How To Boost Your FPS In Fortnite

by Aakash Regmi

Fortnite is a competitive shooter where every second makes a difference. To ensure you don’t lose out on those moments, because of choppy video quality, you always prioritize frame rates. 

Although frame rate is heavily dependent on your build’s power and monitor refresh rate, you can always optimize for a boost. 

The recommended frame rate for a game like this is 60 FPS and should never be less than 30. It isn’t too hard to reach it as Fortnite is relatively less power-hungry compared to other games. 

How to Increase FPS in Fortnite 

Before we go in-depth, let’s consider the most obvious thing—your build. If you have a less powerful system, no matter how many tricks and magic you perform there will be a limit, that could be as low as 24, or as high as 120 FPS. Look at the minimum requirements and see where you stand. 

Monitor refresh rate will also have an influence. While it doesn’t directly affect FPS, they put a hard cap on the number of frames you see. Suppose your refresh rate is 60Hz, you won’t be able to see beyond 60 FPS. 

After you have considered the above two, here is how you can boost FPS for Fortnite,

Switch to Performance Mode 

The easiest way to increase your FPS is by changing the settings to performance mode. The game lets you customize plenty of the graphics settings. But it can be confusing because of the overwhelming options.

In that case, just let the game do it for you. To switch to performance mode, follow these steps: 

  1. Open Fortnite 
  2. Go to settings by clicking on the menu in the top right corner
  3. In the Video section, you’ll find Rendering Mode located beneath the Advance Options
  4. Select Performance 
  5. Restart Fortnite and you’re all set

Update your graphics driver and PC

To run the latest updates of the game smoothly, it is crucial that your PC is also up-to-date. First, see whether you’re running the latest version by checking if there are any current updates available. 

Another thing to update regularly is the graphics driver. Most of them will automatically notify you when the latest updates are available, but if for any reason you have not seen one pop-up in ages, here is how you can find them.

For AMD

  1. Install AMD Radeon app
  2. Right click on your desktop and select AMD Radeon Settings
  3. Click on Updates located at the bottom left
  4. Then select Check for updates 

If there are any updates, it’ll automatically start the download. 

For GeForce

The steps are the same but instead, you’ll do it via GeForce experience. You can download it on NVIDIA.com

  • Open GeForce experience > Drivers > Check for Updates 
  • Any updates, like previously, will be downloaded automatically. 

You also have to ensure Fortnite and the Epic Games launcher are on the latest version. 

Defragment your hard drive

Fragmentation happens all the time, as we keep deleting and adding new files. Your PC has to store files on your hard drive, but since the storage gets shuffled because of activities, it stores all data on remaining empty spaces instead of storing related data in tandem. 

Defragmentation is just the rearranging of a particular dataset that was previously fragmented. Think of this as the librarian re-arranging the books based on categories after indolent readers shoved them on any random empty shelf. This makes finding books faster for future readers. 

Steps to defragment your hard drive: 

  1. Click Start and then search for the term defrag
  2. Select the Defragment and Optimize Drives from the menu
  3. Now, choose the disk drive that Fortnite 
  4. Then select Optimize button

The process can take 2–5 minutes depending on how long you’ve been using the PC or how fragmented the data is. Just like the librarian, you should defrag your PC from time to time. 

Note: Do not defrag your SSD. There will be no improvement in performance and you’ll end up reducing the lifespan of your SSD. 

Restrict your background activities

Any type of background activity will restrict your performance, as the PC has to delegate limited power to each of those. Even if you don’t have any apps running, some continue to function in the background, eating up your RAM. 

To restrict background activities, simply follow the steps below, 

For Windows 10: Start > Settings > Privacy > Background Apps 

For Windows 11: Start > Settings > Apps > Apps and features 

In both cases, just select disable background activities for all those apps that you do not want to run in the background. Typically, they’re apps that are less important and you don’t use them very often. 

Additionally, you can also drop any unrequired startup processes. Whenever you boot up your PC, there will be some programs that’ll start automatically or run in the background. 

It is better that you continue startup for some essential apps, while others can remain restricted. To check all the apps and disable them, 

Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) > make en route to Startup > then start disabling.

Delete high-resolution textures

If you have limited power and storage, only download the things that you need. If there are apps you haven’t used in months and won’t likely use for a few more, create space and give your PC some room. 

Similarly, the game also has a “high resolution texture” that takes space and slows performance. Just delete them if you want frames over resolution, and here is how you can do it: 

  1. Open Epic Games launcher 
  2. Go to Library 
  3. Locate three dots at the bottom game’s cover (thumbnail) 
  4. Click on Option 
  5. Uncheck the Use High Resolution Textures box 

Overclock your RAM and GPU

Overclocking is basically pushing the frontiers of your PC’s performance. Most of them are locked, or run at a certain speed that is designated at the time of manufacturing. There is, however, some additional power left that your PC never uses. 

You can always unlock the power through an extensive process. Be warned though, overclocking your GPU and RAM is not as simple as updating your Windows. It requires a bit of skill, research, and, patience. 

It is not possible to comprehensively cover all your overclocking needs in one article, as each RAM and GPU may have different processes. 

Other things you can try

There could be a dozen different reasons why you’re getting lower FPS. If your PC does this to all the games you play, and no matter what you try, it persists, that’s a sign of your PC getting weak.

Here is a list of several basic options that you can consider, 

  • Optimize your RAM
  • Upgrade your RAM if you’re running low on it. Fortnite needs a minimum of 4GB RAM
  • Go to settings and switch all resolutions to low 
  • Make sure your PC has decent airflow and conduct regular heat checks
  • Keep your storage as much free as possible 
  • Lastly, if your build is outdated, you have no choice but to upgrade

That’s all the general things you can do. If you ever get an FPS drop suddenly, and other games run fine, you can try re-installing, or else rebooting your PC. 

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