My GTX 1650 OC 4GB used to run Horizon Forbidden West at around 70 FPS, but near the end of my playthrough it suddenly dropped to about 20 FPS. I removed the game, but performance is still lower in other titles: Genshin Impact now runs at 45–50 FPS instead of 60, and GTA V dropped from roughly 80–100 FPS to around 50. CPU and GPU temperatures appear normal. My system has a 12th-generation i3, GTX 1650 4GB, 16GB of RAM, and a 550W power supply. What should I check to restore the original performance?
1 Answer
Even with normal temperatures, check whether the GPU is reaching its usual clock speeds and power usage while gaming. A driver problem, Windows power setting, background process, or an unexpected frame-rate limit could cause this. Try reinstalling the NVIDIA driver using the Custom installation option and select a clean installation. Also set the NVIDIA Control Panel power mode to "Prefer maximum performance" for testing, and make sure the games are using the GTX 1650 rather than integrated graphics.
How can I install a different driver safely?
Download the driver directly from NVIDIA's official driver page, choose the GTX 1650 and your Windows version, then select Custom installation and Clean installation. If that does not help, remove the current driver with Display Driver Uninstaller in Windows Safe Mode before installing a known stable driver again.