Seven Essential PC Tuning Tricks for Gamers

Boost your frame rates and eliminate lag with these seven proven PC tuning strategies, suitable for both newcomers and veteran builders.

1. Keep Your Graphics Drivers Fresh

Regularly update your NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel GPU drivers. These releases often include optimisations, bug resolutions, and enhanced compatibility for the newest game launches.

2. Fine-Tune In-Game Graphics

Adjust resolution, texture fidelity, and shadow rendering. Disabling or lowering demanding options—like ambient occlusion—can deliver major FPS improvements with minimal visual sacrifice.

3. Safely Overclock Your Hardware

Employ utilities such as MSI Afterburner or AMD Radeon Software to incrementally increase your GPU and CPU clock speeds. Always monitor thermals and validate stability through stress tests like Heaven or Prime95.

4. Declutter Your System

Use built-in Disk Cleanup or third-party tools to purge temporary files. Run registry cleaners to eliminate obsolete entries, helping your games launch faster and reducing in-game hitching.

5. Shut Down Unneeded Background Tasks

Disable non-essential startup apps and services. Open Task Manager and end processes hogging CPU or RAM so your system devotes maximum resources to gaming.

6. Switch to Solid-State Storage

Move your games folder to an NVMe or SATA SSD. This upgrade slashes load times, speeds up texture streaming, and virtually eradicates pop-in delays.

7. Leverage Game Mode and Performance Profiles

Activate Windows Game Mode and choose a high-performance power scheme in your OS. These settings prioritise your gaming process and prevent the CPU from down-clocking under load.

Apply these adjustments to transform your PC into a lean, mean gaming machine—ensuring rock-solid performance across every title.