How not to play games on PC

You have always been a huge video game enthusiast and, intrigued by the opinions of your friends and some online reviews, you ended up downloading some new ones to play in your free time. After trying them, however, you realized that you have numerous slowdown problems (or, in jargon, lag ) that you would like to try to solve: the problem is that, not being very knowledgeable on the subject, you do not have the faintest idea of steps to take to solve the problem and you fear that your lack of experience will make the situation even worse.

Yours is not a rare problem, quite the contrary! It happens quite often that, despite the computer being recent or in any case well equipped from the hardware point of view, the games are run with various delays and problems, mainly due to incorrect settings, the presence of other programs or the poor quality of the Internet connection. .

In most cases, everything can be solved without too much effort: in the course of this tutorial I will explain to you just how not to let games run on PC , going to intervene on the management of system resources, on how to use the computer and on the quality of the Internet connection, using a series of free tools and easy-to-apply measures. Ready to get started? OK let’s go!

Index

• Update the video card drivers
• Correctly adjust the game settings
• Close unnecessary programs
• Enable Windows 10 “Game Mode”
• Use a booster
• Improve your Internet connection

Update the video card drivers

If, during your gaming sessions, you experience visible slowdowns combined with the appearance of graphics or other problems, I recommend that you get more specific and / or recent drivers for the video card . By doing so, you will be sure that the latter can best optimize the use of the computer’s GPU, allowing the games running to take full advantage of its features.

In the vast majority of cases, the most updated versions of the video card drivers are available on the websites of the respective manufacturers: generally, it is sufficient to go to the latter, locate the support section dedicated to the GPU in your possession and visit the dedicated area to the download of drivers and software , present inside. Once the download is complete, just launch the executable file obtained and always click on Next / Next to complete the setup.

If you need an extra hand in completing the updating (or first installation) procedure of the graphics drivers, you can read my tutorial on how to install the video card drivers , in which I will explain how to identify the exact model of GPU present in your PC and to download the most appropriate programs.

Correctly adjust the game settings

Another aspect to pay attention to to avoid annoying “lag” during gameplay are the internal game settings . In fact, it may happen that the values ​​in use for parameters such as resolution , quality and quantity of details may not be suitable for the hardware in your possession.

If it is true – as it is true – that a game played at high resolution and maximum detail makes a great impression, it must be borne in mind that the use of inadequate adjustments to the video card, the processor and, in general, the characteristics of the computer, can cause a diametrically opposite effect. Therefore, be sure to adjust the parameters of the incisive game based on the type of game and, above all, based on the computer you have.

For example, if you want to increase the FPS on Fortnite , you can act in the in-game settings as follows: start the title in question, choose one of the available modes and, once the upload is complete, click on the ☰ button located at the top right and then on the gear icon , which resides within the proposed menu.

Afterwards, click on the monitor symbol and, after setting a lower frame rate limit (or at most 60 fps) , disable the V-sync and Motion Blur items , in order to obtain smoother images and less at shots; if this is not enough, always from the same panel, lower the graphic quality to the Medium or Low value and disable the options relating to shadows and anti-aliasing ; finally, set the parameter relating to the quality of the texture to reduced . To confirm each change, click the Apply button .More info here .

Close unnecessary programs

All software (including games) use a certain amount of PC resources in order to function: although the operating system takes care of distributing them according to the actual request of the various programs and that games often have priority over all, when resources start to run low, it is possible to encounter blocks and lag even during gameplay.

For this reason, when playing, it would be advisable to close unnecessary programs , in order to release additional resources to be dedicated to applications that request them as a priority (in this case, the game itself).

After closing all the “visible” software, I also invite you to check for any background processes and to close those that are not useful for the game: some programs, in fact, remain running (and take up precious resources) even if they are not visible ( often these are the ones that start with Windows).

So, even before starting the game you are interested in, check the icons located on the Windows system tray , near the clock, and identify those relating to unnecessary programs. When you have found them, right-click on each of them and choose Exit / Exit or Close / Close , located in the menu that appears, to close the process associated with the software. Finally, click on the up arrow , in order to view any hidden icons and repeat, if necessary, the same operation on the latter as well.

Please pay attention not to interrupt fundamental processes for the purposes of the game , such as the video card manager or the game launcher itself (eg Origin , Steam , UPlay or the Launcher Epic Games , just to name a few) .

Enable Windows 10 “Game Mode”

If your computer is equipped with Windows 10 , the Game mode introduced starting from version 1.703 of the operating system could represent a valid ally for the management of system resources: this feature, in fact, is able to optimize the use of the processor. , graphics card and RAM memory going to automatically close both processes and programs not essential for the use of games.

As an additional feature, Windows 10’s Game Mode temporarily blocks the automatic update or installation of drivers and the sending of restart notifications related to system updates: in this way, in addition to decreasing any lag, it also prevents reboots accidental or unexpected and sudden malfunctions.

To activate Game Mode in Windows 10, proceed as follows: open the Windows Start menu , by clicking on the flag icon that resides in the lower left corner of the screen, press the gear symbol that resides within it and, once in the operating system Settings window , click on the icon dedicated to the Games (depicting the Xbox logo ).

At this point, click on the Game Mode item , resident in the left sidebar, and move the homonymous lever to Enabled , in order to enable it; once the game session is over, you can disable the aforementioned option by moving the lever I mentioned earlier to Disabled .

Use a booster

Another interesting method for not letting games run on PC , by assigning the hardware resources to the latter in the best possible way (and acting, when possible, also on the game settings), is to use a booster , that is a program able to optimize with extreme ease of computer performance. Boosters are quite common in gaming and should be run immediately before starting any game.

