How to boost your GPU performance: 7 proven tips that work

The GPU is one of the most important parts of your PC, responsible for almost everything you see on your monitor or laptop screen. It constantly works alongside the CPU in the background to bring you all the pretty visuals in a game and give you a functioning user interface that looks and feels good and responsive. There are plenty of things that could go wrong with a GPU, though, and many factors affect its overall performance.

But like most things in tech, there's always a way to troubleshoot and get things up and running with a few simple tweaks. If you're having trouble getting the best out of your GPU, here are some proven ways to boost its performance.

Update the GPU drivers

The first thing you need to do before applying any other fix to boost your GPU performance is to check whether your graphics drivers are up-to-date. This applies to both the integrated graphics and discrete GPUs on your laptops and desktops, and it's fairly simple to do. Depending on the making of the GPU installed on your PC, use one of the links below to fetch the right drivers.

• Intel
• Nvidia
• AMD

Alternatively, you can also download Nvidia’s GeForce Experience or AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition, depending on your GPU, to receive push notifications when there's a fresh driver available to download for your GPU. I don't recommend setting up auto-update for your graphics drivers, so you can ensure the driver's stability and avoid having to roll back in case something goes wrong.

Eliminate hardware bottlenecks

A GPU is indeed one of the most important parts of a PC, but it's not the only component powering your entire system. It essentially works alongside other parts like the CPU, system memory, storage, etc., meaning the performance of each component plays a huge role in ensuring your system performs well at all times. You may have the fastest or most capable GPU installed on your PC, but it's not going to be put to good use if your CPU isn't just as good and can keep up with your GPU. The same is true regarding system memory, storage, and more.

This is why it's important to strike the right balance when building a PC, and you should always look to find the best CPU and GPU pairs. For instance, pairing a high-end GPU like an RTX 4090 with a relatively old and low-end CPU like an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 leaves a lot of unused performance on the table. You need to ensure you're striking a good balance with your hardware before blaming your GPU and trying to fix its performance.

Clean your PC

Dust is, more often than not, your worst enemy, and you'd be surprised by how a simple cleanup of your PC can do wonders to boost the overall system performance. This is true for both desktops and laptops, but I'd say it affects laptops more as the relatively smaller fans and filters tend to get blocked due to dust rather easily.

Dust buildup on vital airflow components like fans, vents, etc., is not a good thing as it may lead to reduced airflow, affecting the thermals. The lack of proper heat dissipation from components like the GPU may lead to throttled performance, so it's important to frequently clean your system to ensure you're not allowing the dust to build up on the parts that enable airflow.

Cleaning the dust from your desktop tower isn't as challenging as working your way through them on laptops. A can of compressed air or a compressed air duster is your best friend here, so grab one using the link below and blow out the dust collecting on the vents, fans, and filters.

DO NOT use a vacuum cleaner for this, as the static buildup can permanently damage your PC.

• 

  Dust-Off Disposable Compressed Gas Duster

  $19 $20 Save $1

  $19 at Amazon

  Expand Collapse
• 

  LIAMLI air duster

  $40 at Amazon

  Expand Collapse

Try upscaling technologies to improve gaming performance

Suppose you are a gamer trying to improve your GPU's performance. In that case, you might want to check out Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), and Intel's Xe Super Sampling (XeSS). All these upscaling technologies are now available in various games to improve performance.

They're all designed to reduce the GPU load by upscaling a relatively low-quality image. With these settings enabled, you're essentially asking your GPU to render your games at 1080p and letting, say, DLSS or FSR upscale the image to a higher resolution so it still looks great on your higher-resolution panel.

We have dedicated explainers for each of these upscaling technologies, so be sure to check them out. As an end user, however, all you need to know is that these settings can improve your gaming performance while taking the load off your GPU.

Connect your laptop to a power outlet

If you are playing a game on a laptop or trying to run some resource-intensive task to push the GPU to its limit, connect it to a power outlet. This is a common mistake many people make, so please ensure you're not on the same boat before trying other fixes.

Plugging your laptop into a power outlet is important because the built-in batteries inside these machines are simply not capable enough to deliver the full power needed for your laptop's maximum performance. The laptop's CPU and GPU will typically throttle down when not plugged into a power outlet.

This is a guaranteed way to see an immediate boost in GPU performance, one that you're probably not aware of. Alternatively, you can also adjust the power limits to ensure your PC isn't directed to consume less power. Here's how to do that:

1. Enter Settings and look for the Power option.
2. Now locate the Power mode option and select Best Performance from the drop-down menu.

Toggle hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling

Nvidia and AMD GPU users can experiment with a simple setting called Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling. This feature is designed to reduce the load on the CPU during intensive tasks. Enabling it will allocate high-priority tasks to the GPU while the CPU takes care of the rest.

I recommend turning this feature on if you have one of the modern GPUs in 2023, but it's better to leave it off if you're trying to squeeze more performance out of a relatively old GPU. You can always toggle the settings and see how your games run in each case. Here's where you'll find this option:

1. Press start and search for Graphics Settings.
2. Locate the Change default graphics settings button within Graphics Settings.
3. Toggle on/off Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling.

Overclock or increase the power limit

In case none of what you've tried so far has worked for you, and you're still not happy with your GPU's overall performance, then you may turn to GPU overclocking to boost its performance. There is a little risk involved in this process, so I recommend overclocking only as a last resort. I say there's risk involved because you're essentially tweaking the frequency and voltage of your component to squeeze more performance out of it, and pretty much anything could go wrong if you don't know what you're getting yourself into.

We at XDA have compiled a handy overclocking guide to ensure you have all the information needed to get started. Make sure you read the entire guide properly and prepare well for the process with all the prerequisites in place before overclocking. You can use official Nvidia and AMD tools, or a third-party solution like MSI Afterburner to overclock.

A simple alternative to GPU overclocking is simply raising the power limit of your GPU to boost its performance. Allowing your GPU to draw more power will make sure that it hits the boost clock speeds more frequently. You will, however, need to stay within the power and voltage limits, and all the standard overclocking precautions apply here too. There are various ways to increase the power limit of your GPU, but here's how you can do it using MSI Afterburner:

Please make sure your GPU is cooled properly before overclocking or tweaking the power limits.

How to overclock your GPU with MSI Afterburner

1. Open MSI Afterburner. You can download it from the MSI website if you don't have it installed on your PC.
2. Select your GPU from the drop-down list towards the bottom.
   

   

   Close
3. Now, locate the Power Limit slider and drag it from 100 to 110.
4. Hit the check mark at the bottom to apply the change.

The increased power limit should allow you to squeeze more performance out of your GPU. You can try playing a game to see if you notice a change in its performance. I recommend changing this in small increments after a point while constantly checking the GPU temperature to ensure it's within acceptable limits.

That's all you need

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to boost your GPU's performance to ensure you're making the most of it. If you're unable to see a difference in GPU performance even after trying all possible fixes, then it might be time for an upgrade.

The recommendation to upgrade your GPU here may seem counter-intuitive when trying to squeeze more performance out of your existing one, but there's only so much you can do to improve. It's important to understand your growing needs for performance and make the necessary hardware adjustments. You can browse from a variety of graphics cards and laptops to see which one fits your needs and budget right now in 2023.