Gaming Laptops Very Slow – How to Fix It

If you are finding your gaming laptops very slow, there are a few things that you can do to try and speed it up. Read this article to find out how to fix gaming laptops that are very slow.

In most cases, this will involve cleaning the fans, upgrading the RAM, and reinstalling the operating system. Hopefully, by following these simple steps, your laptop will start performing better and you can focus more on your gaming experience!

Before we go any further, you can check out this article: Best 5 Gaming Laptops Offers for October 2022

Gaming Laptops Very Slow

Gaming laptops are awesome, but they can slow down when gaming. If you’re in the middle of a game and your laptop starts to lag, there are a few things you can do to try and fix the issue.

Why is my laptop so Slow

Laptop performance can be affected by a number of factors, one of which is gaming. If you’re experiencing slowdowns while playing games or using other applications, there are some things you can do to improve your laptop’s performance.

Your CPU and GPU are throttled as a result of heat

The Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) are jammed into a very small chassis due to the compact design of gaming laptops.

This limits ventilation, and in the absence of an efficient cooling system, the heat generated by these parts may accumulate inside the vehicle until it reaches high levels that result in thermal throttling.

A built-in safety feature called throttling reduces the processing speed of the CPU or GPU so they can cool down a little bit, preventing long-term harm.

Your laptop’s gaming performance will suffer as a result, and you might experience lag, stuttering, or screen tears.

The following are a few overheating causes:

• clogged exhaust and intake vents
• poorly applied thermal paste
• Thermal paste gradually loses its efficacy.
• software problems
• gaming in a warm setting
• CPU or GPU overclocked
• flawed fans
• a poorly designed laptop cooling system

You Can’t Play Online Games With Your Internet Speed

Your internet speed may be the issue if you only experience laptop lag when playing online games on services like Steam, Google Stadia, Uplay, and Xcloud. A quick and reliable internet connection is necessary for online gaming.

Data must constantly be transmitted between your laptop and the server when playing online games. When you hit a key on your computer, a slow internet connection causes a delay before the server responds (latency).

Therefore, to rule out it as a problem, think about verifying your Wifi or Ethernet internet speed. You can visit SpeedTest to check your internet speed.

Your Laptop is Connected to Several External Devices

Monitors, gaming mice, keyboards, and screens are just a few examples of the extra stress that external devices can place on your laptop. They make use of the CPU, memory (RAM), and occasionally the GPU resources on your laptop that would otherwise be used for gaming.

Your laptop’s hardware power and the connected devices determine how much lag you feel.

Background Programs Are Running That Are Not Necessary

If you have too many programs operating in the background, that could also result in slowness. In addition to using CPU and memory resources, some programs occasionally execute arbitrary scans and upgrades that might bog down your PC and cause latency.

Remember that software can operate in the background even if you don’t immediately open it. Several of these programs launch automatically (when you turn on your laptop).

Use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Shift + Esc” to launch the Task Manager and see all of the Windows startup apps. You may view a list of all currently running apps along with their CPU and memory utilization under the Start-up tab.

You can choose to stop the program by right-clicking on the processes you want to end. Additionally, to detect and get rid of unwanted software that can be slowing down your Operating System, think about using an anti-malware program like Malwarebytes (OS).

You Are Gaming Without The Charger Plugged In

Gaming laptops have powerful, power-hungry dedicated graphics cards and high-performance processors. This explains why they can’t play games as long as ordinary laptops can when they’re running on batteries.

When your laptop is powered by a battery, it automatically enters power-saving mode to prolong the life of the battery. Because it restricts the power given to the processor and graphics card, this is poor for gaming.

Only when there are no power constraints can the CPU and GPU operate at their maximum speeds. Plugging out, then, ultimately results in a decline in performance as well as undesirable consequences like lagging.

