Back in the day, i used to be a hardcore pc gamer. Now I am swayed towards gaming on native game consoles such as ps4. That notwithstanding, I still play video games on my pc whenever i am far from the power supply. I have a dell with corei7 and an Nvidia/Intel switchable graphic cards. I will be borrowing you my tricks on the best ways to optimize your Pc for gaming.
Remember that in one of my previous posts, I made mention of how you can tweak the most popular GPUs(Intel, Nvidia and ATI) for best gaming performance. But in this post, my focus is on how you can get the best performance from your pc games with your middle range laptop or desktop computers.
This guide may be of little significance to those who have gaming laptops. But by and Large my tips will benefit all and sundry and it has a global application based on my personal experience with high-end and middle-range laptops.
Due to ignorance of the lack of financial wherewithal, many people are buying pc games that are incompatible with their computer configuration. And unfortunately for them, most of these games will install but at the cost of your system’s health. So am here to do two major things; 1. to be able to play a pc game smoothly and secondly to prevent your PC’s processor or GPU from crashing because of a game.
For this test, I will be using a mid-range notebook with 8gb ram, intel core i5 processor and Nvidia GeForce 410M GPU with 512mb of VRAM. some people will be wondering what I meant by VRAM and why I didn’t mention my harddisk well my harddisk is 500gb
Now to get it started I will assume that my reader either has a pc already or is about to buy a pc. If you are planning to buy a pc and you want to be playing games on it please go for a gaming laptop otherwise you can go for something like mine but with an increased VRAM to like 1gb instead of my 512mb. but I must tell you, my games run smoother than on some laptops with 1gb VRAM because of my tweaks.
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In Order of Importance, Hints on Ways to Optimize your Pc for Gaming
This tips will prevent your pc videos games from crashing your computer during video gameplay. By extension, it will make the game that is higher than your computer’s specification run smoother on your computer.
Know Your PC’s System Information
First off, you need to know your own computer specifications if you are buying it new check it. and a quick way to check it is by typing “system information” in the start menu of windows 7 or search of windows 8 then you will see something like what is in the two pictures above. you will see things like ram processor, os bit e.t.c
Check if Your Video RAM(VRAM) is Adequate
Secondly, check your VRAM; to easily check this you can right-click on an empty space on your desktop then select Screen resolutions>>Advanced Settings.
Check the Games’s Specifications Vis-a-vis the System Requirements
That is not all, you also need to know the pixel shader e.t.c so I will advise you to visit a site that will help you determine all the gaming / GPU features of your computer and the site is called systemrequirementslabs.com. This site will help you detect your gaming capabilities as well as the requirements of the game you want to play.
Have an Adequate Computer Hardware Components
Your hardware components should be tolerable. e.g your processor should not be less than a dual-core of about 2.50ghz. In addition, your ram should not be less than 2gb, and your hard disk should not be less than 100gb. I will advise you not to buy a pc with intel integrated graphics card if you are serious about playing high-end games with your computer. Go for a discreet/dedicated GPU like Nvidia or ATI.
You need to Have an Up to Date Computer Drivers
All your computer drivers should be up to date. Update your GPU regularly as this help in fixing about 70% of all games problems. You also need to get the latest version of Direct X installed from Microsoft website(this sometimes comes with the games cd), get steam of the game you want to play installed e.g GTA IV, Hitman absolution e.t.c, install Microsoft .net framework of at least 3.5, Install java runtime, Install Flashplayer, Also download and install games for windows live from Microsoft website gfwlivesetup..
Check the Individual Game Requirements
Now you are almost done save that you should pay attention to the game’s requirement. E.g if your pc meets only the game’s minimum requirements, please don’t ever attempt to play such games at the highest quality level because if you do, you will not enjoy the game and you are gradually reducing the life of your GPU.
Install and run Some Gaming Benchmarking Tools
Try some benchmarking software on your pc and know the gaming stress level of your computer; “furmark” is a very good free benchmarking tool and for Nvidia, users use Geforce Experience(a new tool by nVidia to help optimize your game)
Try The Following Personal Maintenance:
i. Always alloy adequate ventilation into your system so that your gpu will not warp due to high temperature
ii. Don’t always play games on battery, it reduces the performance and at the same time reduce the life cycle of the battery. Besides, it may let you lose your progress when the battery is flat and the computer switches off.
iii. Do not hibernate a game in progress whatsoever if you do, you are over stressing your pc and the consequences will not be pleasant
iv. always trim down the graphic settings of your game within the game before playing the game.
v. Unless you are about to play an online multimedia game, don’t ever keep alive your internet connection while gaming
vi Close all background applications and processes before launching a game
vii. once you are not connected to the internet, you are safe so you can turn off your Antivirus as it does more harm than good to the performance of games
viii. Service your pc by blowing out the dust from the board always this is because playing games generate a lot of heat.
If you have any addition please update us in the comment below
Further Reading:
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