How to Increase FPS on a Laptop: 14 Proven Fixes for Gaming (2026)

If your gaming laptop is suffering from frame drops, micro-stuttering, or lower FPS than expected, you are not alone. Laptops present unique performance challenges compared to desktop PCs: strict power limits, tight thermal envelopes, and dual-graphics switching mechanisms like NVIDIA Optimus often choke your hardware before it can deliver maximum performance.

Whether you are trying to push 144+ FPS in competitive titles like Valorant, Counter-Strike 2, and Apex Legends, or looking for smooth 60 FPS gameplay in heavy titles like Cyberpunk 2077, tweaking your laptop settings can unlock massive performance gains. If you also experience broader performance issues across games, check out our guide on why your FPS is low and how to fix it.

In this guide, we break down 14 tested, proven fixes to increase FPS on your laptop, eliminate thermal throttling, and optimize Windows for peak gaming performance in 2026.

Quick Settings Recommendation Summary

Before diving into the step-by-step solutions, here is a quick reference table of the most impactful settings for laptop gaming:

Setting	Recommended Value	Why
Windows Graphics Preference	High Performance (dGPU)	Forces games to bypass low-power integrated graphics.
Windows Power Mode	Best Performance	Prevents CPU clock downscaling during intensive gaming loads.
NVIDIA Low Latency / AMD Anti-Lag	On or Ultra	Reduces render queue depth to lower latency and smooth out frame delivery.
Background Captures & Game Bar	Disabled	Frees up CPU threads and system RAM from continuous background encoding.

Fix 1: Force Games to Use Your Dedicated GPU (dGPU)

One of the most common causes of terribly low FPS on laptops is Windows accidentally running your game on the integrated graphics (Intel UHD/Iris Xe or AMD Radeon Graphics) instead of your high-performance dedicated GPU (NVIDIA RTX/GTX or AMD Radeon RX).

How to set High Performance GPU in Windows:

1. Press Win + I to open Windows Settings.

2. Navigate to System > Display > Graphics.

3. Find your game in the list (or click Browse and locate the game’s executable .exe file).

4. Click on the game, select Options, choose High Performance (showing your dedicated GPU), and click Save.

If your laptop supports a hardware MUX Switch or Advanced Optimus (available in Armoury Crate, Lenovo Vantage, OMEN Gaming Hub, or Alienware Command Center), set your GPU mode to dGPU Only / Discrete. This bypasses the integrated GPU entirely, adding an instant 5% to 15% FPS boost by routing display signals straight from the dedicated GPU.

Fix 2: Combat Thermal Throttling & Improve Laptop Cooling

Laptops are compact powerhouses, but heat is their ultimate enemy. When your CPU or GPU reaches 85°C–95°C, thermal throttling kicks in: the hardware intentionally drops its clock speeds to avoid overheating, resulting in sudden, drastic FPS drops and stuttering.

Actionable thermal optimization steps:

• Elevate your laptop: Elevating the rear of your laptop by just 1–2 inches off the desk opens up the bottom intake vents, lowering temperatures by 3°C to 7°C.

• Clean dust from vents & fans: Dust buildup blocks airflow. Use short bursts of compressed air to clean intake and exhaust vents every 3 to 6 months.

• Use a quality cooling pad: Active cooling pads with vacuum seals or high-RPM fans force cold air into the chassis.

• Apply high-grade thermal paste: If your laptop is over 2 years old, replacing dried-up factory thermal paste with Honeywell PTM7950 or high-performance paste can drop temps by up to 10°C.

Fix 3: Switch Windows Power Plan to Best Performance

Windows defaults to a “Balanced” power scheme that dynamically limits CPU clock speeds to save energy. For gaming laptops, this can introduce stuttering when frame rendering demands sudden bursts of power.

How to enable Best Performance mode:

1. Open Settings > System > Power & battery.

2. Change Power mode to Best performance.

3. Open the traditional Control Panel by pressing Win + R, typing control powercfg.cpl, and pressing Enter.

4. Select High performance (or Ultimate Performance if unlocked).

Fix 4: Enable Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS) & Game Mode

Windows 10 and 11 feature Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS), which delegates high-priority GPU memory management directly to the GPU’s dedicated scheduling architecture rather than relying solely on the CPU.

1. Go to Settings > System > Display > Graphics.

2. Click Change default graphics settings.

3. Toggle Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling to On.

4. Restart your laptop.

While in Settings, navigate to Gaming > Game Mode and ensure it is toggled On. Game Mode prevents Windows Update from installing drivers during gameplay and allocates maximum CPU core priority to the active game window. For more system latency tips, consult our low latency optimization guide.

Fix 5: Update Graphics Drivers with a Clean Install (DDU)

Outdated or corrupted graphics drivers can severely degrade performance, introduce stability crashes, and cause low GPU utilization. For laptop users, keeping display drivers updated is paramount.

• Download the latest driver directly from NVIDIA or AMD.

