Gaming on the PC is still a thriving business, despite the success of
consoles such as the Playstation 4 and Xbox One. However, the 3D
graphics used in the latest games can put a real strain on your PC.
Fortunately,
we've got some
great free apps that can help you fine-tune your PC's
gaming performance. We've also found some useful apps that can help you
find the best games on sale, and even record and upload your own gaming
videos onto sites like YouTube or Twitch.
1) Steam
It isn't the only online store for buying and downloading PC games, but Steam
is far and away the biggest. It offers a vast library of games, both
old and new, and is now responsible for more than 60% of global sales of
PC games. As well as selling new games, the Steam app lets you download
free demos and runs special offers on older games too. Pretty much any game you could want will be available on Steam.There's
also a Community section where you can join discussions with other
gamers, or check out the workshop where fans develop their own 'mods' –
modifications – that add new content or features to your favourite
games.
2) Game Booster
Even when your PC looks as though
it's sitting idle, it's actually running many different processes –
programs or other Windows features that run in the background and take
up processor power and memory. Game Booster allows you to turn off these processes in order to devote maximum power and memory to your games. Game Booster can shut down background processes that may slow your PC down.It
also includes a Tweaking option that lets you fine-tune other Windows
settings, plus a diagnostic tool that can help you analyse crashes or
other problems on your PC. It's not a tool for beginners, though, as
you'll need a bit of technical know-how to understand some of the
techno-jargon that it throws at you.
3) MSI Afterburner
Afterburner
was originally designed for MSI's own range of graphics cards, but it
will work with most graphics cards that use Nvidia's GeForce processors
or Radeon processors from AMD. Afterburner is a useful tool if you want to experiment with overclocking.The
app allows you to adjust a variety of settings in order to improve the
performance of your graphics card. The two key options are for
increasing the clock speed of your main graphics processor, and the
video memory attached to it (hence the term 'overclocking'). Fiddling
with these settings can cause your PC to overheat if you're not careful,
so the app also monitors the temperature of your graphics card and even
allows you to speed up the internal fan to help keep things cool.
4) Nvidia GeForce Experience
You should always keep up to date with the latest drivers for your graphics card, but Nvidia's GeForce Experience
does a lot more than just check for driver updates. Now installed on
more than 35 million desktop and laptop PCs that use nVidia graphics
cards, GeForce Experience can analyse your PC system and then
automatically adjust the graphics and other settings on your games in
order to achieve the best performance. You can record your gaming victories using ShadowPlay in GeForce Experience.It
also includes a feature called ShadowPlay that allows you to make video
recordings of your games sessions so that you can upload them to sites
such as YouTube or Twitch and become an online gaming superstar.
5) Fraps
Speed
is crucial in action games, and a few extra frames per second can make
the difference between winning or being blown to smithereens. Fraps
can help you fine-tune the performance of your PC by displaying the
frame rate up in one corner of the screen while you are running any of
your favourite games.
