High, stable, FPS is critical in first-person shooters. Some FPS issues are a result of lower-end hardware, while others can be a result of settings or third-party applications. No matter the case, this article will provide a variety of troubleshooting steps to help get you back up to speed.
Nvidia Share
Some players have experienced performance issues in-game while using Nvidia Shadowplay (Nvidia Share). If you have GeForce experience installed on your PC please try turning off Nvidia Share to see if that resolves your issue.
Minimum Specs
Make sure your PC meets the minimum required specifications to run Spectre. If your PC is below the minimum requirements, then you may experience performance issues and or crashing. You may also be completely unable to launch the game. Review the minimum specifications here.
Basic Troubleshooting Steps
Let's start with some basic troubleshooting steps that can quickly help boost your in-game performance.
Lowering in-game settings can help provide a boost in FPS and a more stable FPS experience on lower end machines. Navigate to your graphics settings by clicking the gear on the top right of the main menu > Graphics tab. Try modifying some of the following settings and see what works for you:
- Frame Rate Limit: You may consider enabling this and also setting your maximum frame rate to your monitor's refresh rate. This can help alleviate the stuttering that large frame drops can create.
- V-Sync: Enabling V-Sync can provide a smoother feeling game, but it will introduce a small amount of input latency.
- Render Scaling: Modifying this setting will reduce or improve the image resolution. Other settings will likely provide a better performance boost without the need to reduce your image quality.
- Textures, Effects, Post-Processing: Each of these settings does something slightly different, but reducing these can improve in-game performance.
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Reflex Enabled: Nvidia Reflex will reduce input latency at the cost of in-game performance. Try the following to see if your FPS improves:
- If this is set to ON + BOOST set to ON
- If this is set to ON set to OFF
- DLSS Enabled: Enabling this setting and changing the Super Resolution Mode to your desired quality setting can help greatly improve in-game performance.
Check out this support article to make sure the correct GPU is being utilized.
Windows updates can help fix bugs, compatibility issues, and many other issues that may cause trouble in-game. Make sure your Windows is completely up-to-date by following this Windows Update Guide.
Display modification software can also cause severe performance issues in-game. You may consider temporarily disabling any display modification software to see if that resolves your issue.
Players utilizing high polling rate mice may experience performance issues in-game. You can try the following steps to see if your performance improves.
- Open the in-game settings
- Under General, set "4K/8K Polling Mouse Support" to ON
If the above doesn't work, then you can try lowering your mouse polling rate within your device's software.
Disable Third-Party Applications
Sometimes third-party applications can interfere with the game in unexpected ways. One way that we can test this is to disable third-party applications by doing a Clean Boot in Windows. Microsoft has a great support guide on how to do this on both Windows 10 and 11.
- On the Clean Boot guide click on the tab for your Windows version.
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Once you get to step 3 make sure to check "Hide all Microsoft Services" - Necessary Microsoft services will be disabled if this isn't checked.
- Make sure to restart your computer once you've completed all of the steps,
then open Spectre and test if the issue persists. - If that resolves the issue, then you may consider following the section on the Clean Boot guide titled "How to determine what is causing the problem after you do a clean boot" - This will help you determine what specific application or driver was causing the issue.
Graphics Driver Update
Graphics driver updates provide bug fixes, improved performance, and additional graphics driver features, among other important updates. You can update your graphics drivers from your graphics card manufacturer's website.
Troubleshooting Overheating
Overheating is when your PC is running much hotter than the internal components can handle. If your PC is overheating you might notice your FPS falling lower and lower as a match progresses. This is because your GPU or CPU cooling system isn't able to dispel as much heat as those components are generating. This heat buildup will force your PC to slow down to prevent it from getting too hot. In very severe cases your PC might unexpectedly shutdown.
If the above description matches what you're experiencing, then your system may be overheating. You can try out the steps below to help prevent your system from overheating:
- Temporarily cap your in-game FPS.
- Settings > Graphics > Frame Rate Limit. Set this limit lower than your average FPS.
- Make sure your PC's internal fans are spinning.
- Remove dust and any other debris that might be blocking airflow.
- Keep your computer in a cool environment, away from sunlight and heating vents.
- Ensure all cooling fans are working properly.
- Take breaks between games to give your PC time to cool down.
Your PC shouldn't be overheating under normal circumstances. If the above steps don't resolve the issue then you should consider reaching out to a computer repair professional for further assistance.