However, many gamers still encounter framerate and stutter issues in GTA 5. If you are also part of the same group, look no further. Just follow this complete guide to fix GTA 5 framerate issues on Windows PC.
Why Does GTA 5 Have a Bad Framerate on a Windows PC?
You will constantly face framerate issues in GTA 5 if the system doesn’t match the minimum requirement to run the game. You can check out this system requirement to run GTA 5 on Rockstar’s official website. But what if the system fulfills all the requirements, and you still encounter issues?
In this situation, outdated graphics cards are often the primary culprit. The problem can also occur due to unnecessary background running applications. Additionally, misconfigured in-game settings can cause the problem as well.
Whichever part of your system is causing the problem, you can solve the issue in GTA 5 with the below solutions.
1. Close Any Unnecessary Running Background Applications
Although GTA 5 is an almost a decade-old title, it requires a good amount of GPU memory to run without any problem. But different graphics-intensive applications running in the background will constantly consume the memory, leaving GTA 5 with limited resources.
As a solution, consider closing all the background running applications. Here’s how to do it.
Open Task Manager using Ctrl + Shift + Esc. Right-click on high memory-consuming applications like Google Chrome, and choose End task.
That’s it. Now launch the game and check whether there’s an improvement in the performance.
2. Update the Graphics Driver
As aforementioned, an outdated or corrupt graphics driver is the prime reason behind the framerate issue in any Windows game. You will have to update the graphics driver to fix the problem. You can do it by following the below steps.
Press Win + X and choose Device Manager from the list. Double click on Display adapters. Right-click on the installed graphics driver and choose Update driver from the list. Choose Search automatically for drivers.
Wait until the update process is complete. After that, reboot the game and check if the problem continues.
3. Run With a High-Performance NVIDIA Processor
Modern Windows PC’s come with two graphics cards. The first one is the onboard graphics, whereas the second is the dedicated graphics card.
The system automatically switches to the dedicated graphics when the application requirement exceeds the onboard graphics limitation. However, you can force an application to work on the dedicated graphics card instead of the onboard graphics, which will help with performance.
Here are the steps to run GTA 5 on a high-performance NVIDIA processor.
Open the NVIDIA Control Panel. Open Manage 3D settings from the left pane. Switch to Program settings. Click on the drop-down icon under Select a program to customize. Choose and add GTA 5. exe file. Click on the drop-down icon under Select the preferred graphics processor for this program and choose High-performance NVIDIA processor.
That’s it. Close the Control Panel, open the game and check for the problem.
4. Adjust the In-Game Settings
One of the best ways to fix framerate issues is to make changes in-game. Below are the changes you can make in GTA 5 to improve the overall performance.
Note: The following changes will be helpful on a low-end device. You can make changes accordingly on a medium/ high-end system.
DirectX - DirectX 10 or DirectX 10. 1 Screen Type - Fullscreen Resolution - Native resolution Refresh Rate - 60Hz FXAA - Off MSAA - Off VSync - Off Pause Game On Focus Loss - Off Texture Quality - Normal Shader Quality - Normal Shadow Quality - Normal Reflection MSAA - Off Water Quality - High Particle Quality - Normal Grass Quality - Normal Soft Shadows - NVIDIA PCSS (NVIDIA GPU) or AMD CHS (AMD GPU) Post FX - Normal Anisotropic Filtering - Off
Save the settings. Afterward, go to Advanced Graphics, turn everything off, and save the settings.
5. Change the Power Settings
Windows PC comes with different power options, and each has its own benefit . For instance, to play games like GTA 5, consider using the Best performance mode.
Open Settings using Win + I hotkeys. In the System tab, select Power & battery. Click on the drop-down icon next to Power mode and choose Best performance.
6. Clear the Temp Folder
Windows has a dedicated folder to store temporary files of all the installed applications. But with time, these files can get corrupt and slow down system performance, affecting programs such as GTA 5.
So, make sure to regularly clear the temp folder to keep the system in the best condition. Here’s how to do it.
Open the Run dialogue box using Win + R. Type %temp% and press Enter. Select everything inside using Ctrl + A, right-click and choose the Delete option.
7. Download the Latest Windows Update
The problem can also result from outdated Windows OS. As a solution, download the latest Windows update. Here’s how to do it.
Open Settings. Choose Windows Update from the left pane. Click on Check for updates.
Windows will now check for and download any available updates.
8. Perform a Clean Boot
The next solution on the list is to perform a clean boot. Clean boot will start the system with minimal drivers and applications.
You can perform a clean boot by following the below steps.
Open the Run dialogue box, type msconfig, and press Enter. Switch to the Services tab. Checkmark Hide all Microsoft services box. Click on Disable all. Switch to the Startup tab. Click on Open Task Manager. Right-click on all unnecessary applications and choose Disable. Go to the Startup tab again and click OK.
If this fixes your issue, it means that one of the services you disabled is affecting your framerate. As such, if you want to fix the problem, try slowly re-enabling services until the lag returns, then either update or remove the service that’s causing the problem.
GTA 5’s Framerate Issue, Fixed
The above solutions will not only ensure you get better FPS than before but also eliminate your stuttering issue. However, if none of the solutions were helpful, consider reinstalling the game to resolve the problem.
