Error Fixes 8 min read

How to Fix Fortnite Low FPS and Stuttering in 2026 — 10 Tested Fixes

Your Fortnite FPS tanked after the Chapter 7 update and you’re stuck playing a slideshow. Frame drops during build fights, stuttering every time you land at a POI, and your game hitching right when someone pushes you. Chapter 7 Season 1 (v39.50) brought a lot of new content, but it also brought performance problems that are hitting PCs across every hardware tier.

This isn’t your imagination. Epic switched rendering pipelines and added denser map geometry with the Chapter 7 overhaul, and the result is higher GPU and CPU load than previous chapters. Even players with RTX 4070s are reporting dips below 100 FPS in populated areas.

Here’s how to fix it — whether you’re on a budget laptop or a high-end rig.

Quick Fix

Try these three steps before anything else:

  1. Delete your shader cache: Navigate to %localappdata%\FortniteGame\Saved\PipelineCaches\ and delete everything inside that folder. Restart Fortnite. The first match will stutter briefly while shaders recompile, but subsequent matches will be smoother.
  2. Cap your FPS to your monitor’s refresh rate (60, 144, or 165) in Fortnite settings under Display → Frame Rate Limit. Uncapped FPS causes GPU overshoot and inconsistent frame pacing.
  3. Update your GPU driver to NVIDIA 591.86 or AMD Adrenalin 25.1.1.

If those didn’t solve it, work through the full list below.

What Causes Low FPS and Stuttering in Fortnite Chapter 7?

Fortnite’s performance issues in Chapter 7 come from several sources:

  • Shader compilation stutters — Every time the game encounters a new visual effect for the first time, it compiles a shader on-the-fly. This causes brief freezes, especially after updates that change visual assets.
  • DirectX 12 overhead — Fortnite defaults to DX12, which adds CPU overhead for draw calls. On older CPUs (4 cores or fewer), this creates a bottleneck.
  • Dense map geometry — Chapter 7’s map has significantly more objects, foliage, and lighting effects than Chapter 6. The same PC that ran Chapter 6 at 144 FPS might only hit 90-100 in Chapter 7.
  • Background processes eating resources — Discord overlay, browser tabs, RGB software, and Windows Defender real-time scanning all compete for CPU time.
  • Outdated drivers — NVIDIA’s Game Ready Driver 591.86 included specific optimizations for Fortnite Chapter 7. Running older drivers means you’re missing those gains.
  • HAGS (Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling) — Windows 11’s GPU scheduling feature can cause micro-stutters on some hardware configurations.

Fix 1: Clear the Shader Cache

This is the single most effective fix after any Fortnite update. When Epic pushes a new patch, old cached shaders become invalid, but Fortnite sometimes tries to use them anyway. The result: stuttering, especially during the first few matches.

  1. Close Fortnite completely (check Task Manager to make sure the process is gone)
  2. Press Win + R and type: %localappdata%\FortniteGame\Saved\
  3. Open the PipelineCaches folder
  4. Select everything inside and delete it
  5. Also delete the ShaderCache folder if it exists in the same directory
  6. Launch Fortnite

Your first match will have slight hitches as shaders recompile. After that, performance should stabilize. Some players report gaining 20-30 FPS just from this step.

Fix 2: Optimize In-Game Settings

Not all graphics settings affect FPS equally. Here’s what to change for the biggest performance gains with minimal visual loss:

Settings that destroy FPS — turn these down first:

Setting Recommended Value FPS Impact
Shadows Off or Low Massive — saves 15-25 FPS
Global Illumination Ambient Occlusion Saves 10-20 FPS
View Distance Medium Saves 5-10 FPS (Far draws more objects)
Effects Low Saves 5-15 FPS during explosions/builds
Post Processing Low Saves 5-10 FPS

Settings you can keep higher:

Setting Recommended Value Why
Textures Medium or High Mainly uses VRAM, not FPS-heavy
Anti-Aliasing Off or Low Saves a few FPS, makes enemies slightly easier to spot
3D Resolution 100% Dropping this makes the game blurry — only use as last resort

Critical settings:

  • Rendering Mode: DirectX 11 often gives more stable FPS than DX12 on mid-range and lower PCs. Try switching to DX11 if you have stuttering. Performance Mode was removed in Chapter 6, so DX11 is now the lightweight option.
  • Frame Rate Limit: Set this to your monitor’s refresh rate. If you have a 60Hz monitor, cap at 60. If 144Hz, cap at 144. Never leave it unlimited.
  • VSync: Off. Use your GPU’s control panel for frame sync instead.
  • Latency Markers (NVIDIA Reflex): Set to On + Boost if you have an NVIDIA GPU. This reduces input lag without hurting FPS.

