FPS drops can ruin a perfectly good gaming session. One minute you're owning the match, the next, your screen stutters and everything falls apart.
Whether you're playing a competitive shooter, an MMORPG, or a co-op survival game, unstable frame rates make gameplay frustrating and sometimes even unplayable.
The good news? You're not powerless. While FPS issues can be caused by many different things, most of them have straightforward solutions.
In this guide, we're going to break down what FPS drops are, why they happen, and what you can do to fix them in any online game.
What Are FPS Drops?
An FPS drop refers to a sudden decrease in the number of frames per second (FPS) your game is rendering, causing noticeable stuttering, laggy visuals, or choppy gameplay.
This happens when your computer can't keep up with the game's processing demands, often due to hardware limitations, background apps, overheating, or poorly optimized game settings.
FPS drops are especially frustrating in online games where smooth performance is crucial for fast reactions and competitive play.
FPS drops are not the same as lag caused by internet issues (that’s latency or ping). However, in online gaming, the two can sometimes get confused, especially when FPS tanks during intense fights or crowded scenes.
Note the drop in FPS values from 46 to 21. Source: Microsoft Answers
12 Ways to Fix FPS Drops
Here are practical steps you can take to stabilize your FPS across any online game in 2026.
Whether you're on a budget laptop or a high-end rig, these tips can help.
1. Update Your Graphics Drivers
This one’s basic, but you'd be surprised how often it's the problem. Graphics card manufacturers (like NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel) release regular driver updates that fix bugs, improve performance, and optimize new games.
Go to their official sites to get the latest version.
2. Close Background Applications
Streaming Spotify, running Google Chrome with 50 tabs, and having Discord open all eat up memory and CPU cycles.
Before jumping into a game, close anything you don’t need. You can check what's hogging resources using the Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc on Windows).
Source: MS.Codes
3. Enable Game Mode (Windows)
Windows 10 and 11 come with a built-in Game Mode. When turned on, it prioritizes your game by reducing background activity and boosting gaming performance.
You’ll find it under Settings → Gaming → Game Mode.
4. Lower In-Game Settings
This one’s obvious, but it matters. Reducing settings like shadows, anti-aliasing, post-processing, and view distance can have a huge impact on FPS.
Some games even include built-in performance presets. Start with “medium” or “low” and go from there.
Valorant Low Settings. Source: AfK Gaming
5. Switch to a Wired Connection
If you're gaming over Wi-Fi and experiencing FPS drops along with stutter or desync, your network might be part of the issue.
A wired Ethernet connection offers more stable and faster internet. This won’t directly boost FPS, but it can reduce indirect performance issues caused by packet loss or high latency.
6. Disable Overlays
Overlays like NVIDIA GeForce Experience, Discord, Steam, or Xbox Game Bar can interfere with performance. Try turning them off one by one and see if your FPS improves.
7. Adjust Power Settings
If you're on a laptop or your desktop uses power-saving features, you might be unintentionally throttling your system.
Go to your system's power settings and choose “High Performance.” On laptops, make sure you're plugged into a charger.
Source: SQL Authority
8. Monitor Temperatures
Overheating hardware (especially CPUs and GPUs) can lead to thermal throttling, where your system slows down to prevent damage.
Tools like HWMonitor, MSI Afterburner, or NZXT CAM let you keep an eye on temps. Clean your fans and consider reapplying thermal paste if things are running too hot.
9. Change DirectX or API Settings
Some games let you choose between DirectX 11, DirectX 12, or Vulkan. Depending on your system, one might run smoother than the others. It’s worth experimenting, just be sure to restart the game after switching.
10. Cap Your FPS
It sounds counterintuitive, but limiting your FPS (especially if your system can’t maintain high numbers consistently) can lead to smoother gameplay. Set a stable cap, like 60 or 120 FPS, to reduce sudden drops and screen tearing.
11. Reinstall the Game
If nothing else works, your game files might be corrupted. Reinstalling can reset everything, clear out broken cache files, and resolve strange performance bugs.
12. Use NoPing’s Boost FPS Feature
If you're already using NoPing to reduce latency and stabilize your ping (which is awesome for online games), you should definitely take advantage of the Boost FPS feature.