Your Gaming Laptop Doesn’t Meet The Minimum System Requirements

Games included have specific hardware needs in order to function properly on a computer. Gaming will probably lag if your laptop doesn’t satisfy the minimum system requirements.

It’s extremely likely that your hardware is failing you if you notice that your laptop only lags while playing particular games.

Your laptop’s drivers haven’t been updated in a while

To keep games running properly on your gaming laptop, updating drivers is essential, especially those for your graphics card. To add new features and address bugs, Nvidia and AMD regularly provide updates for their graphics cards.

Maintaining the DirectX driver is also essential to enhance performance and get rid of problems like latency. This driver enables games to communicate directly with audio and video software.

High-End Laptop Gaming on Low-End Hardware

The graphics card has to render and process a lot of data when graphic features like anti-aliasing, shadows, ambient occlusion, and ray tracing are activated.

Therefore, you will suffer delays between the time you take an action and when you see a reaction on the screen if your laptop’s GPU is not powerful enough.

If you are playing video games on a cheap gaming laptop, this is extremely obvious. Even at high settings, modern games should run smoothly on high-end laptops equipped with the latest hardware.

Read also our article here: Gaming Laptops Cost: How to Choose the Cheap One

How Can I Fix a Slow Laptop

There are a few things you can do to speed up your laptop.

Programs in the system tray should be closed

If your computer is beginning slowly, it’s conceivable that too many apps are launching simultaneously with Windows. Frequently, programs in the system tray start up at boot time and continue to run as you use the computer.

Click the upward pointing arrow on your taskbar’s right side to access these items.

Right-click any running apps to shut them down if you don’t need to.

Decide which of them doesn’t need to start automatically by going through them. If you can disable any of the high-impact ones, the performance of this process will be significantly enhanced.

But keep in mind that some of these applications are necessary for Windows to function. For instance, it’s generally better to ignore the ones where Microsoft is named as the publisher. If you’re unsure, either skip it or conduct a Google search to learn more.

Simply right-click and select Disable to disable. Keep in mind that all you are doing is preventing the program from starting up.

Update your apps, drivers, and Windows

You’ve probably heard that it’s a good idea for security to keep your software updated. This is accurate, and it can also improve performance. When an update is available, Windows will notify you automatically. Just watch that you don’t put it off any longer.

You can always check if you believe you might have missed an update. Select Settings or the settings icon from Start. then select Windows Updates under Updates & Security.

In addition to updating your Windows operating system, you need also update your drivers and applications. Once more, both security and performance will benefit from this. A short online search should reveal which version you should be used if you believe you may have missed an update.

Delete all unused files

Our computers become crowded much like our wardrobes and drawers. Despite the fact that you can’t actually see it, you know it’s there and that it might be hurting your computer’s performance. This is particularly true if you frequently work with numerous huge files, such as high-resolution photos, audio files, and films.

Make it a practice to regularly delete files and folders, then empty the recycle bin to free up space. When you do this frequently, you are more likely to remember exactly what is in the files and folders and to be less worried about accidentally destroying crucial information.

Find applications that consume resources

There is probably a specific program to blame if you notice that your computer is suddenly operating much slower. Go into your task management and look at what’s using up your resources to pinpoint the offender.

Select Task Manager by right-clicking on the taskbar. To learn more about the programs that are presently operating on your computer, click More details. By default, it ought to display the Processes tab.

The list can be sorted by clicking each header to see which programs are utilizing a given resource the most. If something needs to be closed, consider doing so by first shutting the application itself. Return to the Task Manager page, right-click the application, and select End task if it won’t shut down.

Change the power settings

For your convenience, Windows comes with a number of pre-set “power plans.” Performance and energy usage are both taken into account when the default setting of Balanced is used. However, the latter is only really a problem if you’re using batteries or trying to reduce your electricity usage. As a result, you might wish to adjust your strategy.

The High-performance plan, as its name implies, is a better choice if your PC is functioning slowly. Although it consumes more energy, this option favors performance and should therefore make your system run faster.

