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Why is my PC lagging in games?

Work through the common causes in order, from the cheapest check to the most expensive fix.

Updated October 5, 2026

First, which kind of lag is it?

People use the word lag for three different problems. A low frame rate means the picture is choppy all the time. Stutter means the picture is mostly fine but freezes for a moment now and then. Input lag or network lag means the picture is smooth but the game answers your clicks late. The fixes are different, so decide which one you have before you change anything.

Most of this guide is about a low frame rate and stutter. If the picture is smooth and only the response is late, look at your internet connection and the ping figure in the game, and close anything that is downloading.

Eight checks, in order

  1. Compare your PC with the game. Run the game through the Can I run it checker with your graphics card, processor and memory. If it says the game runs only on low settings, the lag is the hardware, and settings are your first fix. Not sure of your parts? See how to check your PC specs.
  2. Plug in a laptop and set the power mode. A laptop on battery slows its processor and graphics chip a lot. Plug it in. In Windows 11 open Settings, System, Power & battery and set Power mode to Best performance. In Windows 10 click the battery icon in the taskbar and move the slider to Best performance.
  3. Make sure the game uses the strong graphics chip. On laptops with two graphics chips, Windows can run a game on the weak one. Open Settings, System, Display, Graphics, add the game and set it to High performance.
  4. Update the graphics driver. Install the latest driver from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel, using the card maker's own site. New games often get fixes in new drivers.
  5. Close background programs. Press Ctrl, Shift and Esc, and sort the Processes list by CPU, Memory and Disk. Browsers with many tabs, launchers and downloads can use a lot.
  6. Check for heat. If the game runs well for a few minutes and then slows, the PC is probably too hot and is lowering its own speed. Clean dust from the vents and fans and make sure air can get in and out.
  7. Check your memory and storage. With 8 GB of RAM or less, new games can run out of memory and slow down. A game installed on a hard drive instead of an SSD can stutter when it loads new areas. Also keep some free space on the drive, because a nearly full drive slows down.
  8. Lower the settings. See the next section.

Try the checks one at a time and test the game after each, so you know which one worked.

Which settings to lower first

Resolution has the biggest effect, because the graphics card has to draw every pixel. In our model, dropping from 1440p to 1080p raises the frame rate by about a third. If your screen looks blurry at a lower resolution, use the upscaler that comes with the game (DLSS, FSR or XeSS) instead, which draws fewer pixels and scales the picture up.

Next, lower shadows, then volumetric effects such as fog, and then ray tracing, which is the most demanding setting in the games that have it. Texture quality costs little speed if you have enough video memory, so leave it on high unless the game stutters or runs out of memory.

Turning on a frame cap near your monitor's refresh rate, for example 60 or 144, stops the card working harder than needed and can make the frame rate steadier.

When it is the hardware

If you have done the checks and the game is still slow, the PC is too weak for it at those settings. The bottleneck calculator tells you whether the processor or the graphics card is the limit, and the upgrade advisor lists the cards that would be a real step up from yours, ranked by speed gained per dollar. Rate my PC shows where the whole PC stands.

Upgrade the part that is the limit. A faster graphics card in front of a processor that cannot keep up gains little, and the same goes for more memory when you already have 16 GB.

Questions

Why is my PC lagging when I play games?

The most common reasons are a graphics card that is too slow for the game and settings, too little memory, a laptop running on battery or using the wrong graphics chip, an out of date graphics driver, and a PC that is too hot. The checks below go through them in order.

Is it my internet or my PC?

If the picture is smooth but the game reacts late, it is usually the network, and the ping figure in the game will be high. If the picture itself is choppy, the PC is the cause.

Will more RAM stop the lag?

Only if you are short of it. With 8 GB, adding more can help a lot. With 16 GB, more RAM rarely changes frame rates.

Does a better processor help with lag?

It helps when the processor is the limit, which shows as the graphics card running below full load while the frame rate is low. The bottleneck calculator on this site shows how well a processor and a card match.

Why does my game stutter on a good PC?

Stutter, as opposed to a low frame rate, often comes from running the game on a hard drive instead of an SSD, background programs, a full storage drive or overheating.

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