The performance of a PC is determined by many factors. A critical factor for gaming, video editing, and heavy design-related use is the graphics card.

With technological advancements, graphics cards are getting more and more powerful. However, there is an essential setting that can improve the performance of your graphics card.

If you feel like you’re not getting the most out of your PC, it could be because you have forgotten to make a simple change to your graphics card settings.

Let’s see how you can tamper with the essential setting of graphics cards to improve your computer’s performance.

1. Upgrade your graphics drivers

One of the first things you can do to improve your general computing and gaming experience is to make sure that your drivers are up to date. Outdated drivers can lead to a variety of issues, including slow performance and crashing.

Follow these steps to upgrade your graphics drivers on Windows:

• Log in as Administrator.
• Press win+r, type devmgmt.msc, and press enter.

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• Under Display adapters, click on your graphics card and choose Properties.

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• Navigate to the Driver tab and click on Update Driver.

Next, click on Search automatically for updated driver software and follow the suggested instructions.

As per Candytech, they saw a 15% increase in graphics cards performance in some of the updated titles as compared to old graphics cards drivers.

In addition, look for genuine sellers in the market to ensure that the gaming graphics card you purchase is of authentic quality.

2. Configure the NVIDIA graphics card as your preferred graphics processor

If you've recently bought a new gaming laptop and discovered that sometimes the graphics card performance is awful, even though it's high-end and one of the best graphics cards currently available in the market.

The reason could be that the system automatically used the internal Intel HD graphics processor instead of NVIDIA.

If you also experience problems with your PC prioritizing an integrated graphics card, you will have to configure an NVIDIA graphics card as your option for nTopology.

It is applicable to nTopology, Windows 10, and NVIDIA GPUs.

Follow these steps to configure NVIDIA as your preferred graphics card:

• Right-click anywhere on your PC.
• Select NVIDIA Control Panel.
• Choose Manage 3D Settings on the left.
• Choose the Global Settings tab.
• Alter the preferred graphics processor to the NVIDIA processor.

3. Overwrite the NVIDIA settings

In case your GPU is not getting selected in nTopology, you can alter your graphical performance settings to NVIDIA.

• Open the Settings App.
• Go to System and navigate to Display. Scroll down to find Graphics settings.
• Find nTop.exe file.
• In the list, click on nTopology and choose Options.
• Select your preferred performance mode and click Save.

4. Overclock your GPU

Overclocking is another way to improve the gaming performance of your graphics card. It allows you to increase the GPU clock speed, which causes it to run faster than its default speed. This will let your games run smoother, and you'll experience fewer frame rate drops.

Here’s how to do it:

• Select a good overclocking tool like MSI Afterburner and install it.
• In the main dashboard, you will see your graphics chip’s current clock and its memory. On the right, the temperature will be displayed. The temperature should be below 90°C.
• Also, choose benchmark or stress-test utility tools like the 3D benchmarking software 3DMark and Furmark to check your current performance:

Either write down or take a screenshot of the numbers.

• To overclock the GPU chip, begin slowly. First, raise the core clock by 5% and check the performance. It should be stable, but don’t expect noticeable improvement at this point.
• While overclocking, the memory raises the clock by 10% or gives it a 50-100 MHz boost. The performance should be stable. In case your PC crashes, or if games display odd artifacts, perhaps your hardware is not designed for overclocking. Or you will have to raise the temperature limit.
• To fine-tune, raise your GPU clock by about 10 MHz. Test to see if it is stable. Increase another 10 MHz and test. Repeat the process to check for stability issues and performance enhancements. When Windows freeze or reboot, you have reached the limit. You can set 10-20 MHz below this limit.
• If you want to raise the power limit, increase the Power Limit and Temperature Limit toggles in MSI Afterburner and check the performance.
• Repeat the fine-tune process and test.
• When you achieve a stable clock, benchmark your system with the benchmark tools. Benchmark your games as well. There will be a difference in numbers as well as in the gameplay.

5. Clean your PC

If you have been using a desktop computer for a long time, then you need to make sure that the inside of your computer case is clean.

Dust builds up very quickly, especially if you open up the case on a regular basis. This can be taken care of by simply taking out your graphics card and blowing the dust off with compressed air.

Or you can clear your PC using a can of compressed air by cleaning all intake fans.

Here are other things to keep in mind:

• You can then switch off your PC, disconnect the power cord, and remove the side panel. Using compressed air, blow out the dust on the components.
• Don’t use a vacuum cleaner.
• If you are using laptops, simply blow dust out of the intake fans. Some laptops will have a vented lid that covers these fans. Remove it and blow the dust off the fans.

6. Adjust power settings 

Adjusting your graphics card's settings is a quick way to improve performance and reduce lag.

To do this:

• Click the Start button on your PC, followed by the gear icon on the left of the Start Menu.
• In the Settings app, choose System.
• The Display panel shows by default. On the left, choose Power & Sleep.
• Scroll down and choose the Additional Power Settings link.
• If you are using laptops, right-click on the battery icon, which you will find next to the system clock to reach the same panel. On the pop-up menu, choose Power Options.
• Set your preference to High Performance.

That’s a Wrap!

One of the most important factors to your computer's performance is your graphics card. While it may not be able to change the framerate on its own, it can definitely increase the graphical processing power of your computer significantly.

Author Bio:

Carl Torrence is a Content Marketer at Marketing Digest. His core expertise lies in developing data-driven content for brands, SaaS businesses, and agencies. In his free time, he enjoys binge-watching time-travel movies and listening to Linkin Park and Coldplay albums.