Low Spec Experience How To Fix It

Cant run Skyrim on your antique laptop Some argue its predecessor Morrowind is the superior game.

We may earn affiliate commissions from buying links, which help support our testing.

Though we have previously found a way to build a gaming PC for less than 1,000, not everyone is going to take the time to piece that together.

Here are a few strategies that can help you start gaming, without needing to invest in a super expensive rig.

When you start up a modern game on a low-specced machine, it may not always use the most optimal graphics settings by default, so before you try anything else, head into your games Video Options menu and turn down everything as low as possible.

Not only should you lower fancy graphical effects like anti-aliasing, shadow detail, and texture quality, but youll want to crank down the resolution, too.

If running a game at 720p (or less) is what it takes to reach a playable framerate, thats what youll have to do.

I was shocked at how well some of my test games ran on a 500 laptop with integrated graphics, with nothing but a few settings tweaks.

If you arent sure whether a game will run, Reddits rlowendgaming subreddit can be a good resource to learn from other gamers experience.

Perhaps its more than a couple years old, and was cheap even in its heyday.

If your game looks like a slideshow even with the lowest video settings, you might be able to improve performance with a dive into the games config file.

The performance gains are impressive, even if the graphics arent.

Through the games config file or console, youll be able to push the graphics lower than its in-game settings allow by enabling lower resolutions, turning off shadows, decreasing view distance even further, and so on.

In some cases the results can look downright silly, but the game will be playable.and isnt that what gaming is really about.

It supports a number of different games and offers multiple profiles for balancing graphics and performance.

Low Spec Experience How To Fix It

I generally recommend tweaking the settings yourself rather than using third-party softwarethat way, if something ever breaks, youll know why (and how to fix it).

Just remember to keep your PC backed up before pursuing either of these methods.

There are a number of services that will essentially run the game using high-end hardware on a server, then stream the feed right to your low-end laptop.

I recommend connecting your computer over Ethernet, too, if you canits a bit more reliable than Wi-Fi streaming, in my experience.

The wait list is long, however, so you wont be able to use it right away, unless you own (or buy) an Nvidia Shield set-top box, which gets you immediate access.

Shadow, for example, is 35 per month for as much gaming as you want, while Parsec and LiquidSky charge per hour (usually about 25 hours of gaming for 10).

Youll need to do the math to figure out which is most cost effective for youand keep in mind that in the long term, you may be better off putting that money toward an affordable gaming PC (or an external graphics card dock like the PowerColor Gaming Station ).

Theres a whole world of lower-specced titles out there, especially if you dig into the past and want to play retro video games.

Never got around to playing Baldurs Gate as a kid Theres no better time than now, thanks to the new Enhanced Edition.

Low Spec Experience Download