• If you experience persistent stuttering, perform a clean uninstall using Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) in Windows Safe Mode before installing the new driver package.

Fix 6: Optimize NVIDIA Control Panel & AMD Software Settings

Tuning your GPU control panel settings ensures your laptop GPU prioritizes frame rate and responsiveness over energy savings.

Key NVIDIA Control Panel Settings:

• Power management mode: Prefer maximum performance

• Low Latency Mode: On or Ultra

• Texture filtering – Quality: High performance

• Vertical sync: Off (use G-Sync or FreeSync if available)

• Max Frame Rate: Off (or capped slightly below monitor refresh rate)

Key AMD Radeon Software Settings:

• Radeon Anti-Lag: Enabled

• Wait for Vertical Refresh: Always off

• Texture Filtering Quality: Performance

Fix 7: Disable Battery Saver, WhisperMode & Frame Limiters

Gaming laptops often ship with pre-installed companion software (GeForce Experience, AMD Adrenalin, or manufacturer utilities) that automatically throttle frame rates to keep noise and power consumption down.

• Open GeForce Experience > Settings > Games tab. Disable WhisperMode 2.0 and Battery Boost 2.0 (or set target FPS to max).

• Ensure AMD Radeon Chill and Frame Rate Target Control (FRTC) are turned off if you want uncapped frame rates.

Fix 8: Close Memory-Hungry Background Apps & Startup Services

Unlike desktops with 32GB or 64GB of RAM, many gaming laptops ship with 8GB or 16GB of system memory. Background applications like Google Chrome, Discord, Spotify, and OneDrive consume valuable CPU cycles and RAM bandwidth.

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.

2. Go to the Startup apps tab and disable non-essential programs (Cortana, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, browser update assistants).

3. Before launching a game, close web browsers and hardware overlays (Discord Overlay, Steam Overlay) to free up memory overhead.

Fix 9: Fine-Tune In-Game Video Settings & Upscaling (DLSS / FSR)

You don’t need to slam all graphics options to “Low” to get high FPS, but targeted adjustments to resource-heavy settings yield immediate framerate improvements.

Settings to lower first:

• Shadow Quality & Volumetric Fog: High CPU/GPU impact; reducing to Medium/Low gains up to 20% FPS.

• Screen Space Reflections & Ambient Occlusion: Heavy GPU bandwidth consumers.

• Ray Tracing: Turn completely Off unless using high-end dGPUs.

Leverage modern AI upscalers like NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, or Intel XeSS set to Quality or Balanced mode. These render the game at a slightly lower internal resolution and reconstruct the image, boosting FPS by 30% to 60% with virtually no loss in visual clarity.

Fix 10: Disable Xbox Game Bar & Background Recording

Windows includes a native background capture feature that constantly records your gameplay in the background. On laptop CPUs, this background video encoding eats into your frame processing headroom.

1. Go to Settings > Gaming > Captures.

2. Turn off Record what happened (background recording).

3. Go to Gaming > Xbox Game Bar and toggle it Off.

Fix 11: Clear System Temp Files & Shader Cache

Accumulated temporary files, Windows update caches, and corrupted DirectX shader caches can cause severe frame drops and stuttering when loading new textures in-game.

Quick Cleanup Steps:

1. Press Win + R, type cleanmgr, and press Enter.

2. Select your system drive (C:) and click Clean up system files.

3. Check DirectX Shader Cache, Temporary Files, and Delivery Optimization Files, then click OK.

For more overarching strategies on hardware and software tuning, explore our comprehensive PC FPS boost guide.

Fix 12: Ensure Dual-Channel RAM Operation

If your laptop came configured with a single 8GB or 16GB RAM stick (single-channel memory), your CPU’s memory bandwidth is effectively cut in half. On laptop processors (especially AMD Ryzen and Intel Core i5/i7 chips), single-channel RAM creates a massive bottleneck for frame rates.

Upgrading your laptop with a second identical RAM stick to run in Dual-Channel mode can increase average FPS by 15% to 35% and drastically improve 1% low frametimes, eliminating micro-stutters in open-world and competitive games.

Fix 13: Disable Fullscreen Optimizations & DPI Scaling

Windows applies legacy desktop windowing overlays to full-screen games, which can introduce input lag and framerate instability.

1. Right-click your game executable (.exe) > Properties.

2. Go to the Compatibility tab.

3. Check Disable fullscreen optimizations.

4. Click Change high DPI settings, check Override high DPI scaling behavior, set it to Application, and click OK.

Fix 14: Automate System Tweaks & Latency Reduction with FPSTweak

Manually adjusting dozens of Windows sub-menus, registry keys, service schedules, and power policies can be tedious and risky if done incorrectly. This is where FPSTweak comes in.

FPSTweak is a lightweight, dedicated Windows optimization tool engineered specifically to strip out background latency, optimize CPU core parking, calibrate Windows timer resolution down to 0.5ms, and clean up hidden system bottlenecks in a single click.

Check if your system has latency or performance headroom to gain:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)