User question
Hello.
My laptop is about 4-5 years old, and some games started to slow down on it (WOW, WOT, for example). Interestingly, they seemed to work better before (or so it seemed to me ...). Couldn't it be tweaked somehow to get maximum performance out of it?
The rest of the question is cut out as not informative ...
Hello.
It depends on which laptop and which games (it is possible that in principle it will not be possible to get rid of the brakes without changing the hardware). The same Warcraft, depending on the location, can go with a different number of FPS: one will be 30, the other 55 (depending on the graphics of the area). 👀
Be that as it may, in this article I will give 10 small notes that will make your laptop faster (I will immediately note that overclocking and methods that can disable your hardware are not considered ...).
So...
Preview to record - making your laptop faster!
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10 Tips for Improving Laptop Performance
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Connect the laptop to mains power
The first recommendation is fairly simple and straightforward. The fact is that in most laptops, when running on battery power, economical mode (in some cases it cannot even be changed / disabled).
Typical laptop power adapter
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Set up your laptop power
Next, click on the battery icon (which is next to the clock) - and move the slider to the right to the maximum performance mode (note: in some Windows operating systems there may not be such a slider, in this case, go to setting through the control panel, more on this later in the article 👇 ).
Max. performance
Then you need to 👉 open the control panel, section "Hardware and Sound / Power Supply" .
Several power modes should be presented in this section. Select mode "High performance" .
Choosing a power supply scheme
If there is no mode choice, then open additional settings current power plan and check that the max. performance for video card and processor (see screenshot below 👇).
The state of the processor, video card (instead of 90% as I have on the screen - you need to put 100%)
In addition, please note that on laptops, along with drivers, specials can be installed. control centers. For example, Lenovo, Sony, etc. have such. As a rule, in their settings there is a section "Nutrition" where similar parameters are set.
Laptop power // laptop manager
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Check and update drivers
If we are talking about the performance of a laptop in games, then it is of great importance video driver (both the installed version and the specified parameters). Moreover, the newest version of the driver does not always show the best results ...
I would recommend downloading several versions of the video drivers that are available on your laptop from your laptop manufacturer's website.
Then, one by one, "test" them and choose the best ones (note: how to update the driver is described in one of my previous instructions, I give a link to it below).
👉 Help! (instruction)
How to update the driver for an AMD, nVidia and Intel HD graphics card: from A to Z
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By the way, I can't help but mention one more thing!
In addition to drivers, there are specials. libraries required for the games to work correctly. We are talking about Visual C ++, .NET Framework, DirectX. It is also recommended to update them.
You can solve all these issues in one fell swoop using the 👉 Driver Booster utility. One allows you to auto-check and update drivers for all PC / laptop devices, as well as download and install all the necessary components for games into the system. Very convenient!
Update everything - game components, sound and game devices, etc. / Driver Booster
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Optimize your graphics card driver settings
The performance of a laptop video card depends not only on the driver version, but also on its settings.
Moreover, by changing some graphics parameters, the number of FPS can change significantly (up to 20-30%!). Usually, in many graphic control centers (laptops) there are specials. templates (presets) of settings that allow in 1-2 mouse clicks to optimize the operation of the video card for performance or quality.
To enter the video driver settings, usually, just right-click on any free space on the desktop - in the menu that appears, click on the AMD / nVidia / IntelHD settings line (depending on the model of your adapter, see the screen below).
Also, the link to the video adapter settings should be in the tray, next to the clock.
👉 To help!
How to open graphics card settings: AMD, nVidia, Intel (can't find the graphics control panel)
Two ways how you can open AMD Radeon graphics card settings
Then you can either select a ready-made preset, or set the parameters manually. This topic is quite extensive, so below I will give several links for each adapter (IntelHD, AMD, nVidia). Just go through one of them and set the specified settings:
- IntelHD;
- AMD;
- nVidia.
Radeon Settings - Global Options / Clickable
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Customize the game (disable effects, shadows, etc.)
Also, the game settings have a big impact on the number of FPS (i.e. laptop performance) in the game. This primarily applies to:
- Resolution: the higher it is, the higher the load on the video card (and the lower the FPS). By lowering the resolution, you can significantly speed up the work of almost any game (however, the image may become lower quality - here you need to find a balance ...);
- Vertical Sync: enable / disable the option (may behave differently on each device).
Game Settings - Resolution and Vsync
Besides, pay attention to the image quality (Video Quality) - switch to the mode Low (reduced graphics quality). Also turn off various effects (shadows, dust, circles on the water, etc. Such detail depends on the specific game).
Setting up effects in WOW game
By the way, if you have a video card from IntelHD, then the task is somewhat simplified for you. The fact is that for these video cards, the developers have created a website (Gameplay), where they publish the optimal settings for modern games. I recommend reading it!