How it helps:
- Closes unnecessary background services
- Frees up RAM and CPU resources
- Optimizes network routes to reduce data congestion (which indirectly helps FPS in online matches)
How to use the Boost FPS feature:
- Sign-up through the website and download NoPing (you can test it for free).
- When you open the software, click on "Boost FPS" in the left side menu.
- On the next screen, you'll see a range of options to customize the feature (there are over 50 settings). You can enable or disable everything and choose between Windows default or user settings. You can also filter the options using the bar on the right.
And that's it! Boost FPS is now activated. Just launch your game and enjoy high FPS!
Game Settings to Pay Attention to Regarding FPS
Here are the settings that tend to have the biggest impact on FPS. Tweak these first when trying to boost performance:
- Resolution: Lowering your resolution gives your GPU fewer pixels to render. Try stepping down from 4K to 1080p, or from 1080p to 720p on weaker machines.
- Shadows: Often one of the most resource-intensive settings. Reducing or disabling shadows can result in a big FPS boost.
- Anti-Aliasing: Smooths out jagged edges, but can be GPU-heavy. FXAA is lighter than MSAA or TAA.
- Textures: High-resolution textures eat up VRAM. If you have a GPU with less than 6GB VRAM, medium or low settings are recommended.
- View Distance: Affects how far ahead the game renders objects. Lower this in large open-world or battle royale games.
- Post-Processing: Controls things like motion blur and bloom. Mostly visual fluff. Turn it off for better performance.
- V-Sync: Prevents screen tearing but can introduce input lag. If your FPS is fluctuating, try turning this off and using a frame cap instead.
Why Does Your FPS Keep Dropping?
Still having issues? Here are some deeper reasons your FPS might be unstable.
- Outdated Hardware: If your system is a few years old, it may not be able to handle newer titles. Even mid-range games in 2026 are getting more demanding.
- Background Updates: Windows, antivirus programs, or even game launchers (like Steam or Epic) sometimes update in the background without asking.
- VRAM Limitations: Running high-resolution textures or playing at 1440p/4K can max out your graphics card's video memory, causing FPS drops.
- Network-Related Load: Some online games offload certain physics or event processing to the CPU when there's high network latency, resulting in sudden FPS stutter during lag spikes.
- System Bottlenecks: A strong GPU won’t help much if your CPU or RAM is struggling to keep up. Make sure your system is balanced for gaming.
- Thermal Throttling: We mentioned this earlier, but it’s a common one. Laptops and compact PCs are especially prone to this.
- Driver Conflicts: Rare, but possible. Sometimes a recent driver causes instability, and rolling back to an older version fixes it.
- Too Many Background Services: Not just apps, but actual services running in the background (like Windows Search or Cortana) can slowly chip away at performance.
FAQ
Q: Is FPS the same as ping?
No. FPS measures how many frames your system renders per second, while ping measures the time it takes for your device to communicate with the game server. FPS is about hardware, ping is about internet.
Q: Can VPNs help with FPS drops?
Not directly. VPNs can help reduce high ping or fix connection issues in some cases, but they don’t improve frame rates. However, if network instability is causing performance drops, a good gaming VPN might help.
Yes, especially if you’re running games with 8GB or less. More RAM (and faster RAM) helps your system handle larger, more complex games and multitask without slowdowns.
Q: Should I overclock to fix FPS drops?
Overclocking can boost performance, but it’s not a guaranteed fix and comes with risks like overheating or system instability. Only consider it if you know what you're doing and have proper cooling.
Q: Do SSDs increase FPS?
Not directly. SSDs won’t give you higher frame rates, but they will reduce loading times and texture pop-in, which improves overall game smoothness.
FPS drops are annoying, but they’re not unbeatable. With a few tweaks and some system awareness, you can stabilize your gameplay and get back to doing what matters most: winning.
Whether you’re aiming for a smooth 60 FPS or pushing the limits at 240, these tips will help you stay competitive in any online game.
And to boost your FPS up to 60% and lower your ping in more than 3000 games, use NoPing! Download now and test it for free!
