High FPS drops (Windows 10 users) In the perfect parallel universe, gamers don’t suffer from high FPS drops. This pestilence can be an awful issue and it’s not easy to determine the solution because there are so many different factors in play. Windows 10 is slowly becoming the number one choice for gaming, although more because it’s the part of requirements and less by gamers choice. Nonetheless, FPS drops affect all systems, even the almighty Windows 7.Sudden stutters that break your gaming experience, especially in the multiplayer games where the optimal FPS rate is a must, can be quite hard to address.Especially if they occur suddenly, without any good background explanation. Luckily, we prepared an in-depth list of all solutions that crossed our minds and provided them below.In case you have bumped into FPS issues and you’re not sure how to deal with those, make sure to check the list below.1: Meet the system requirements- Even though this is something a Captain Obvious would say, requirements are too often the reason why a certain game under-performs and makes your world collapse with every FPS spike.- Nonetheless, there are two things you’ll need to know about system requirements that are hidden in a plain sight and commonly overlooked.- Firstly, the minimum requirements are something you should take with the pinch of salt. The developer is basically informing you that this certain configuration should suffice if you want to run the game.- Translated into the common language ”Just start it”. Now, even the medium requirements won’t bring you the playable 30 to 60 FPS.- In order to run the game and expect a peak performance, you should concentrate on the third column — Recommended requirements.- The second thing we overlook when it comes to system requirements concerns changes. Most of the popular games get frequent updates that can and will affect the processing power of your gaming rig.- So, if you’re informed a certain update brought esthetical improvements, more vivid graphics etc, make sure that you can run it. Sites like ”Can You Run It” are a good starting point, but the official requirements are always the ones you should rely on. 2: Check the cooling - Overheating. There’s not a single hardware-related problem that is a bigger threat to your PC than overheating. Since we’re today referring to FPS spikes and sudden drops, the overheating is probably the biggest suspect for the issue at hand.- Let’s imagine a common scenario: you start the game after the PC is idle, the game works great until some time and then the FPS goes to hell. It’s due to the CPU and/or GPU overheating and thus under-performing.- In order to self-preserve themselves under the intense heat and avoid malfunctions, main PC components start working slower. Finally, your PC should shut down forcibly if the temperatures pass the allowed limits.- So, for starters, make sure to acquire a proper temperature monitoring software. Like SpeedFan, for example. Above 90-95 degrees Celsius are the temperatures that you’ll need to avoid in order to evade performance drops and, in the worst case scenario, critical hardware damage.- What to do to improve the cooling system and reduce the temperatures while gaming?- Firstly, you’ll need to get your hands dirty and clean the inside of your PC casing. The special focus should be on the exhaust and coolers.- Also, replacing the thermal paste should be a norm for every user. It tends to lose its functionality after a few months, so make sure to apply a new layer accordingly.- Furthermore, it doesn’t hurt to add some extra fans and improve the cooling of the unit. However, double-check the PSU capabilities before doing so. 3: Check HDD - Another essential part that can and certainly will affect the overall gaming performance is the hard drive. A hard drive is probably the most prone to malfunctions, and it’ll, in comparison to CPU or GPU, lose its initial performance values over time.- This, of course, applies only to physical drives, not SSDs.- It certainly can. Games are installed on an HDD and thus the slow reading/writing speeds can cause performance drops, FPS spikes, and similar inconveniences.- Here are some steps you can take to identify HDD problem and act accordingly if there’s an issue at hand:1. Use the ”chkdsk” command or a third-party software to scan for HDD errors.2. In the Windows search bar, type Command Prompt, right-click on it and run it as an administrator.3. In the command line, type the following command and press Enter:chkdsk /f C:4. Replace C: with other partition letters if it’s named differently. 4: Make sure your GPU drivers are up to the task- GPU drivers are a touchy subject, especially on Windows 10 where the Windows Update feature manages drivers.- Most of the time, the generic driver won’t suffice, and we are all well aware that even the top-notch GPU will fail miserably without the proper software support.- In most scenarios, you’ll need the latest drivers provided by the OEM, but that’s not the rule. Some users resolved the GPU throttling and high FPS drops by installing an older drivers version.- So, sadly, you have to spend some time experimenting with the available drivers until you find the right driver for your GPU. These are the official support sites for major OEMs: NVidia AMD/ATIIntel- If you’re using legacy GPU, make sure to install legacy drivers. It’s not of the utmost importance for those to support Windows 10. Sometimes they’ll work regardless.- Now, if the Windows 10 Update feature forcibly installs another version, you can roll-back drivers and disable the automatic drivers updating. Here’s how to do it:1. In the Windows Search bar, type Control and open Control Panel.2. From the Category view, open System and security.3. Open System.4. Select Advanced system settings from the left pane.5. Open Device Installation Settings under the Hardware tab.6. Select ”No” from the dialog box. 7. Confirm changes, right-click Start and open Device manager.8. Expand Display adapters.9. Right-click on your GPU and open Properties.10. Under the Driver tab, click Roll-back driver.11. Restart your PC and look for changes. 