How to ensure the best VR performance from your PC

Low frames per second (FPS) in PC gaming is your worst enemy — in VR it can also be literally sickening. What better reason to give your old hardware some care and keep it performing up-to-snuff for another few months?

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Low frames per second (FPS) while PC gaming is your worst enemy. In VR, whether with Windows Mixed Reality (WMR),Valve Index, an Oculus Rift S, or even anOculus Quest, it can also be literally sickening. What better reason to give your old hardware some care and keep it performing up-to-snuff for another few months?

Choppy graphics, lagging audio, slow load times all contribute to a bad time, and maybe your budget doesn’t allow for new hardware. But you might not even need new hardware to get a better experience! Starting with some easier tips and moving onto some more complicated stuff, here’s how to eke the most performance out of your existing hardware.

Clean out your case

Removing the cover to your PC’s case can sometimes be a very frightening ordeal, especially if you’re a pet owner. All the dust and hair that collects in corners also collects near your PC and gets blown in when your fans are running.

Dust and hair in your PC case aren’t just unwanted — they can lead to increased temperatures in all your hardware, and it will thus slow things down. Your PC isn’t like your car’s engine; it doesn’t run better when hot.

Using a can of compressed air is generally the best way of removing loose dust and hair from the case. Ensure you’re not too aggressive with the air as you don’t want to knock anything loose — a better method of removing caked-on dust (e.g. on your fan blades) is to use a cotton swab.

Update your operating system

Using an outdated version of, say, Windows, can lead to decreased PC performance. Applications designed for a certain operating system (OS) version won’t work their best, and malware can find its way through easier on an OS that isn’t updated with the latest security measures.

Here’s how to search for available updates in Windows 10:

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Any available updates for Windows 10 will begin to download automatically.

Graphics card drivers are generally designed for the latest build of Windows, so if you update one you’ll want to update the other.

Update your graphics card drivers

Drivers are what allow your hardware to speak to your operating system. Imagine your graphics card (GPU) is speaking Mandarin while your OS is speaking English; there is a chance for confusion if an able translator — the driver — isn’t around.

Nvidia and AMD, the two big GPU makers that makes thebest graphics cardsaround, update their drivers regularly, and especially when new games are released. If you’re experiencing some sub-optimal graphics, definitely check out Nvidia’s GeForce Experience app or AMD’s Gaming Evolved app.

To update drivers in GeForce Experience, follow these steps:

Nvidia will take things over from here if you choose Express installation — you will be able to choose your own settings if you choose Custom installation. AMD’s Gaming Evolved app works very much the same and is equally easy to use.

Purge and defragment your hard drive

Hard disk drives (HDD) might be an older type of storage technology, but they’re still equipped with some new computers. Since hard drives utilize a physical platter (which looks like a disc) and a needle to read the data on the platters (not too dissimilar from a record player), they require different techniques to care for and get the best performance out of when compared to a Solid State Drive (SSD).

Having a PC full of old, unused apps, temporary internet files, cookies, and cached images can slow things to a grind.

Using the Programs and Features tool in Windows 10 is an easy way to remove unwanted apps:

The app will be uninstalled cleanly. If you want to remove temporary internet files, cached files, and other junk, use Disk Cleanup:

When files are written to a hard disk drive (HDD), they sometimes get partially written in a bunch of different spots. Your OS has to search different places to access a whole file, slowing things down. If you have an HDD rather than a solid state drive (SSD), you can use the Windows 10 defragment tool to put files back together and thus access them much faster.

The defrag tool will take over from this point. Note that you may experience decreased performance while the tool is running.

Enable TRIM on your SSD

TRIM is the garbage collector of your solid-state drive and is a good alternative to a hard-disk drive defrag. Here’s how to enable TRIM:

Some SSD brands, such as Samsung, work with special software that will also help get the best performance out of your SSD.Samsung MagicianandWestern Digital SSD Dashboardare two such options that will help you get the best performance out of your SSD with little effort on your part. Check your SSD manufacturer’s website to see if they have special software that will help in this regard.

Optimize your graphics with GeForce or AMD software

Nvidia and AMD come with some great apps that let you optimize settings for optimal in-game performance. They also take some of the guesswork out of the sometimes intimidating settings menus found in blockbuster titles.

Here’s how to optimize settings in the Nvidia GeForce app:

Nvidia will automatically change the in-game settings to best suit your hardware. AMD’s Gaming Evolved app works very much the same way and is equally easy to use.

