How to Make Sure Your GPU Is Giving You the Best FPS Possible
There's nothing worse than the sinking feeling of disappointment you get after purchasing a shiny new graphics card when you realize that it doesn't work correctly. Before you lose your cool and return it, follow these troubleshooting tips to make sure the card was installed correctly.
Check the Video Cable
Before we dive into more involved troubleshooting steps, have you double-checked that your monitor's cable is plugged into the graphics card and not the motherboard? In standard computer cases, the graphics card video ports are always below the motherboard I/O. If you plug your monitor into the motherboard, the integrated graphics will take over, and your shiny graphics card will just sit unused.
The solution is to take the video cable from your monitor—probably an HDMI or DisplayPort—and plug it into the graphics card, like in the image below.
Check the Power Cables
Modern gaming graphics cards typically require additional power connectors to meet power requirements , as the PCIe slot can only deliver up to 75W, far less than what some cards need. These extra power connectors typically plug into the side of the graphics card. They're often 6-pin and 8-pin connectors, and there can be more than one.
If one of them is missing, like in the picture below, your graphics card will be unstable, crash, and drop frames. Don't ask how I know.
If you have a transparent side panel, you can visually inspect it to see if all power supply cables are plugged in. If they aren't, shut off the computer, turn off the power supply, and remove the side panel. Find an unoccupied and appropriate power connector from your power supply, gently plug it into the graphics card until it clicks, and that's it.
Reseat the Graphics Card
Yes, you read that right—you want to reseat the graphics card, not reset it. This means that you should take the graphics card out of your computer and then slide it back in. If your graphics card's connectors (the gold-plated pins on the bottom) aren't
Read more on howtogeek.com
