How to Fix PUBG Low FPS on PC: Complete Troubleshooting Guide

Quick Answer

To fix PUBG low FPS on PC, start by updating your GPU drivers, setting PUBG to high priority in Task Manager, lowering shadow and foliage settings, disabling Xbox Game Bar and fullscreen optimizations, and ensuring your GPU is not thermal throttling. Most PUBG FPS issues are resolved by a combination of in-game settings optimization and background process management.

Step-by-Step PUBG FPS Troubleshooting for PC

PUBG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) is notoriously demanding relative to what it delivers visually, and FPS issues are common even on mid-range to high-end hardware. The fixes below are ordered from quickest to most involved - work through them sequentially and test after each step.

Step 1 - Update GPU drivers. Outdated drivers are one of the most common causes of FPS drops. Go to your GPU manufacturer's site (NVIDIA or AMD) and install the latest Game Ready or Adrenalin driver. Do a clean install using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) if you suspect a corrupted driver is the issue.

Step 2 - Set PUBG process priority to High. While in-game, Alt+Tab, open Task Manager, find TslGame.exe, right-click and set priority to High. This tells Windows to allocate more CPU resources to PUBG over background tasks. Note: do not set it to Realtime, which can cause system instability.

Step 3 - Disable Xbox Game Bar and fullscreen optimizations. Go to Windows Settings - Gaming - Xbox Game Bar and turn it off. Then navigate to your PUBG executable, right-click, Properties - Compatibility, and check "Disable fullscreen optimizations." These Windows features introduce input lag and can affect FPS.

Step 4 - Optimize in-game settings. The biggest FPS gains in PUBG come from reducing Shadows (set to Very Low), Foliage (Very Low), and Post-Processing (Low). Anti-Aliasing can go to Medium or Low. These settings have the largest GPU cost relative to visual benefit in PUBG specifically. Keep Render Scale at 100 unless you have headroom to spare.

Hardware Checks If Settings Changes Do Not Help

If the above steps do not resolve your FPS issues, investigate your hardware. Check GPU temperatures under load using MSI Afterburner - if your GPU hits 90+ degrees Celsius, it is likely throttling. Clean your PC, reapply thermal paste on GPU and CPU if the system is more than 2-3 years old, and ensure your case has adequate airflow.

Also check CPU usage. PUBG is CPU-intensive, particularly in the early game with many players nearby. If your CPU is pegged at 100%, a GPU upgrade will not help - you need either a CPU upgrade or to reduce the number of background processes. A gaming PC with a modern 6-core or 8-core processor handles PUBG comfortably.

For South African players, server latency to PUBG's nearest data centers (typically routed through Europe or the Middle East) adds to the perception of poor performance. Setting your in-game server region to the lowest ping option and using a wired Ethernet connection rather than Wi-Fi will reduce jitter and packet loss noticeably.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does PUBG drop FPS in the early game specifically? The early game (plane drop, first 2-3 minutes) has the highest player count in the match rendering simultaneously. This is a CPU and network bottleneck. Lowering view distance and disabling character detail in settings helps most.

Does reinstalling PUBG fix FPS issues? Rarely. Corrupted game files can sometimes cause stuttering - use Steam's "Verify integrity of game files" function before a full reinstall. A clean reinstall is a last resort, not a first step.

Will upgrading my GPU fix PUBG FPS? Only if your GPU is the bottleneck. Check GPU usage in MSI Afterburner during play. If GPU usage is below 90% while FPS is low, the problem is CPU-side or driver-related, not GPU-limited. If GPU usage is at 99% and FPS is low, a GPU upgrade will help.