Change your power plan

Windows 10 has some built-in power options that help balance your PC against energy use and performance. If you don’t mind burning a bit more energy, you can set your power plan to high performance:

Change your virtual memory page file

If your PC is low on RAM, it can utilize a special file on your computer that acts as virtual RAM. This is known as a page file. Page files should not be set to more than 1.5 times more than the total amount of RAM in your PC. The faster your hard drive or solid state drive is, the more effective a page file will be.

You want to make sure you set all other drives in your PC toNo paging fileunless you want to record Error info. In this case, leave yourC:drive (if this isn’t your main paging file drive) with about 300MB.

Make some changes in your registry

Warning: Performing registry edits can cause serious problems with your PC. Proceed at your own risk. Always make a backup of your PC before editing the registry.

How to make a full backup of your Windows 10 PC

The multimedia class scheduler is used by some games to ensure background processes can have enough processing power to keep running efficiently, but you want full power toward gaming! Here’s how to change the class scheduler to give games the most processing power possible:

You can also set the priority of games above other processes in your PC to ensure your games are running as good as possible. Here’s how to do it:

Solid-state drive users: disable hibernate

Hibernate allows hard-disk drives to load apps faster and is unneeded if you use a solid-state drive. Here’s how to disable it:

Get rid of unnecessary Windows animations

Moving windows, opening the Start menu, and many other motions have visual effects that can, in some cases, slow down your computer’s performance. Here’s how to disable animations:

Enable smooth motion in SteamVR for Valve Index and HTC Vive

While Oculus' software automatically enables motion smoothing and gives no obvious way of turning it off, SteamVR offers a similar setting for supported headsets like the HTC Vive family and the Valve Index that may not be enabled by default. You’ll want to make sure this is on if you’ve got one of these headsets, as it can help smooth out motion even when frame rates are low.

Lower VR resolution and refresh rate

Part and parcel to performance is the combination of refresh rate and resolution. Since VR headsets not only have to render a high resolution image for viewing up close, but also have to render at high frame rates to avoid motion sickness, VR performance can present a tricky scenario for less powerful computers. Lowering both of these factors can help performance significantly.

Valve Index

If you have a Valve Index, lowering the refresh rate is the first step in getting better performance.

Valve Index and HTC Vive

You can also lower the resolution to improve performance, which will provide smoother gameplay but provide a less sharp image.

How to use the Oculus framerate tray tool

Reddit-user ApollyonVRcreated a tool that can be used to monitor framerates while in Oculus Rift. This can help you determine how well your PC is performing, and it can confirm that ASW is kicking in when it should be. Here’s how to get the Oculus framerate tray tool working.

You can now place the Rift on your head and you’ll see a graph that monitors your performance.

Disable f.lux

Anyone who has used f.lux knows how great it is — no more blinding light, no more eye strain, and no more blue light keeping you up at night. The problem is that a bunch of VR users who have f.lux enabled on their PC find that it can interfere with performance.

Before you head into VR, make sure you either close the program completely or enable safe mode in the Settings menu.

Consider overclocking your graphics card and processor

Overclocking, if you don’t know, is the process of increasing your hardware’s clock speed so that it performs better. It’s a great way of getting a few more months out of an aging GPU or CPU, but there are risks involved.

Hardware like your CPU and GPU come with cooling systems that are specifically made to offset heat created while performing at stock clock speed. Raising that speed by “overclocking” will also raise the heat, and, if not properly cooled, your hardware can become damaged or even experience a full failure (more common on old hardware than newer hardware). Overclocking will also quite often void the warranty on your hardware.

Each piece of hardware has different overclocking thresholds (if it’s even possible), so creating a one-fits-all guide is almost impossible. There are, however, plenty of existing discussions populating the internet —overclock.netis a great place to ask questions and receive informed answers.

Overclocking your CPU and GPU is arguably the best way to eke the most performance out of your hardware, but there is no free lunch. Heed the risks, and proceed with caution.

More resources

Folks using the Oculus Quest to play PC VR games might find our troubleshooting guide handy in case they run into problems.

If you’re specifically running a Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) headset, such as a Samsung Odyssey, be sure to check out our WMR ultimate guide and our WMR troubleshooting guide for more information about that specific VR platform.

Updated January 10, 2020:This article has been refreshed to ensure you’re still getting the absolute best ways to eke the most performance out of your PC.

Cale Hunt brings to Windows Central more than eight years of experience writing about laptops, PCs, accessories, games, and beyond. If it runs Windows or in some way complements the hardware, there’s a good chance he knows about it, has written about it, or is already busy testing it.