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High GPU Usage but Low FPS: 9 Ways to Fix This Issue in 2024

High GPU usage does not equal high FPS, but it can with these tips!

6 min. read

Updated onJanuary 8, 2024

updated onJanuary 8, 2024

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If a game hasn’t been properly optimized for your hardware, you may experience a case of high GPU usage with low FPS. This can be the case even with decent specs.

In such cases, your graphics card is usually working harder than it should be. In the event that this happens, it can lead to several issues such as game lagging or freezing, but not to worry as you can easily resolve this issue.

What causes low FPS despite high GPU usage?

How do I fix low FPS despite high GPU usage?

Below are some preliminary steps to make sure your computer is ready for the process of optimizing GPU usage and FPS:

1. Lower in-game settings

It’s possible that your game has been optimized for newer computers and lowering some of the game’s settings will help it run smoother on your PC.

For instance, if you are playing a game on High settings and are having problems with high GPU usage and low FPS, try changing the graphics settings to Medium instead. This will decrease the load on your graphics card, allowing it to run more smoothly without sacrificing visual quality too much.

2. Uninstall GeForce Experience

GeForce Experience could affect your GPU’s performance, so it’s best to uninstall it and findother ways to optimize your game.

3. Adjust Power Management Settings

4. Update your graphics card drivers

Often, Windows may fail to match your PC with the correct drivers. As such, a driver updater utility can come to your rescue in such situations.Outbyte Driver Updaterdoes a good job at detecting damaged, missing, corrupted,, and outdated drivers and then replacing them with the correct ones.

OutByte

5. Rollback the previous driver version

6. Clean up your PC from malicious software

7. Increase CPU cooler performance

If your CPU is running hot, the CPU will automatically reduce its clock speed in order to prevent damage from overheating. This in turn causes throttling.

And if your computer is throttling because of a poorly cooled CPU, you’ll continously encounterdropped FPS levels. Increasing the fan speed or replacing or using a better cooler will help keep your CPU running at optimal temperatures so that it doesn’t overheat and become damaged.

8. Enable Power-Preserving Modes on Single Threads and CPUs

This feature can be useful in scenarios when you want to reduce your CPU’s power consumption while still maintaining excellent performance.

9. Overclock your GPU

Overclocking can help boost your gaming performance by increasing the clock rate of some components inside the GPU but it also increases heat output and power consumption significantly.

If you go this route, ensure youenable overclocking monitoring softwareand areliable cooling solution. This will ensure you don’t end up with high temperatures and poor cooling solutions that fail to keep up with the increased load from overclocking.

Why is my FPS so low when I have a good GPU?

You probably have too many background processes on your computer, which use up your CPU power. And if yourPC doesn’t have enough RAMor processing power to run your games smoothly, it won’t be able to produce enough frames per second (FPS) for a good experience.

Your graphics settings could also be too high for your hardware or vice versa. If that’s the case, performance will suffer greatly as heat generation limits how fast it can run at full power. You’ll need to invest in a good CPU cooler.

Ultimately, there are definitely some steps you can take to improve your FPS and GPU load. Some may require only minor tweaks and adjustments, while others where theCPU usage is high with low GPUmay involve the need for a new graphics card or CPU.

However, before you make hasty, expensive decisions, try proactively tracking metrics related to performance. You can continually tune visual quality toincrease FPSand ensure that your game performs well across a wide variety of hardware configurations and settings.

Please let us know in the comments below how these worked out for you, and what other methods you’ve tried. We’d love to hear from you.

High GPU Usage but Low FPS: 9 Ways to Fix This Issue in 2024#

How do I fix low FPS despite high GPU usage?#

1. Lower in-game settings#

2. Uninstall GeForce Experience#

3. Adjust Power Management Settings#

4. Update your graphics card drivers#

OutByte#

5. Rollback the previous driver version#

6. Clean up your PC from malicious software#

7. Increase CPU cooler performance#

8. Enable Power-Preserving Modes on Single Threads and CPUs#

9. Overclock your GPU#

Why is my FPS so low when I have a good GPU?#