Any way to improve my FPS across the board?

[Brock19]

Hey guys as the title suggests, during most games I tend to get relatively low FPS. I'm currently on an Alienware MX14 laptop (rest of the specs below)

I understand that a laptop doesn't normally have the greatest gaming abilities, but as I see friends get 60 FPS on games such as League of Legends or Team fortress 2, I'm maxing out at 40, but will hover around 20-30 depending on how low my settings are.

So the question becomes, what can I do to improve the FPS? Is it the comp itself, or just the components?

Quick note: I got the Alienware to practice computer-related problems as well as help practice computer science activities (programming, developing etc..)

Specs: 8 gig RAM
Intel Core i5-2410 CPU @ 2.30 GHZ processor
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M graphucs card

 

[SnowyGamester]

Well a computer is made of components, and when it comes to laptops there isn't all that much you can change. It seems you're lacking a little in the graphics processing department more than anything else, but unfortunately that can't really be changed. There are a few things you can do software wise to try and increase performance (e.g. disabling aero when running games, shutting off unnecessary background processes, customizing graphics configurations to enable what you consider the most important visuals while turning down or disabling things that seem unimportant or overtaxing) but aside from that you're basically stuck with what you've got. I mean, overclocking is a possibility, but Laptops overheat enough as it is.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Always be sure to have Anti-Aliasing turned off or down. That should increase your FPS somewhat. Also you can get better performance if you're willing to lower screen resolution

 

[ohnoitsabear]

First off, what xXSnowyXx and ShinyCharizard said. Also, try updating your drivers, specifically your graphics drivers. You should be able to get the most recent one's off of NVidia's website. It should bump up your performance by a noticeable amount.

Also, more recent NVidia laptop GPUs will turn themselves off and run on integrated graphics when you're not playing system-intensive games. The problem is that often it will default to using the integrated chip when you really want to use your full on GPU. To change this (or to check if this is the problem), select the default graphics processor using NVidia control panel. I don't think this is the problem, but it's worth looking into.

Finally, make sure you're playing with your laptop plugged in. Again, I don't think this is the issue, but I know my laptop gets substantially better performance when it's not running off the battery.

 

[Brock19]

This is awesome, thanks guys for the help. Of course just as I receive help for improved FPS, my internet goes down. Such is life, but regardless thanks again

 

[thesilentman]

This is awesome, thanks guys for the help. Of course just as I receive help for improved FPS, my internet goes down. Such is life, but regardless thanks again

Are you still there? I'd like to add that lowering the shadows can also help increase FPS. That's because rendering shadows is CPU intensive, which is a deciding factor on a laptop. That's one tidbit I wanted to throw out there. Happy gaming!

 

[Brock19]

This is awesome, thanks guys for the help. Of course just as I receive help for improved FPS, my internet goes down. Such is life, but regardless thanks again

Are you still there? I'd like to add that lowering the shadows can also help increase FPS. That's because rendering shadows is CPU intensive, which is a deciding factor on a laptop. That's one tidbit I wanted to throw out there. Happy gaming!

Yea ill be around, ill essentially be checking this everyday to see if anyone has any extra tips or tricks, and thanks!

 

[AlwaysPractical]

Hm.... I would try giving the geforce experience beta a try. works on series 500M geforce processors.

If you don't know about it, geforce experience is a utility from nvidia that automatically sets the game settings for you to experience the best gaming experience, with the top graphics with top FPS if possible. You can still tweak it, but it is a service that will probably be very useful once the beginning phases are over. Maybe test it, see how it works for you:
http://www.geforce.com/drivers/geforce-experience