Valorant FPS capped at 59: the key settings and tests to fix it
By Ryan Mercer Updated 12 min read
On this page (9 sections)
- The short version
- Why Valorant locks at 59 or 60 FPS
- Turn off V-Sync in Valorant and your graphics driver
- Set your GPU power plan to maximum performance
- Disable Windows fullscreen optimizations for Valorant
- Check in-game frame rate limit and monitor refresh rate
- Remove third-party overlays and background apps
- Keep your FPS stable after fixing the cap
- Questions people still ask
In short: Valorant FPS caps at 59 or 60 when V-Sync is on, your graphics driver enforces a power-saving frame limit, or Windows fullscreen optimization interferes. Turn off V-Sync in-game, set your GPU to prefer maximum performance, and disable fullscreen optimizations for VALORANT.exe.
Part of our guide on increased valorant ping today
Most guides list every setting; this one shows you how to test which one actually locked your frames.
| Most common cause | V-Sync enabled in-game or driver |
|---|---|
| Test duration | 15-20 seconds per change |
| Ideal frame limit | 20-30 FPS below GPU max |
| Fullscreen mode | Required for best performance |
| Power plan | High Performance or Ultimate |
The short version
- V-Sync syncs frames to your monitor refresh rate and caps FPS at 59-60 on a 60Hz display
- GPU power management in Balanced or Power Saver mode often enforces a 60 FPS ceiling
- Windows fullscreen optimization can override in-game frame limits and throttle output
- Test after each change by checking the FPS counter in Practice Range for 15-20 seconds
- Set an in-game frame rate limit 20-30 FPS below your hardware max to avoid stuttering
Why Valorant locks at 59 or 60 FPS
The 59 or 60 FPS cap happens because a setting is syncing your frame output to your monitor's refresh rate or enforcing a hard limit to save power. V-Sync is the usual suspect. It waits for your monitor to refresh before drawing the next frame, which locks output at your panel's native rate: 60 Hz becomes 60 FPS, and slight frame-time variance drops it to 59.
Graphics driver power management is the second cause. Balanced or Power Saver modes throttle the GPU when the system thinks you don't need full performance. Valorant is CPU-light in menus and during low-action moments, so the driver assumes you're idle and enforces a 60 FPS ceiling until load increases.
Windows fullscreen optimization overrides application frame limits. Introduced in Windows 10, it forces borderless windowed mode under the hood, even when you select fullscreen. The Desktop Window Manager then caps frame delivery to match your primary display refresh rate, usually 60 Hz.
Less common triggers include Radeon Chill on AMD cards, which dynamically lowers FPS during low mouse movement, and monitor variable refresh rate settings like FreeSync or G-Sync with a maximum refresh limit set to 60 in the control panel. Each cause has a distinct fix, so test one at a time and check the result before moving to the next. There is more on diagnosing ping spikes in a separate guide.
- V-Sync: syncs frames to monitor refresh, usually 60 Hz, and frame-time jitter drops it to 59
- GPU power management: Balanced or Power Saver mode throttles performance and caps FPS at 60
- Windows fullscreen optimization: forces borderless mode and applies Desktop Window Manager frame cap
- Radeon Chill: AMD feature that lowers FPS when mouse input slows, often capping near 60
- Monitor refresh limit: FreeSync or
G-Syncmax refresh set to 60 Hz in driver control panel
Turn off V-Sync in Valorant and your graphics driver
V-Sync is the first thing to disable because it directly ties frame output to your monitor. Open Valorant, go to Settings, then Video, and scroll to the Graphics Quality section. Find V-Sync and set it to Off. Apply the change and load into Practice Range. Your FPS should immediately climb above 60 if V-Sync was the cause.
Driver-level V-Sync overrides in-game settings. