How to Make Computer Games Run Faster

There are a lot of factors that can make your computer games run faster.

Graphics-intensive video games can often run sluggish if you don't happen to have a supercomputer on hand. To increase the speed of your games, you can either tackle it from a hardware or software perspective. Hardware solutions will allow you to run your games without sacrificing maximum performance. Software solutions involve turning down some of the presentation features of the game to make it run better on the equipment that you already have.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Video card (for hardware solutions)

Instructions

Hardware Solutions

1. Obtain a better video card than the one that is currently installed. Look for features like higher dedicated RAM and processing speed. Follow the manufacturer's instructions to install the card and you will see instant results.

2. Increasing the amount of system RAM can help your games to run faster as well. Doubling your memory gives the game more room to stretch out in, which means quicker loading times and redraw rates.

3. Invest in a faster processor. A more powerful processor can handle the operations games require to run efficiently. Follow the manufacturer's instructions to install a new processor. This is a more complicated procedure.

Software Solutions

1. Change your graphics settings within the game's options. Turn off effects that are purely aesthetic in nature. This includes things like grass blades, weather effects, and water reflections. While these are nice touches to the presentation, they use a lot of your computing power. Your experience can be a lot smoother without them and it will not effect the actual gameplay.

2. Turn down distances viewed. This refers to how much of the game's "world" is drawn out at a time. By cutting the distance down, the game doesn't draw as much of the graphics at a time, which means faster loading times and smoother gameplay.

3. Windows uses your hard disk space as a sort of pseudo-RAM. In the Control Panel, you can find system options that will allow you to decide how much hard disk space you want to allocate to this duty. By turning it up, if you have the extra space to spare, your games may speed up a little.

4. Make sure that your BIOS and device drivers are updated. Manufacturers issue updated drivers that boost performance. By insuring that you have the most recent version, you can make sure that you are getting all the mileage you can get out of the hardware that you have.

Tips & Warnings

• Online games can be sped up by getting a faster internet connection.

• Don't run multiple programs when playing your games. Multitasking is a big memory hog. Even though a program may just be running in the background, it is still stealing some of your system's precious resources.

References

• How to Make Your Computer Games Run Faster
• Make Your PC Run Faster