The gamers like to hit high FPS while playing any video games, few users are obsessed with FPS whereas other section seriously needs to get those 60-70 FPS to have an edge over your competition.
The FPS drop can be irritating at the same time it can damage your performance in highly competitive games, especially while playing games with your friends, however, the lack of FPS issues is largely faced by laptop users.
There can be multiple reasons Why FPS drop when laptop is unplugged, before going to solutions never suggest you play games on battery power you should always play games on the AC adaptor or charging to enhance battery durability.
Yet if you run a game outdoors you may not have options to keep the laptop charging so in this case while playing the game you may face low FPS when the laptop is unplugged let’s now discuss the reasons and tricks to increase FPS.
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My FPS drop when laptop is unplugged
- Overheating
This is the most common problem with many gaming laptops, manufactures invented many technologies to tackle heating issues but this is one problem with laptops that has not to sort out completely.
Usually, when you run a game on charging, the laptop system makes sure to utilize its cooling system efficiently as inbuilt fans run at the maximum settings that keep the machine under acceptable temperatures as a result CPU and GPU keep getting the air to cool down.
However, once you unplugged the laptop while playing the intensifying game at high settings there is a possibility inbuilt device not get enough air, this makes the laptop heat up which can cause thermal throttling resulting in an FPS drop.
Solution: There are a few things you can apply to avoid overheating firstly give some time to your gaming laptop to cool down keep it in sleep mode or turned off and restart.
Moreover, if FPS suddenly drops during gaming sessions try to change the settings to play the game at a low level if possible, to know everything about temperature you can use software like MSI afterburner once you install you can see all the stats while playing games.
Lastly to encounter overheating issues you can use the cooling pads while playing games as it adds a lot of value to keep laptop temperatures down.
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- Windows power plan settings
If not overheating issue, then surely either you have changed the settings in your windows or the laptop automatically done changes to maximize the battery hours most times users do these changes.
But this affects the performance while doing heavy tasks as it restricts the processor and video card to generate power, check if the laptop is on battery saver mode if it is enabled then your laptop is not able to use hardware resources properly to extend battery life.
Moreover, you can also set up the battery at high performance by clicking on the taskbar you will see the battery symbol click on it, and drag the mouse to best performance this will help you to increase FPS on the laptop.
If this method does not work then suggest you go to the settings section to find power and sleep, now click on additional power settings, and make sure to click on create power plan from there you can change the settings according to your preference to enhance the gaming experience high performance is recommended.
- Low powered Graphics card
The gaming laptop is all about the graphics cards, without good support from GPU you can not handle the game however here the problem is not the in-built graphics card but the low FPS while unplugged.
This means GPU is capable of handling the load but there are some settings changed in your system that are causing slow gaming sessions that could also be corrupted or outdated graphics driver.
If you have not checked for a long time then it’s time to do it, search for device manager in the taskbar click in to display adaptors, and double click on your GPU model from there you have to go under the driver section and click on update drivers.
Updating to a new version can solve the issue, once you do it restart the system and see if the ploy has worked if it has not then your graphics card might be using power saving mode to extend power.
In this scenario, once you play games on battery, FPS drop is quite common as the system ensures you give as much support as possible, however, you can change the settings by visiting the GPU software.
We already updated the graphics driver now the process can be different in your device but the most common way is to move on to the control settings of your GPU from there hover over to 3D settings and find manage 3D settings.
Now there are two options first is global settings and another one is program settings, make sure to click on program settings, from there you have to go under Power management mode and click on maximum performance, that is it you are finished with the process.
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- Change the BIOS settings
The above steps most probably fix the problem of FPS drop when the laptop is unplugged, but if your laptop still finding it difficult to increase FPS on the laptop then you have to change the BIOS settings of your laptop.
To do this you have to click any functional keys from F1 to F12, after pressing BIOS settings will open up on your system now search for term anything related to power or performance and change the settings to max performance.
Now come out of the BIOS settings and suggest you turn off your laptop and restart again, test your game on a laptop if FPS is back to what you expect it to run.
- Update or Reinstall windows
No improvement not to worry this is another trick that might work for fixing FPS drop when the laptop is unplugged even though not the most effective method yet sometimes it worked as we change a lot of settings under windows knowingly or unknowingly and that also harms the FPS performance.
After reassembling the windows on your system sometimes the laptop back to its default condition which can help you to maximize the lock FPS.
- Inefficient Faulty battery
If none of the strategies work for you then check your battery’s health as gaming is a very high voltage task and if you have been using your laptop to play games, especially on the battery then the battery loses its life pretty soon.
Usually, laptop batteries last for 2-3 years but gaming laptops are an exception as it puts a lot of pressure on the battery therefore the better idea is to play games on charging and not on the battery however if the battery is damaged then you have to replace it see the positive results.
Additionally, another main reason why a gaming laptop runs slow when unplugged, your battery is working fine but your game running on high settings and the battery is not able to handle the heavy power usage on GPU and CPU.
Overall, the expert will explain to you better and also check if the laptop is under warranty and consult with the brand.
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How to fix sudden FPS drops?
There are various reasons your game lacks FPS but if everything runs smoothly and suddenly the game drops FPS then the most common problem is overheating.
After playing games for an hour due to heat, components stop working to avoid further damage however you should always allow a laptop to rest between the games, particularly while playing multiplayer games.
Another reason might be your battery has drained completely and once it reaches 20 to 30% it automatically switches into the power-saving mode it puts an impact on CPU and GPU performance as the outcome FPS drops.
Laptop locked at 30 FPS when unplugged
This is probably due to a battery issue you can check the windows power settings enable at performance mode.
Additionally, also check graphics driver settings especially if your device is equipped with Nvidia GPU then a high chance your GPU settings automatically went into the power saving zone we have mentioned in the process above and how to change it to maximum performance.
Does battery increase FPS on a laptop?
No battery does not play any role directly in increasing FPS while playing video games it completely depends on features of the device like screen refresh rate, processor, and graphics card.
However, it can affect the CPU and GPU performance after reducing its battery capacity to extend power support therefore FPS can affect and you experience a bottleneck in the gaming session.
Can I unplug the laptop while playing games?
It’s not advisable while run such heavy tasks on the battery as gaming uses your laptop resources a lot including in-built hardware, and the regular usage of games on the battery can shorten your laptop life.
Final words
So, I conclude here I have shared my complete experience on FPS drop when laptop is unplugged, I am sure this guide helps you to sort out the problem.
As discussed after trying everything if nothing has worked out then check the battery status especially if your laptop is more than 2 years old probably the battery is dead and there is no issue with the system.
