How to Fix Valorant FPS Drops or Low FPS on Windows PC

Are you facing the FPS drops issue while playing on Valorant? Does Valorant FPS drop to 0 or 1 or a low figure? Here is a full guide to fix the issue of low FPS or FPS drops in Valorant on your Windows 11/10 PC.

Valorant is a popular first-person hero shooter developed by Riot Games. However, a lot of gamers have experienced frame rate drops while playing Valorant games. If you are one of those facing the same issue, we got you covered. Here, we are going to mention multiple working fixes which will enable you to fix low FPS and FPS drop issues in Valorant.

Why is my FPS in Valorant so low?

Here are the main reasons that can cause frame rate drops in Valorant:

• If you haven’t installed all recent Windows updates, it might be a reason for this issue.
• Outdated graphics drivers can cause the issue of low FPS in Valorant. If the scenario applies to you, update all your graphics drivers.
• The low frame rate in Valorant can be a result of your laptop’s power plan if it is set to battery saver mode.
• In case there are too many programs running in the background especially the resource-hungry apps, it can cause the FPS drops issue in Valorant. In this case, try closing the background programs.
• Wrong graphics settings in Valorant can be another reason for the issue.
• If you are using a gaming mouse and it has a high mouse polling rate, it can be another cause for this.

Based on the scenario that applies to you, you can try any of the fixes mentioned below.

Fix Valorant FPS Drops or Low FPS on Windows PC

Here are the methods you can try to fix the issue of Valorant FPS dropping in Windows 11:

1. Make sure you have installed all Windows Updates.
2. Edit your PC power plan.
3. Update your graphics driver.
4. Enable Game Mode in Windows 11.
5. Close all background programs.
6. Stop using skins with effects.
7. Adjust in-game graphics settings.
8. Lower your mouse’s polling rate.
9. Disable the Game DVR feature.
10. Troubleshoot in Clean Boot State.

1] Make sure you have installed all Windows Updates

The first thing you should do to fix this issue is to make sure that you have installed all the available Windows updates. New updates fix bugs and improve the performance of your PC. So, make sure to keep your PC up-to-date.

On Windows 11, you can open up the Settings app using Windows + I hotkey and then navigate to the Windows Update tab. Here, click on the Check for updates button and then download and install all available updates for your PC. See if this fixes up the issue for you.

See: Fix VALORANT failed to launch on Windows PC

2] Edit your PC power plan

You can also try changing your PC’s power plan to fix the issue. Usually, the power mode is set to Balanced mode which is used to save your battery life. However, if you want the best performance from your system especially while playing games, you would need to make tweaks to power settings.

To change your power plan on Windows 11, you can follow the below steps:

1. Firstly, launch the Settings app by pressing the Windows + I hotkey.
2. Now, go to the System > Power & battery section.
3. Under the Power section, click on the Power mode drop-down option.
4. From the available modes, select the Best performance mode.
5. You can now start playing games in Valornat and see if the FPS drop issue is fixed, or at least the performance is better than before.

Read: Fix VALORANT game client error codes 43, 7 on Windows

3] Update your graphics driver

Haven’t updated your graphics drivers in a long time? Well, you should definitely keep your graphics and other drivers up-to-date always. Graphics drivers play an important role in gaming on a PC. Faulty or old/outdated graphics drivers are the common cause of game stuttering. So, update your graphics drivers, and hopefully, that will resolve the issue for you.

You can try updating graphics drivers manually via Optional Updates. Or, you can also automatically update all your graphics drivers using free driver update software. Another good option to update your graphics card is to directly get the latest ones from the manufacturer’s official website

Read: Fix VALORANT Error Code 31 and 84 on Windows PC

4] Enable Game Mode in Windows 11

You can also try enabling the game mode in Windows 11 to fix the FPS drop in Valorant. The Game Mode basically is used to prioritize your gaming experience. So, when you are playing a game, Windows will prevent updates in the background and improve the frame rate. You can enable the Game mode by opening the Settings app and going to the Gaming tab. Here, click on the Game Mode option and then turn it on. This might fix the issue for you.

5] Close all background programs

If there are too many apps and programs running in the background, you should consider closing them before starting Valorant. So, open the Task Manager (using the Ctrl + Shift + Esc hotkey) and then close all the resource-hungry programs one by one. After that, restart the Valorant game and see if the FPS is improved now.

Read: Valorant Vanguard anti-cheat has encountered an error

6] Stop using skins with effects

If you are using fancy skin in Valorant, it might be the main cause of the FPS drop in Valorant. So, try disabling the skin if you are using any and then check whether the issue is fixed or not.

7] Adjust in-game graphics settings

Incorrect graphics settings can be the main culprit of the FPS drop in Valorant as per various users. In that case, you can adjust in-game graphics settings in Valorant. First of all, try lowering the in-game graphics settings and then check if the issue is resolved. If not, you can again try adjusting the graphics settings in Valorant and apply the configuration that suits you.

Read: How to fix VALORANT Error 29 and 59 on Windows PC

8] Lower your mouse’s polling rate

If you are using a gaming mouse, you can try lowering its polling rate to improve FPS in Valorant. You can open your gaming mouse’s settings and then try reducing its polling rate or report rate. In case your gaming mouse has dedicated buttons to adjust the mouse polling rate, you can make use of that to reduce the polling rate.

9] Disable the Game DVR feature

The Game DVR feature lets you record your gameplay in the background. If you have the Game DVR feature turned on, it might slow down your gaming experience and cause FPS drops in Valorant. So, in this case, disable the Game DVR feature on your PC to fix the issue. To do that, you can follow the below steps:

Firstly, open the Registry Editor app.

Now, navigate to the following key in the address bar:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\GameConfigStore

Next, double-click on the GameDVR_Enabled DWORD from the right panel and set its value to 0.

Similarly, double-click on the GameDVR_FSEBehaviourMode DWORD and set its value to 0.

After that, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\ApplicationManagement\AllowGameDVR

Then, double, click on the value DWORD from the right-hand side panel and change its value to 0.

When done, close Registry Editor and then restart your PC. See if this fixes up the issue for you.

10] Troubleshoot in Clean Boot State

If none of the above solutions work for you, you can try performing a clean boot. Clean boot starts Windows with only essential startup programs and drivers. It might help you improve FPS in Valorant and fix the issue for you. Here are the main steps to perform a clean boot in Windows 11:

1. Firstly, open the run dialog box using the Windows + R hotkey.
2. Now, enter msconfig in it to open up the System Configuration window.
3. Next, go to the Services tab and enable the Hide all Microsoft services checkbox.
4. After that, click on the Disable all button and then enable the vgc service. This service is essential to run Valorant.
5. Then, go to the Startup tab, press on the Open Task Manager option, and disable all the startup programs.
6. Now, return to the System Configuration window and click on the Apply > OK button.
7. Finally, reboot your PC and see if the issue is fixed.

Read: Fix VALORANT Voice Chat Not Working on Windows PC

How do I increase Valorant FPS in low-end PC?

In order to run Valorant with high FPS on a low-end PC, you can make use of some tricks including the ones we mentioned here. You can try lowering your in-game settings in Valorant, close all unnecessary background apps, and enable the Game Mode. Another thing you can try is to set the priority of the Valorant program to high. For that, open the Task Manager, go to the Details tab, locate the Valorant program, right-click on it, and then select the Set priority > High option.

That’s it!

Now read: Fix High Disk & Memory Usage when playing Games on Windows PC.