Fix 3: Update Your GPU Driver (Clean Install)

Fortnite Chapter 7 benefits significantly from current drivers. Both NVIDIA and AMD released day-one driver profiles for the Chapter 7 update.

NVIDIA:

  1. Download 591.86 WHQL from nvidia.com/drivers
  2. Choose Custom → Clean Installation
  3. Restart your PC after installation

AMD:

  1. Download Adrenalin 25.1.1 from amd.com/support
  2. Select Factory Reset during installation
  3. Restart after completion

If you haven’t updated drivers in more than two months, the FPS difference could be 15-30%.

Fix 4: Disable Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS)

HAGS lets the GPU manage its own video memory scheduling instead of relying on Windows. In theory it’s better. In practice, it causes micro-stutters in Fortnite on many systems — particularly mid-range hardware.

  1. Press Win + I to open Settings
  2. Go to System → Display → Graphics
  3. Click “Change default graphics settings”
  4. Turn off Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling
  5. Restart your PC

Test Fortnite with HAGS off. If stuttering is reduced, leave it off. If you don’t notice a difference, you can turn it back on.

Fix 5: Set Fortnite to High Priority

By default, Windows treats every program equally when allocating CPU time. During intense build fights or when you’re near many players, Fortnite might not get enough CPU cycles.

Method 1 — Task Manager (temporary):

  1. Launch Fortnite
  2. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager
  3. Go to Details tab
  4. Find FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping.exe
  5. Right-click → Set priority → High

Method 2 — Permanent via registry:

  1. Press Win + R, type regedit
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\
  3. Create a new key named FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping.exe
  4. Inside it, create a new key named PerfOptions
  5. Create a DWORD value named CpuPriorityClass and set it to 3 (High)

This ensures Fortnite always gets CPU priority without you needing to set it manually each time.

Fix 6: Disable Fullscreen Optimizations

Windows 10/11’s fullscreen optimizations add a composition layer on top of fullscreen games, introducing input lag and sometimes FPS drops.

  1. Navigate to your Fortnite installation folder (usually C:\Program Files\Epic Games\Fortnite\FortniteGame\Binaries\Win64\)
  2. Right-click FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping.exe → Properties
  3. Go to the Compatibility tab
  4. Check “Disable fullscreen optimizations”
  5. Click Apply

While you’re here, also check “Run this program as an administrator” — it eliminates potential permission-related hitches.

Fix 7: Clean Up Background Processes

Every background process eats CPU and RAM that Fortnite could be using. On a system with 8 cores, losing 2 cores to background apps might not matter. On a 4-core CPU, it’s the difference between smooth and stuttery.

Kill these before playing:

  • Browser tabs (Chrome alone can eat 2-4 GB of RAM)
  • Discord — switch to the browser version, or disable the overlay (Settings → Game Overlay → off)
  • Spotify desktop app (use the web version or your phone)
  • RGB control software (iCUE, Armoury Crate, Synapse)
  • Game launchers you’re not using (Steam, GOG, EA App)
  • Windows Widgets (right-click taskbar → disable Widgets)
  • OneDrive sync (right-click tray icon → Pause syncing)

Fix 8: Optimize Windows for Gaming

A few Windows settings can squeeze out extra FPS:

Disable Game Bar and Game DVR:

  1. Settings → Gaming → Game Bar → Off
  2. Settings → Gaming → Captures → toggle off Background recording

Set Power Plan to High Performance:

