If you find yourself in the position where youâre experiencing performance lag and have no money to upgrade, there are a few techniques that may help.
If you find your system hanging while you browse the web, or notice that games no longer play as smoothly as they once did, you may be a victim of performance âlagâ. Normally you would upgrade the hardware in your PC as a remedy to this, however, upgrades arenât always possible. Whether youâre flat broke, or are saving for a large future upgrade, here are a few well known techniques to reduce performance âlagâ without spending a cent.
Windows format
A tried and trusted technique; formatting Windows may seem extreme to most, but itâs a great way to improve system performance. Remnants of old drivers, bloated software installations, too many unnecessary applications running â these are just a few of the reasons why your PC slows down. Solving each of these problems is possible without a system format, though each of these is a time consuming process.
Lower resolution, turn settings down
Aimed mainly at the gamers out there; lowering resolution is a good idea. While the full HD resolution (1920 x 1080) is fairly standard nowadays, users donât need to make use of it to have a good gaming experience. Lower resolutions, particularly in FPS games, provide a large performance boost without much impact on the experience.
Turning off performance heavy settings is also advisable, and will often result in a far smoother experience. Things like AA filtering, high AF filtering, DirectX 11 mode, lighting and texture quality are all performance intensive features, and lowering or disabling these can result in smoother game play. The trade off is visual quality in-game, though this is often a small price to pay for less lag.
Keep your PC up to date
While it may seem like a bit of a bore, Windows updates, new graphics drivers and new versions of software you use almost always include some kind of performance boost. The latest graphics drivers are often optimised for new games as they are released. Windows updates are more often than not security related, though they often negate the need for a resource intensive anti-virus. Keeping windows up to date while having a free anti-virus might not be the most secure option out there, but it does improve performance particularly when working in Windows. Lastly, application updates bring new features as well as improved memory management and optimised coding, which can only be a good thing.
While none of the above techniques will have as much of an impact as upgrading hardware in your system, they all provide ways to potentially reduce performance lag at no cost to you.
If you find your system hanging while you browse the web, or notice that games no longer play as smoothly as they once did, you may be a victim of performance âlagâ. Normally you would upgrade the hardware in your PC as a remedy to this, however, upgrades arenât always possible. Whether youâre flat broke, or are saving for a large future upgrade, here are a few well known techniques to reduce performance âlagâ without spending a cent.
Windows format
A tried and trusted technique; formatting Windows may seem extreme to most, but itâs a great way to improve system performance. Remnants of old drivers, bloated software installations, too many unnecessary applications running â these are just a few of the reasons why your PC slows down. Solving each of these problems is possible without a system format, though each of these is a time consuming process.
Lower resolution, turn settings down
Aimed mainly at the gamers out there; lowering resolution is a good idea. While the full HD resolution (1920 x 1080) is fairly standard nowadays, users donât need to make use of it to have a good gaming experience. Lower resolutions, particularly in FPS games, provide a large performance boost without much impact on the experience.
Turning off performance heavy settings is also advisable, and will often result in a far smoother experience. Things like AA filtering, high AF filtering, DirectX 11 mode, lighting and texture quality are all performance intensive features, and lowering or disabling these can result in smoother game play. The trade off is visual quality in-game, though this is often a small price to pay for less lag.
Keep your PC up to date
While it may seem like a bit of a bore, Windows updates, new graphics drivers and new versions of software you use almost always include some kind of performance boost. The latest graphics drivers are often optimised for new games as they are released. Windows updates are more often than not security related, though they often negate the need for a resource intensive anti-virus. Keeping windows up to date while having a free anti-virus might not be the most secure option out there, but it does improve performance particularly when working in Windows. Lastly, application updates bring new features as well as improved memory management and optimised coding, which can only be a good thing.
While none of the above techniques will have as much of an impact as upgrading hardware in your system, they all provide ways to potentially reduce performance lag at no cost to you.
