Introduction
There are many reasons why some games perform poorly on computers. Some of them are hardware related issues, and some of them are software related. In this post, we will discuss the various reasons why a game might not be performing well on your computer.
The Specification of your Computer
The following are some reasons why a game may perform poorly on your computer:
The specification of your computer
How to check your computer specifications
Incompatible Drivers
One of the most common reasons for computer games to perform poorly is incompatible drivers. Drivers are the software that allows your computer to communicate with devices, such as your graphics card or hard drive. Drivers can be updated for better performance, but if they're not compatible with a game's engine, they may cause performance issues that affect gameplay.
For example:
If you're running an older version of Windows and want to play a game optimized for Windows 10, it might not run well on your PC because it uses newer coding standards than what was used when you last updated your PC's operating system
If you've recently installed an upgrade pack or expansion pack and notice that some parts of the game don't seem as smooth as before (such as loading times), this could mean that there's something wrong with either one of these programs
Corrupted Game or Drivers
Corrupted drivers can cause performance issues. Examples include:
Incompatible drivers. For example, you might have a game that requires DirectX 9 but your computer uses DirectX 10 or 11 for some reason (that's rare). Or perhaps the game is meant for Windows 7 and it doesn't work properly on newer versions of Windows.
Malware, viruses, and other malware. These may corrupt files or settings required by the game to run smoothly.
A failed update, uninstallation or repair attempt will also cause driver issues if not handled properly by Windows 10's built-in features or third-party software such as CCleaner (free)
Anti-Virus Scanning in Background
The first thing to consider is whether you have installed any anti-virus software on your computer. If so, make sure that it is not scanning your computer in the background. Anti-virus software can often slow down a computer and cause frame rate issues in games. If you don't have anti-virus software installed on your computer (or if you do but aren't using it), then a good option is to get some. You should also consider whether or not you want to install new hardware or upgrade any of the components in order to increase performance
Corrupted System Files
You can use the System File Checker tool to scan for corrupt system files. To do this, follow these steps:
Press the Windows key and R to open the Run dialog box. Type cmd into the text field, then press Enter on your keyboard or click OK.
In the Command Prompt window that opens, type sfc /scannow, then press Enter on your keyboard or click OK at the prompt that appears. If a Windows error message appears after you run this command (for example, Error 0x80070003), you may need to restart your computer before you can proceed with using SFC/SCANNOW again; otherwise, try running it again and see if it works properly this time around.
Temperature and Power Issues
Temperature
Power issues
Temperature is a common problem in gaming. You will want to check your computer’s temperature to ensure that it doesn’t rise beyond its limits. To do this, click on the start button and type “System” into the search bar. Once you have found System, right click on it, then click on “Device Manager” (If you are using Windows 7 or 8). Now find your GPU under Display Adapters and right click on it and choose “Properties” from the menu that pops up. Then go over to the tab called “Driver Details” where you can see all of your installed drivers for that specific hardware item along with their version numbers as well as what manufacturer created each driver specifically for those devices only (In our case here we would want Intel HD Graphics while another person might use NVIDIA instead). After checking out these details all we need now is one more quick thing before we're done: Clicking on OK after closing out everything else will allow us access back into Device Manager where there should now be an option labeled “Power Management Settings...” at which point just follow through like normal until eventually reaching another screen entitled "Power Plan Setting", from here simply select Apply followed by OK again when prompted - resulting in new options appearing beneath both choices above it but don't worry about either of those just yet since there's plenty more work left undone first!
Windows Updates
If a game is performing poorly on your computer, one common cause is Windows updates. Microsoft frequently releases patches that fix bugs and security issues in Windows, which can sometimes result in games not working properly. To check if updates are the problem, head to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Check for Updates and see if there's anything available (if there are any updates available, they'll be listed here).
If an update has been released recently, try installing it and then launching your game again to see if performance improves. If an update doesn't offer any improvement immediately upon installation or if no recent updates have been released for your operating system recently (or ever), you should continue troubleshooting using other methods outlined below.
Overclocking CPU & GPU
Overclocking the CPU and GPU
Overclocking the CPU can cause problems with games as they're more sensitive to instability and crashes than other applications.
Overclocking may also overheat your computer's hardware, causing damage and instability. This is especially true if you're overclocking both the CPU and GPU (graphic processing unit).
Background Processes like Waves MaxxAudio Service, Logitech Gaming Software, GeForce Experience, Aura Sync Utility, etc. can cause performance issues for some games.
Some background processes, like Waves MaxxAudio Service, Logitech Gaming Software, GeForce Experience, Aura Sync Utility, etc. can interfere with the performance of games.
You can turn off some background processes to improve game performance by going to the settings menu in Windows 10 or 7 then go through each program/service one by one and disable/turn off any unnecessary background services/processes that you don't need for gaming such as WinSAT (Windows System Assessment Tool), Windows Defender Antivirus Service or Automatic Maintenance Task scheduler service.
If disabling all these processes doesn't help improve your gaming experience then you might want to uninstall those programs from your computer before playing any games on it again.
Conclusion
Now that you know the reasons why some games perform poorly on computers, it's up to you to identify and solve these issues.