  1. Control Panel → Power Options
  2. Select High Performance (or Ultimate Performance if available)
  3. If only Balanced shows, click “Create a power plan” and base it on High Performance

Disable unnecessary visual effects:

  1. Right-click This PC → Properties → Advanced System Settings
  2. Under Performance, click Settings
  3. Select “Adjust for best performance” or manually uncheck animations

Virtual memory (page file):

If you have 16 GB RAM or less, set a manual page file:

  1. Advanced System Settings → Performance → Settings → Advanced → Virtual Memory
  2. Uncheck “Automatically manage”
  3. Set Initial size to your RAM amount in MB (e.g., 16384 for 16 GB)
  4. Set Maximum to 1.5x your RAM (e.g., 24576)
  5. Click Set, then OK, and restart

Fix 9: Switch DNS and Reduce Network Lag

If your FPS looks fine in replays but the game feels laggy, you might have a network-side problem causing desync and rubber-banding.

  1. Switch to Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1) or Google DNS (8.8.8.8):

– Settings → Network → Your connection → DNS server assignment → Manual

– Preferred DNS: 1.1.1.1

– Alternate DNS: 1.0.0.1

  1. If on WiFi, switch to a 5 GHz band or use ethernet. WiFi on 2.4 GHz adds 10-30ms of latency.
  2. Close any downloads, streams, or cloud syncing while playing.

Fix 10: Verify Game Files

Corrupted or incomplete files after an update can cause random FPS drops.

  1. Open the Epic Games Launcher
  2. Go to your Library → click the three dots under Fortnite
  3. Select Verify
  4. Wait for the process to finish (10-20 minutes depending on SSD speed)
  5. Launch Fortnite and test

How to Prevent FPS Drops After Future Updates

  • Clear your shader cache after every major update — this should be automatic muscle memory
  • Wait 24-48 hours after a patch to play if performance is critical to you. Epic usually pushes hotfixes for the worst performance regressions within the first two days
  • Keep 20-30% of your SSD free — Fortnite needs space for shader compilation temp files
  • Update drivers when new Game Ready drivers drop for Fortnite specifically (check the release notes)

FAQ

Why is Fortnite so laggy on my good PC?

Fortnite Chapter 7 has significantly higher system requirements than earlier chapters. The new Unreal Engine 5.4 features (Nanite geometry, Lumen lighting) add GPU and CPU load even when you set graphics to Low. If your “good PC” is a GTX 1660 or RTX 2060, those are now mid-low tier for Fortnite. Also check that your RAM is running in dual-channel mode — single-channel RAM can cut FPS by 20-30%.

Should I use DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 in Fortnite?

It depends on your hardware. DX12 uses the GPU more efficiently but adds CPU overhead. If you have a strong CPU (Ryzen 5 5600 or newer, Intel 12th gen+) with a mid-range GPU, use DX12. If your CPU is the bottleneck (older 4-core chips), DX11 will give more consistent frame times.

Does Performance Mode still exist in Fortnite?

No. Epic removed Performance Mode in Chapter 6. The lowest rendering mode is now DirectX 11. If you relied on Performance Mode for playable FPS, you’ll need to lower all graphics settings and consider lowering your 3D resolution to 80-90%.

How much RAM do I need for Fortnite in 2026?

Epic’s official minimum is 8 GB, but you’ll stutter constantly at 8 GB with Windows and a browser open. 16 GB in dual-channel is the practical minimum for smooth gameplay. 32 GB gives you headroom for background apps without any impact on Fortnite.

Can I get 240 FPS in Fortnite Chapter 7?

Yes, but you need a strong CPU. Fortnite at 240+ FPS is CPU-limited, not GPU-limited. You’ll want a Ryzen 7 7800X3D or Intel i7-14700K with fast DDR5 RAM. The GPU matters less at this FPS target — even an RTX 3070 can push 240 FPS if the CPU can keep up and settings are on Low.

Share
GamersDignity Staff
Written by

GamersDignity Staff

The GamersDignity editorial team covers gaming guides, error fixes, PC optimization, and breaking gaming news. Our content is researched, tested, and written to help gamers play better.

44 Articles

Leave a Comment

Advertisement

You Might Also Like