One of the most powerful and flexible programs of this type is Razer Cortex , a free booster compatible with all versions of Windows currently supported (and with Windows 7), made available by the famous manufacturer of gaming products. Specifically, Razer Cortex allows you to set up your computer to run games in a single click and to apply in-game optimization settings for some compatible titles.

To install the program, connected to its home page , click on the Download Now button to obtain the installation file and, once the download is complete, run it. Next, click on the Yes , Install and Get Started! Buttons . , in order to finalize the installation of the program, and run it.

At the first start, you will be asked to create a new Razer ID by associating it with your email , Facebook or Google , so you can “export” your personal settings to other computers; if this possibility is not of your interest, you can skip the registration to the platform by first clicking on the Login as guest button and then on Continue as guest .

Once in the main Razer Cortex screen, click on the Game Booster tab and access the Boost section , using the appropriate item located in the green bar: this screen allows you to select the improvements to be made to the operating system and hardware resources. In detail, the options are divided into four categories.

• Special– this section contains the optimizations applicable to the CPU, power management settings and basic elements of the operating system.
• Processes– this section allows you to automatically stop one or more processes.
• Services– this is the section useful for disabling any unnecessary Windows services.
• Non-Windows Services– is the section that allows the deactivation of services not belonging to the operating system.

If you are not fully aware of the “task” of each of the options present, my advice is to leave the default ones selected; to apply one or more optimizations, put the check mark next to the relevant item.

Once you have made the adjustments you deem most appropriate, move the lever corresponding to the Auto-boost item to ON , to ensure that the chosen optimizations are automatically set when a game is started; if, on the other hand, you want to put the improvements into practice immediately, click on the Boost Now button , to instantly apply a “boost”.

Another very interesting feature of Razer Cortex is Booster Prime , a particular section of the program that allows you to optimize the settings of the games, in order to improve their execution and fluidity, by acting on the in-game parameters. To use it, simply access the section of the same name, click on the name of the game on which to intervene and use the options and menus proposed to make the desired changes. Currently, the games supported by Booster Prime are not many, but there are still several of the most popular ones (eg Fortnite ).

Features similar to those of Booster Prime are available within NVIDIA GeForce Experience , a program usually bundled with NVIDIA video drivers (but also downloadable independently, from this page ) that can function as a booster for supported games , which are really many.

After starting it, click on the Continue button , log in to the GeForce network using one of the supported networks (NVIDIA, Google, Facebook, QQ or WeChat) and, after logging in, put the check mark next to the item Automatically optimize the games just added and click the Continue and Done buttons to apply the automatic improvements.

Regardless of the booster you decide to use, my recommendation is to rely exclusively on programs distributed by companies that are known to be reliable and from safe sources : the danger of running into malware or any other type of harmful software for your computer, when you are looking for operating system optimization software, it is always around the corner!

The boosters are certainly useful but, in some cases, they may not be decisive: it is clear that the quality of a game depends mainly on the hardware characteristics of the PC from which it is run. Therefore, if the software adjustments you make fail to give you satisfactory results, perhaps you should consider buying a new gaming computer, pre-assembled or built yourself : in some cases, it can be done even at a cost. of only 500 € !

Improve your Internet connection

Have you made all the improvements I have told you about so far but, despite the very high graphic quality achieved, does the game continue to lag? In this case, the fault could be the Internet connection , which is not enough to carry the load of data in transit to and from the computer.

Lag of this type, in general, do not result in graphic problems, but cause the delayed execution of a specific command (especially if it requires the updating of non-player characters and dynamic in-game objects), the return to a previous action / scenario or, even worse, the failure of a mission due to a kill or an event that took place without graphic feedback.

Therefore, if you believe that the delays you are experiencing are due to the poor quality of the Internet connection, you can try to improve its performance by applying a series of measures. Before even doing anything, however, check that the online game servers are up and running: this information is generally available on the website of the software house that distributes the game ( here , for example, you can see the status of the Rockstar Games service and here that of Epic Games).

• Perform a speed testand verify that your network speed meets the minimum requirements required by the game. If you don’t know how to proceed, follow the directions I have given you in this guide . If the speed is satisfactory but the latency value (or Ping ) is higher than 80-90 milliseconds, try to lower it using a tool like TCP Optimizer , which I told you about in my guide on how to lower the ping .
• If the game of your interest requires a “frenetic” data exchange, I recommend that you connect the computer to the modem via an Ethernet cableand not via the Wi-Fi connection: this device guarantees stability and better performance, drastically lowering the probability of running into lag. If the modem is far from the PC, you may want to consider installing quality Powerline adapters (provided you have a good electrical system, otherwise you will get very high latency values, not suitable for gaming).
• If you cannot use the cable connection and you are forced, for some reason, to use the wireless connection, try changing the radio channelin order to limit interference caused by other network devices nearby.
• Still talking about Wi-Fi, try to use the 5 GHz frequency, which offers much higher performance than the 2.4 GHz technology. However, keep in mind that, in this case, the computer and the router must be close enough to avoid interference (more suffered by the 5 GHz band). If you do not have a router compatible with this technology and you want to buy a new one, I recommend that you read the purchase guide I have dedicated to this category of devices.

If, despite all the improvements I have suggested, the values ​​of your connection should still leave something to be desired, it is likely that the cause is to be found in the service offered by your telephone operator; therefore try to hear the customer service and, if the failure is not temporary (and solvable), consider the option of switching to a fiber connection or, in general, to a better technology than the one you are using. Before proceeding, check that your municipality is reached by the ultra-fast Internet band , in order to avoid unnecessary (and expensive!) Operator changes.