Screenshot from Intel's Gameplay website
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Remove trash from the system, defragment the disk
No matter how carefully you use your laptop, over time, a fairly large amount of "garbage" accumulates in the system: temporary files, program cache, broken shortcuts, old registry entries from long-deleted software, etc. All this, of course, affects the performance of the device ...
To clean the system from such debris, I would recommend using a special. utilities: 👉 System Care, CCleaner, etc. (the built-in Windows cleaner does not stand up to criticism). Even the free version of such programs is enough for a complete system cleaning (see screenshots below 👇).
Clear and Optimize System Care 12
6 GB of junk files! / System Care
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As for defragmentation ...
If you have a regular HDD installed on your laptop, then from time to time it is highly advisable to defragment (you do not need to defragment an SSD!). This will make your disk more responsive and speed up the overall system somewhat. In principle, even the built-in tool in Windows is enough for this task.
👉 Help!
7 programs for defragmenting your hard drive in Russian (HDD optimization).
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To start it - open "My Computer", and go to the properties of the disk that you want to defragment (usually, select the system disk).
Disk properties
Further in the tab "Service" click on the button "Optimize" ... See example below (👇).
Service - optimize
In the window that opens, select the drive and click the button "Optimize" ... By the way, before this operation, it is advisable to conduct an analysis (the button for launching next to optimization) - perhaps your disk does not need defragmentation yet ...
Disk selection - optimization
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Before starting the game, view what you have running, clear the RAM
Before starting the game, I also recommend checking if there are any resource-intensive applications that load the CPU, RAM, hard drive, etc. Applications such as video editors, audio editors, torrents, browsers, etc. - it is better to close so that there are no brakes in the game because of their work.
The easiest way to look at the list of running applications is to open "Task Manager" (combination of buttons Ctrl + Shift + Esc). Further, the list can be sorted by any of the columns and find all resource-intensive applications.
What applications load the system
By the way, you can clear the RAM faster (with one mouse click!). This can be done using the 👉 Advanced SystemCare utility, if you activate performance monitor ... It will allow you to always know how much memory is loaded and clear it quickly enough (see the screenshot below 👇).
👉 Help!
How to clear RAM (if there is not enough memory) - see instructions
Memory cleared in Advanced SystemCare - 1261 MB memory freed
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Disable (uninstall) your antivirus
Antivirus is enough resource intensive an application that can seriously slow down your laptop (especially if the application is not optimized). Therefore, for the duration of the game, it is highly desirable to disable it (even though there is a game mode).
In general, if you only use a laptop for games, social. networks, and music - in my opinion, you can remove the antivirus altogether and work without it (from time to time checking the laptop with 👉 online antiviruses).
Note: Windows 10 also has a built-in defender that does a pretty good job of dealing with most threats.
Disable Avast antivirus for 1 hour
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Check the temperature of the device (you may need a special stand)
Pay attention to whether the laptop makes a lot of noise (hums) during games, whether hot air comes out of the device (this is felt immediately if you put your hand to the ventilation holes). Another common sign of overheating is sudden reboots or shutdowns of the device.
In general, the device can overheat for various reasons:
- in case of improper use (for example, if the laptop is put on a bed, then part of the ventilation openings will be covered with a soft cloth. As a result, the heated air in the device case will simply have nowhere to go out ...);
- due to dustiness of the cooler, radiator, ventilation openings of the device. It is recommended to clean the laptop from dust about 1-2 times a year (👉 how to do it at home);
- due to the high room temperature (most often this occurs in the summer, in the southern regions of the country);
- with those. malfunctions in the device (for example, the cooler does not work).
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Be that as it may, first of all I recommend checking the temperature of the device (moreover, you need to measure it directly when the game is running, when the brakes appeared ...). There are specials for this. utilities such as 👉 AIDA64.
AIDA 64 - Computer, sensors - see temperatures
If the temperature is outside the нормы normal range, a number of measures must be taken (clean the device from dust; see what the system is loaded with; purchase a cooling pad, etc.). I recommend that you read one of my past articles on this topic, the link to it is below. 👇
Cooling pad for laptop
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👉 Help!
Laptop is warming up: what to do? How to lower the temperature
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A few words about the upgrade ...
Even if you have a fairly old laptop, I would recommend installing 👉 an SSD and 👉 adding RAM (if possible).
Many people think that it will be quite expensive (especially not justified for an old device). However, these components can be ordered from 👉 Chinese online stores at fairly democratic prices!
For those who have not used an SSD, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with this note (in short, the speed of working with a drive will increase ~ 3-5 times).
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👉 Help!
1) How to install an SSD drive in a laptop - simple concise instructions
2) How to increase RAM on a laptop - it's easier than it sounds
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PS
Also in Windows you can disable some services и and this will have a positive effect on performance. However, if your laptop is not that old, then you will hardly be able to notice an increase in device performance by "eye" ...
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That's all for now, additions would be very useful ...
Happy work!
👋
First publication: 21.04.2019
Correction: 10/10/2020