In addition to the conventional choices, you could decide to make your own unique plan. Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Create a power plan. Choose which existing plan you would like to start with, enter a name for your new plan, and select Next.

Basic choices include how long the screen remains on when you aren’t using it and how long it takes the computer to enter sleep mode. These won’t really impact the speed of your computer, but if you select Change advanced power settings, you can make more changes that will.

How to Improve the Gaming Performance of Your Laptop

The best approach to speed up your laptop for gaming is to install new hardware. What, however, can you upgrade?

Famously, laptops cannot be upgraded. You can update three of the components.

• RAM: Increasing the speed and amount of memory can have a significant influence.
• Switching to a solid-state drive (SSD) or fast M.2 storage will significantly enhance gaming performance.
• Battery: With the full settings activated, batteries cannot run games for very long.

Update DirectX to Make Your Laptop More Gaming-Friendly

DirectX, a set of software tools that support video game visuals, is essential to gaming on Windows. Over the years, DirectX has seen numerous revisions.

The most recent version, DirectX 12 Ultimate, was released in 2020 and comes pre-installed on Windows laptops. It offers a shared library for Xbox Series X|S and Windows systems.

To determine your DirectX version right now:

• Press WIN + R to open the Run dialog
• Enter dxdiag
• Wait for the DirectX Diagnostic Tool (DXDiag) to load
• Look for the DirectX Version at the bottom of the list under the System tab.

To update DirectX:

• Go to Start > Settings (or WIN + I)
• Click Update & Security > Windows Update
• Click Check for updates

It is important to make sure that your audio drivers are appropriate for gaming in addition to keeping your visual drivers current. You can check the status of your audio driver in DxDiag’s Sound tab.

Overclock the Laptop Graphics Card

While dangerous for a novice, overclocking can wring out more performance from the graphics card. You shouldn’t have too much trouble locating the right tool because both AMD and Nvidia GPUs have tools accessible.

Power and heat are the key issues. You will need to correctly modify the power settings on your computer because overclocking consumes more electricity. However, overclocking also raises the GPU’s temperature.

Usually, the laptop’s integrated cooling system takes care of this. The fans and heatsinks need to be cleaned on a regular basis. If not, when it becomes too hot, your laptop will immediately shut down as a safety measure.

Maintain a Dust-Free Environment on Your Laptop

The best course of action is to clear the area of the dust. Undoubtedly, this is difficult. In the unlikely event that your laptop is not sealed, opening it will almost certainly void the warranty. Utilizing a few very specialized cleaning methods is the answer.

You need to avoid putting objects near more than just your laptop’s vents, though. It’s crucial to check the keyboard for any debris that could lead to sticky keys before using it frequently (a must for PC gaming).

By the way, if you are looking for the cheap gaming laptops, you can visit this article: Gaming Laptops Low Price – According to the Expert

Conclusion

Gaming laptops are amazing devices that allow you to enjoy your favorite games to the fullest. However, if gaming laptops are very slow, it can be frustrating. In this blog, we will discuss how to fix gaming laptops that are very slow. We have included a step-by-step guide that will help you get your gaming laptop back to its former glory. So, if gaming laptops are very slow, don’t hesitate to check out this blog for help.

Roselyne T.

I’m Roselyn T., a self-proclaimed tech geek on a mission to unravel the wonders of the digital realm. As a dedicated reviewer of computers and laptops, I share my insights and expertise on the latest tech trends and innovations on my blog, workrift.com. With a passion for demystifying the tech landscape, I not only offer in-depth reviews but also provide practical tips to navigate the ever-evolving world of technology. I’m also an author of the book “AP Computer Science A Premium, 2024: 6 Practice Tests + Comprehensive Review + Online Practice (Barron’s AP)” which is sold on Amazon. Join me as we explore the exciting intersection of form and function in the realm of gadgets and gear.