Guide

FPS drops after playing a while? Your CPU or graphics card may be slowing down from heat

Every CPU and graphics card protects itself. Once it gets too hot or hits its power ceiling, it lowers its own speed. What you see: good FPS when the game starts, then after a while the FPS slowly falls or hitches, though nothing changed.

Updated 24 Oct 2026

Signs that it is heat

Good FPS at the start, lower after 10 to 20 minutes.
The fans get much louder when the FPS drops.
A laptop drops more on a bed or on your lap.
Black flashes where Windows says the graphics driver recovered happen more when the PC is hot.

Fix it in this order

Clean the dust from heatsinks, fans and the case's dust filters.
Check that every fan spins, the graphics card's fans too.
Give the case air in at the front and out at the back or top. Keep cables out of the airflow.
Put a laptop on a hard, flat surface and keep its vents free.
If you overclocked or undervolted the CPU or graphics card, go back to the maker's values and test again.
Still hot? The thermal paste may be dry or the cooler not seated well. Let a shop you trust check it.

It is not always heat

A CPU also slows down at its power ceiling, for example with a power saving plan or a laptop off the charger. If the PC is not hot but the CPU still runs below its normal speed, look at that first. If the whole PC freezes or turns off while playing, check that the power supply is strong enough too.

Measure to be sure

Don't go by one temperature number. Each model handles heat differently. What shows a real problem is how often it slows itself down while you play.

Let Savenz Optimizer measure it

Result Card in Savenz Optimizer measures the CPU's real speed and the graphics card's heat together with FPS while you really play. When the CPU was held back by heat or its power limit, or the card slowed from heat, for 5 % of the time or more, it tells you how much. It reads Windows' own counters and installs no driver, so anti cheat has nothing to see. Measure before and after cleaning to see the difference. Questions? Ask in the Discord.

Signs that it is heat

Fix it in this order

It is not always heat

Measure to be sure

Let Savenz Optimizer measure it

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