resolution
● Apex Legends: Settings → Video → Resolution Scale
Expected FPS gain: 15–40%
Step 7: Enable Storage Cleanup
A nearly-full hard drive slows down everything — including game loading and FPS during asset streaming.
How to free space:
1. Press Windows + S → search “Disk Cleanup”
2. Select your C: drive → OK
3. Check: Temporary files, Recycle Bin, Windows Update Cleanup
4. Click “Clean up system files” for even more space
5. Aim to keep at least 15% of your drive free at all times
Step 8: Change Game Priority in Task Manager
Telling Windows to give your game more CPU resources:
1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager
2. Click the “Details” tab
3. Find your game’s .exe file
4. Right-click → Set Priority → High
5. Do NOT set it to “Realtime” — this can cause system crashes
Note: You need to do this each time you launch the game unless you use a startup script.
Summary: Expected Total FPS Improvement
After applying all 8 steps, most low-end PCs see a total FPS improvement of 40–90%. A PC that was getting 35 FPS in Fortnite typically reaches 55–70 FPS after optimization.
If you’re still getting very low FPS after all these steps, the bottleneck may be hardware — particularly having only 4GB of RAM (most modern games need 8GB minimum) or a GPU that’s below minimum spec for the game.