Quick Answer

A monitor is very rarely the cause of low FPS in Elden Ring - monitors display frames but do not generate them. Low FPS in Elden Ring on PC is almost always caused by CPU or GPU bottlenecks, driver issues, or the game's own frame pacing problems. Your monitor refresh rate can affect how stutters feel, but it does not limit the frame rate your hardware produces.

Elden Ring on PC has a complicated performance history, and when SA players report low FPS it is tempting to suspect every component - including the monitor. The monitor is almost never the culprit. What your display does is receive and show frames; it plays no role in how fast your GPU and CPU generate them. That said, understanding how monitor specs interact with Elden Ring's frame delivery can help you diagnose what is actually going wrong.

Monitors and FPS - What They Actually Do

Your monitor has a refresh rate, typically 60Hz, 144Hz, or 165Hz, measured in how many times per second it updates the image. If your GPU is only sending 45 frames per second, a 144Hz monitor does not make that 144 FPS - it just refreshes with whatever frames arrive. The monitor can introduce input lag and can make frame pacing inconsistencies more or less visible, but it cannot reduce the number of frames your hardware produces. If Elden Ring is running at 45 FPS, that is a GPU or CPU issue, not a display issue.

The Real Causes of Low FPS in Elden Ring

Elden Ring shipped with well-documented PC performance problems. The game's built-in frame rate cap of 60 FPS (now patchable) causes issues on some systems. The CPU overhead in open areas like Limgrave and Caelid is high because of enemy counts and draw calls. GPU driver compatibility varies significantly - NVIDIA cards generally perform better than AMD at equivalent specs in this title. Shadow quality and anti-aliasing are the two heaviest settings. If you are below 60 FPS consistently, check GPU utilisation first using MSI Afterburner. If GPU utilisation is below 90 percent during low FPS moments, the bottleneck is CPU-side.

Actual Fixes for Low FPS in Elden Ring

Start by installing the Elden Ring frame rate unlocker if you have a high refresh rate monitor - the 60 FPS cap creates uneven frame pacing that feels worse than the raw numbers suggest. Update GPU drivers to the latest Game Ready or Adrenalin release. In settings, drop shadows to Medium and set anti-aliasing to Low - these two changes alone can recover 15 to 25 FPS on mid-range hardware. If you are on a Ryzen 5000 or older Intel platform, ensure XMP or EXPO is enabled in BIOS as Elden Ring is notably memory bandwidth sensitive. SA players on budget builds around R12,000 to R15,000 will typically hit smooth 60 FPS with these tweaks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can a 60Hz monitor cause Elden Ring to feel stuttery even at 60 FPS? A: Yes - if Elden Ring's frame pacing is uneven (frames not arriving at consistent intervals), a 60Hz monitor without variable refresh rate like G-Sync or FreeSync will feel stuttery. A higher refresh rate monitor with VRR smooths this out considerably.

Q: Does Elden Ring benefit from more VRAM? A: At 1080p, 6GB VRAM is sufficient. At 1440p with max textures, 8GB is comfortable. VRAM overflow causes stuttering rather than low average FPS, so if your lows are much worse than your average, VRAM may be contributing.

Q: Is Elden Ring better optimised on console than PC? A: The PS5 and Xbox Series versions are more consistent but run at 60 FPS with lower visual quality than a well-configured PC. A mid-range SA gaming PC from around R15,000 upward will outperform console versions once properly configured.

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