How to Increase Your GPU Performance Without Buying a New One

In this increasingly anti-consumer tech world that seems determined to abandon everything else in favor of data centers, there has rarely been a worse time to buy a new GPU. While many PCs are panic buying to avoid RAMaggedon, there is an even larger crowd of PC gamers who haven’t been able to get their hands on a new graphics card in years.

Just because you can’t afford a shiny NVIDIA RTX 50-series GPU doesn’t mean you can’t squeeze more performance out of your current card. A few graphics tweaks, supersampling tips, and general GPU maintenance will help improve FPS performance in your favorite games.

In an age where graphics advancements are outpacing hardware evolution – hello, path tracing – it becomes vital to get the most out of your current GPU by any means necessary. As someone now passionate about high-end ray tracing (it looks amazing in areas like Cyberpunk 2077 Or Marvel’s Spider-Man 2), I want to adopt AI to help increase frame rates. And yes, I need to shower my soul to admit it.

Whether or not you’re interested in advanced ray tracing features, it’s clear that graphically demanding games now rely on various forms of supersampling to lock in faster-than-console frame rates. Whether it’s AMD FSR, NVIDIA DLSS, or Intel XeSS, getting the most out of AI-based FPS boosting technology can be crucial to maintaining stable performance at high resolutions. None of us can be snobs about oversampling or image generation anymore.

NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 and AMD FSR 4 produce image quality comparable to gaming at native resolution, while significantly improving performance. These technologies work by rendering a game at a lower internal resolution (thus producing fewer pixels) before using deep learning techniques to upscale the final image to a much higher pixel count. Since the launch of DLSS 2.0 in 2020, I have relied on upsampling. With current iterations of the big three solutions, this essentially means free images with little downside.

The problem with NVIDIA’s DLSS 4.5 Multi Frame Generation technology is a little more complicated. Although it is capable of producing 200fps results in Hogwarts Legacy with the x6 modifier enabled in my experience it adds significant input latency in games supporting the nascent technology. Earlier incarnations of Team Green’s technology that achieve x2 and x3 modifiers work well on supported titles, with the added benefit of producing fewer distracting visual artifacts than MFG (such as shimmering around in-game text).

As a PC gamer for 30 years, I can recommend supersampling without hesitation. Regarding the pros and cons of Frame Gen, I suggest experimenting with it until you make up your mind.

It’s a no-brainer, but if your GPU is sputtering and losing frames in top PC games, it’s best to lower the graphics settings immediately. Only the fastest graphics cards can handle the Ultra preset of a modern AAA title, so unless you’re using a top-tier card, it’s wise to leave your settings at Balanced. If your GPU is multiple generations old, selecting a game’s performance preset should help you squeeze out even more frames at the expense of graphical fidelity.

Unless you have an ultra-obsessive eye, you’re unlikely to miss features like ambient occlusion or screen space reflections. Of course, tinker with the game’s sliders to see what you like and if you can stomach the resulting performance cost.

In first-person shooters or fast-paced racing games, sophisticated rendering techniques are useless for most players. Do yourself a favor and turn off any settings that don’t improve your experience. A growing number of PC titles (like Resident Evil Requiem) feature excellent graphics menus that provide before and after images of how effects modify a game. If you can’t appreciate the difference between these preview panes, turn the setting off to improve your chances of increasing FPS.

Those with budget GPUs should never enable ray tracing. This ultra-advanced lighting technique uses multi-bounce lighting to create incredibly realistic shadows and reflections in-game, but it takes a huge toll on performance. Unless you have a beastly graphics card, ray tracing should almost always be disabled, as it can often reduce frame rates by 20-40%.

While the methods above should help you increase your frame rate, there is a physical element to it as well. You need to know how to properly clean and organize your PC to get the most out of it. Keeping the inside of your system tidy can be a surprising way to increase its efficiency.

Thermal throttling is a potentially significant issue for both your GPU and CPU. If you don’t regularly maintain your machine, dust can quickly build up, leading to a situation where the pride and joy of your gaming PC can’t maintain steady airflow. Dust buildup around a GPU’s fans can cause performance to decrease because your card reaches its temperature limit more quickly. Once this is done, base clock speeds will decrease in order to reduce temperatures, resulting in lower frame rates.

To safely clean your graphics card, first turn off your PC and unplug it. Once you have access to your GPU, you’ll need to have a can of compressed air and a soft microfiber cloth on hand. Use short bursts of air directed at the fans to disperse debris, then gently wipe the card with the cloth. It’s not a guaranteed FPS booster, but it will at least keep your GPU in good (hopefully optimal) condition in the future.

Don’t neglect the basics either. Keep your GPU driver updated for the best performance, and close as many background applications as possible so that your system isn’t spending significant resources on anything outside of your game. If you want to progress, overclocking your GPU can generate more performance by going beyond the manufacturer’s intended settings. MSI Afterburner is the recommended tool for this job, although you will need to research how to do it safely.