Fix God of War FPS drops and Stuttering issues on Windows PC

Here is a full guide on how you can fix FPS drops and stuttering issues in God of War on Windows 11/10 PC. God of War is a popular action-adventure game played by millions of gaming enthusiasts. While it works well for some, many PC users have reported experiencing FPS drops with the game. It basically deteriorates the game performance leaving you frustrated. Now, if you are one of those experiencing the same issue, this guide is for you. In this post, we are going to show you multiple working fixes that will help you resolve the issue.

Before we talk about the solutions, let us discuss what might cause the issue of FPS drops with the God of War game.

What causes FPS drops in God of War?

Here are the potential causes of FPS drop in God of War:

• If you have not installed game patches for God of War, you might experience performance issues with the game including FPS drop. So, if the scenario is applicable, install all the available game patches to fix the issue.
• An outdated graphic driver is a common reason for FPS drops with video games. Hence, ensure that you have updated graphics drivers on your PC to fix the issue.
• If you have set the Balanced power plan on your Windows PC, it is likely to cause gaming performance issues. In that case, you can simply change your PC’s power plan to Best performance to resolve the issue.
• Your in-game graphics or graphics card settings can also cause the issue at hand. So, try optimizing your in-game graphics and graphics card settings to get rid of the issue.
• The overlay feature can also interrupt the normal working of the God of war game. Hence, to fix the issue, simply disable overlays.

There can be some other underlying reasons that might cause the problem at hand. In any scenario, you can resolve the issue by following the below fixes.

Fix God of War FPS drops and Stuttering issues on Windows PC

Here are the methods that you can try to fix FPS drops in God of War on Windows PC:

1. Install the latest game patch.
2. Make sure your graphics driver is updated.
3. Modify your power plan.
4. Optimize in-game graphics settings.
5. Change your graphics card settings.
6. Disable overlays.
7. Turn off background recording and Xbox Game Bar.

Let us discuss the above fixes in detail now.

1] Install the latest game patch

The first thing you should make sure to fix the issue is that you have installed the latest game patch for God of War. There are regular updates for the game that are launched by the developers of the game. These updates or patches address bugs and improve overall performance. Hence, ensure that you have installed all the latest game patches that are available.

After downloading and installing available patches, go ahead and relaunch the game and check if the FPS issue is resolved or not. However, in case you still receive the same problem of FPS drops, move on to the next potential fix to resolve it.

2] Make sure your graphics driver is updated

The graphics driver plays a crucial role in video games. If you have outdated or faulty or corrupted graphics drivers on your system, it can deteriorate the performance of your games and cause FPS drops. If the problem is happening with other games as well, you are most likely dealing with an out-of-date graphics driver. Hence, if the scenario applies, to fix the issue, you will be required to update your graphics driver.

To update graphics drivers, these are the methods you can use:

1. You can simply use the Optional Updates feature which is present under the Settings > Windows Update section to update your graphics drivers.
2. You can also use the conventional method to update your graphics drivers. Just visit the official website of the device manufacturer and download and install the graphics driver from there.
3. One more method is to use the native Device Manager app to quickly update GPU card drivers using the below steps:
   • Launch the Device Manager app from the Win+X menu.
   • Navigate to Display adapters and simply expand the respective menu.
   • Right-click on your graphics card.
   • Click on the Update Driver option.
   • Go ahead with the onscreen instructions to complete the update process.
4. Use a free driver updater that allows you to update all your drivers including graphics drivers automatically.

When done updating the graphics driver using one of the above methods, you can restart your PC and then try launching the God of War game. Hopefully, the problem of FPS drops is resolved now.

If your graphics driver is updated and you still get the same issue, try the next potential fix to get rid of the problem.

3] Modify your power plan

This problem might also be caused if you have set your PC’s power plan to Balanced. To get the best performance from your PC during gaming, you need to select the “Best performance” power plan. So, if the scenario applies, switch your PC’s power plan to Best performance and then see if the problem is fixed or not.

Here are the steps to set your PC’s power plan:

1. Firstly, open Settings using Windows+I hotkey and then go to the System > Power & battery section.
2. Now, click on the Power mode drop-down button and then select the “Best performance” option.
3. Finally, relaunch God of War and see if you are able to play without FPS drop.

4] Lower in-game graphics settings

In many instances, your in-game graphics settings can also trigger FPS drops during gameplay. So, you can try optimizing or lowering the in-game graphics settings to fix the issue. Simply launch God of War and then navigate to its settings and the graphics settings section. Here are the settings you need to change:

• Texture quality: Low
• Model quality: Original
• Anisotropic Filter: Minimum
• Shadows: Original
• Atmospherics: Low
• Ambient Occlusion: Disable
• Film Grain: lower it to 0 if necessary
• DLSS: Balanced
• FidelityFX Super Resolution: Quality

After optimizing in-game graphics settings, relaunch the game and see if the issue is resolved or not. If not, try the next solution to fix it up.

5] Change your graphics card settings

Besides in-game graphics settings, you can also try changing your graphics card settings and see if the problem is fixed.

For Nvidia users, here are the steps to do so:

1. Firstly, right-click on empty space on your desktop and choose NVIDIA Control Panel from the context menu.
2. Now, go to Manage 3D Settings from the left pane and go to the Program Settings tab.
3. In the Select a program to customize: section, simply add the God of War executable in the program list.
4. Next, in the Specify the settings for this program section, change the following settings:
   Max Frame Rate: Select a frame rate below your monitor’s current refresh rate.
   OpenGL rendering GPU: Set it to your Nvidia GPU
   Power Management: Prefer Maximum Performance
   Low Latency Mode: Ultra
   Vertical sync: Fast
   Texture filtering – Quality: Performance
5. After that, press the Apply button to save the changes.

In a similar manner, other graphics card users can also change or adjust their graphics card settings to fix the issue.

6] Disable overlays

The overlay feature can also cause the issue at hand. Hence, try disabling overlays to fix the problem. To disable overlays on Steam, you can try the below steps:

1. First, start the Steam client and go to your LIBRARY section.
2. Now, right-click on the God of War game title and then select the Properties option.
3. Next, from the GENERAL section, simply disable the Enable Steam Overlay while in-game checkbox.
4. After that, try playing God of War and see if the FPS is improved or not.

If you use the overlay feature with apps like Discord, Nvidia GeForce Experience, Twitch, etc., turn off the option and then see if the issue is resolved or not.

7] Turn off background recording and Xbox Game Bar

The background recording and Xbox Game Bar feature allow you to record gameplay on Windows 11/10. But, it can also cause the FPS drop issue with your game. Hence, try disabling the background recording and Xbox Game Bar feature to resolve the issue. Here are the steps to do that:

1. First, press Win+I to open up the Settings app.
2. Now, go to the Gaming tab and click on the Xbox Game Bar option.
3. Next, disable the toggle associated with the option called Open Xbox Game Bar using this button on a controller.

How do I improve my God of War PC performance?

You can improve your God of War performance by doing some tweaks, like playing it at Low or Original resolution, keeping the Model Quality to Orignal or High, setting the Anisotropic Filtering to High or Ultra, setting the Shadows to Original or High, etc. You can turn off Reflections. But if you really need this option, set it to High for the best performance.

That’s it!

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