How to boost fps and optimise your gaming PC

How to boost fps and optimise your gaming PC

You’ve put all the components of your rig together with help from our best gaming PC build guide, you’ve installed your OS, and you’re ready to start playing – but there’s a few steps you’ll want to go through before you jump into your favourite game. Here’s our guide on PC optimisation, with a few steps you’ll want to go through for the best PC experience, helping you boost fps in games, and generally make your rig that much snappier.

This might be the least exciting part of the build, but it’s essential in getting the most out of the expensive components you’ve lovingly built into your brand new gaming PC. But don’t worry, it won’t take long to get you up and gaming.

New PCs don’t stay running smoothly forever, and they’ll slow down over time without a bit of maintenance. On the other side of the same coin, you might be looking to improve the performance of your PC that’s getting on a bit. Whichever camp you’re in, following these steps should bring a lease of life to your older gaming PC too.

Let’s start with something easy.

• Supports 12th Gen Intel ® Core™ Processors (LGA1700)
• 7 Phase Dr.MOS Power Design
• Supports DDR4 4800MHz (OC)
• 1 PCIe 4.0 x16, 1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 PCIe 3.0 x1
  1 M.2 Key-E for WiFi
• Graphics Output Options: HDMI
  Realtek ALC897 7.1 CH HD Audio Codec, Nahimic Audio
• 4 SATA3
  1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4)
  1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4 & SATA3)
• 2 USB 3.2 Gen2 (Rear)
  8 USB 3.2 Gen1 (4 Rear, 4 Front)
• Intel ® Gigabit LAN

• Overview
• Specification
• Support
• Where to Buy

Optimized VRM Design

PCIe 5.0 + Surface-Mount Tech

Nahimic Audio

High Speed M.2 Solution

POLYCHROME RGB

Intel ® Gigabit LAN

Dual USB 3.2 Gen2 (Type-A + Type-C)

BIOS Flashback

— Dual Channel DDR4 Memory Technology
— 4 x DDR4 DIMM Slots
— Supports DDR4 non-ECC, un-buffered memory up to 4800+(OC) *
— Supports ECC UDIMM memory modules (operate in non-ECC mode)
— Max. capacity of system memory: 128GB
— Supports Intel ® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) 2.0

— Intel ® Xe Graphics Architecture (Gen 12)
— Supports HDMI 2.1 TMDS Compatible with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096×2160) @ 60Hz
— Supports HDCP 2.3 with HDMI 2.1 TMDS Compatible Port

— 2 x PCIe x16 Slots (PCIE1/PCIE3: single at Gen4x16 (PCIE1); dual at Gen4x16 (PCIE1) / Gen3x4 (PCIE3)) *
— 1 x PCIe Gen3x1 Slot
— Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™
— 1 x M.2 Socket (Key E), supports type 2230 WiFi/BT PCIe WiFi module

— 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors *
— 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_1, Key M), supports type 2242/2280 PCIe Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s) mode * *
— 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_2, Key M), supports type 2280 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s & PCIe Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s) modes * *

* If M2_2 is occupied by a SATA-type M.2 device, SATA3_0 will be disabled.

* * Supports Intel ® Optane™ Technology
Supports Intel ® Volume Management Device (VMD)
Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks
Supports ASRock U.2 Kit

— 1 x SPI TPM Header
— 1 x Chassis Intrusion and Speaker Header
— 1 x RGB LED Header *
— 3 x Addressable LED Headers * *
— 1 x CPU Fan Connector (4-pin) * * *
— 1 x CPU/Water Pump Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control) * * * *
— 4 x Chassis/Water Pump Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control) * * * * *
— 1 x 24 pin ATX Power Connector
— 1 x 8 pin 12V Power Connector (Hi-Density Power Connector)
— 1 x 4 pin 12V Power Connector (Hi-Density Power Connector)
— 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector
— 1 x Thunderbolt™ AIC Connector (5-pin) (Supports ASRock Thunderbolt™ 4 AIC Card)
— 2 x USB 2.0 Headers (Support 4 USB 2.0 ports) (Supports ESD Protection)
— 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Headers (Support 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports) (Supports ESD Protection)

* Supports in total up to 12V/3A, 36W LED Strip

* * Support in total up to 5V/3A, 15W LED Strip

* * * The CPU Fan Connector supports the CPU fan of maximum 1A (12W) fan power.

* * * * The CPU/Water Pump Fan supports the water cooler fan of maximum 2A (24W) fan power.

* * * * * The Chassis/Water Pump Fan supports the water cooler fan of maximum 2A (24W) fan power.
CPU_FAN2/WP and CHA_FAN1

4/WP can auto detect if 3-pin or 4-pin fan is in use.

Software
— ASRock Motherboard Utility (Phantom Gaming Tuning)
— ASRock Polychrome SYNC
— ASRock XFast LAN
UEFI
— ASRock EZ Mode
— ASRock Full HD UEFI
— ASRock My Favorites in UEFI
— ASRock Instant Flash
— ASRock Internet Flash
— ASRock Easy RAID Installer