5: Scan for malware- Malware is another feasible reason for the possible FPS drops and overall performance of an application as demanding as the modern game is.- There’s a dozen of malware infections that can inflict system issues, but we need to set aside the adware and mistakenly-installed bloatware that tends to work in the background.- Taking into consideration recent cryptocurrency tricks some sites use (they use your CPU power to mine without your consent, of course), you’ll need to step your antivirus game up and protect accordingly.- You can use basically any third-party antivirus out there, but I'd recommend Bitdefender, with top-of-the-class detection rates and excellent real-time protection. So make sure to check it out.- Here’s how to run it in Windows 10:1. Open Windows Defender from the notification area on the taskbar.2. Open Virus & threat protection.3. Click on Advanced Scan.4. Select Windows Defender Offline scan.5. Click Scan now. 6: Check the connection - In case you’re playing an online game and have issues with FPS, we advise you to check the connection, as well. In most scenarios, it’s not about your bandwidth speeds (it can be affected to some extent, though), but rather by the latency of the data package.- This is measured in milliseconds and it indicates a delay between the user and the network itself.- Basically, the higher the latency — the worse the game performance. You can check your latency here. You’ll need less than 50 ms in order to enjoy the online sessions in a seamless manner.- Furthermore, it’s advised to use a wired connection rather than Wi-Fi while playing online. Also, restart your router or modem if you run into any issues and check the port forwarding preferences for that specific game. 7: Modify in-game and Power settings- Not all graphics settings presented in modern games will work for every configuration out there. So, if you have slight issues with your FPS drops, make sure to change the graphics options.- Disabling Shadows and Anti-aliasing is always good for starters. Also, Vsync won’t work well with certain GPUs.- Try different variations until you find the one that optimizes performance and quality while keeping the acceptable FPS levels.- It all depends on your configuration and the ways the game is or isn’t optimized for that configuration. And sometimes even the top-notch PCs will give you a hard time due to the badly optimized engine.- Also, it’s important to mention the laptop’s Power management, as it can slow down CPU activity if you set Balanced or Power Saving modes. The best plan for gaming is High Performance.- It might seem that there’s not much difference between the plans, but there are hidden perks that distinguish them. Follow these steps to enable the High-Performance plan on Windows 10:1. Right-click on the Battery icon in the notification area and open Power options.2. Select High Performance.3. Close the window. 8: Don’t use the onboard sound device- For some strange reason, some users reported the problems with an onboard sound device which was, for no apparent reason, colliding with the GPU drivers and it causes both sound issues and FPS spikes.- Now, you can try and update or reinstall the dedicated driver, or uninstall it completely and stick with the alternative sound drivers. This can be done in a few simple steps and here’s how:1. Right-click Start and open Device Manager.2. Expand Sound, video and game controllers.3. Update your sound drivers or uninstall (Press LMBon "Sound video and game controllers") the onboard sound device and stick with Realtek.9: Disable background programsCertain background programs are known for resource-hogging, making them quite unwelcomed while gaming. Disabling their respective background processes should improve the in-game performance and reduce FPS drops.Here’s the list of programs you should avoid while gaming:- VoIP programs like Skype.- Peer-2-peer applications like uTorrent.- Download managers.- Browsers (we’re looking at you, Chrome).- Recording and live streaming software.If you’re running a powerful enough PC, the majority of background applications won’t affect the frame rate. The ones we enlisted are throttling your bandwidth which can be a problem, for multiplayer, connection-dependent games.Certain background programs are known for resource-hogging, making them quite unwelcomed while gaming. Disabling their respective background processes should improve the in-game performance and reduce FPS drops.That's all I guess, I hope this would solve your problem and make sure to let us know if your issue was not yet fixed. I've experienced this issue yesterday, managed to do a quick research and fix the problem Mazika gave me permission to post this guideline over here
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Do you play while on battery or plugged?
How many disk space do you have left?
How bad are the FPS drops?
Do you get FPS drops only in crowded areas and areas that consist a high amount of objects?
Pretty sure it's not the reason, but try to watch your hardware temps while gaming (CPU in case of playing CIT). Also, on the battery icon, make sure it's on "Best performance". To check your Laptop's temp, use the software dedicated to it, depending on what brand it is.Note that if you do get such an FPS only in crowded areas then that's expected behavior, even if you got the best specs, MTA isn't optimized enough. If that's the case, then ignore what I said above.
Disk capacity isn't an issue then. I'm guessing the FPS drops are caused by the thermal throttling, use a program like Core Temp to monitor it. I have 70 FPS most of the time when I'm not in a crowded area, in crowded areas it drops down to 30 FPS. Mind sharing your CPU model as well?
Do you experience any issues while playing other games? I also got a 6-core CPU yet I get FPS drops at some point, that's pretty normal for MTA. Make sure you have NVIDIA GeForce experience (In case you have an Nvidia GPU) so it optimizes your GTA:SA according to your specs, also turn off the "Battery boost" option from there, you'll probably find it enabled and capped at 30 FPS.
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