Do you experience a drop in frame rate, stuttering or other problems when your laptop is plugged in? If so, I’m sure you’ve come across all kinds of solutions – ranging from software reinstallations to hardware installations. But where do you start? Which fixes are best for which issues? To help with this I’ve put together 8 different ways to fix laptop FPS Drop when plugged in.
Do you experience a drop in frame rate, stuttering, or other problems when your laptop is plugged in? If so, I’m sure you’ve come across all kinds of solutions – ranging from software reinstallations to hardware installations. But where do you start? Which fixes are best for which issues? To help with this I’ve put together 8 different ways to fix laptop FPS Drop when plugged in.
1. Check your power options
First, open the Control Panel and go to ‘Hardware and Sound’. Then, open ‘Power Options’. Find the plan that you’re currently using and click ‘Change plan settings’. Now, click ‘Change advanced power settings’.
From here, you need to expand ‘ Processor power management’. Then, expand ‘maximum processor state’. Set the ‘On battery’ and ‘Plugged in’ values to ‘100%’. This will stop your laptop’s CPU from throttling down when it’s not on AC power, which should help increase your FPS.
2. Update your graphics drivers
One of the most common causes of poor FPS performance is outdated graphics drivers. To update your drivers, you’ll need to know what graphics card you have. If you don’t know already, you can open the Device Manager and expand the ‘Display adapters’ section.
Once you know what graphics card you have, you can visit the manufacturer’s website and download the latest drivers. AMD and Nvidia both have easy-to-use driver update tools. Once you’ve downloaded and installed the drivers, restart your PC and see if the FPS drop is still occurring.
3. Make sure your GPU is getting enough power
Another common cause of poor FPS performance is a lack of power to the graphics card. This can happen if you’re using an underpowered power supply or if your graphics card is overclocked.
If you’re using an aftermarket graphics card, you can check how much power it’s drawing using a tool like MSI Afterburner. If the power draw is close to the maximum power rating of your power supply, you may need to upgrade to a higher wattage unit.
4. Check for hardware bottlenecks
If your CPU or GPU is being maxed out, this can bottleneck your system and cause lower FPS. To check for CPU bottlenecks, open the Task Manager and go to the ‘Performance’ tab.
Look at the ‘CPU Usage’ chart and see if any of the cores are close to 100%. If they are, you may need to upgrade to a faster processor.
To check for a GPU bottleneck, open the Windows Task Manager and go to the ‘Performance’ tab. Select ‘GPU’ from the ‘Show report for’ drop-down menu.
Look at the ‘GPU Usage’ chart and see if the usage is close to 100%. If it is, you may need to upgrade to a faster graphics card.
5. Disable any unnecessary programs
If your computer is running slow, this can also cause FPS drops. To see what programs are currently running, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager. Then, go to the ‘Processes’ tab and look at the ‘CPU’ and ‘Memory’ columns.
If you see a program that is using a lot of CPU or memory, you can right-click it and select ‘End task’. This will close the program and free up resources for your games.
6. Reduce the quality settings in your games or software’s
If you’re still having FPS problems, you may need to lower the quality settings in your games. This will make the games look worse but may help improve performance.
To do this, you’ll need to access the settings menus in your games and look for the ‘Video’ or ‘Graphics’ settings. Here, you can lower the quality of the graphics to improve performance
7. Overclock your CPU or GPU
If you’re still having FPS issues, you may be able to improve performance by overclocking your CPU or GPU. This will make your computer run faster but may also lead to stability issues.
Overclocking is an advanced topic and beyond the scope of this article. However, there are plenty of resources available online that can help you get started.
8. Get a better cooling system
If you’re still having FPS problems, your computer may be overheating. This can be caused by dust build-up in your case or by using a poor-quality cooling system.
To fix this, you’ll need to clean out your computer case and make sure that all the fans are working properly. You may also need to upgrade your cooling system to a better quality unit.
Conclusion
Luckily there are various ways around this issue and it’s worth trying them all. Work systematically through the list and see what works best for you. You may not even need to do any of them, or you may need to do the lot! Tweak away, and don’t let a simple thing like power get in the way.