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Cap your frame rate the right way

Also searched as: fps cap setup · frame cap · limit fps · frame rate cap

The goal

Stabilize frametimes, keep VRR engaged, and cut heat and coil whine by capping frames instead of letting them run wild.

Steps

  1. Pick your cap based on your goal: about 3 below refresh if you use VRR, or a steady number your PC can always hold in tough scenes.
  2. Set it in one place to avoid conflicts — your graphics driver's frame-rate limit, or the in-game limiter if it has a good one.
  3. Avoid stacking two caps at once; pick the driver cap or the in-game cap, not both.
  4. Test in a demanding spot and confirm the frame rate sits at your cap without dipping or sawtoothing.

To undo

Set the frame-rate limit back to Off or its previous number in the same place you changed it.

The Compy Blackbook holds 174 graded entries like this one, judged against your hardware — and every change it does make is reversible, with the receipt to prove it.

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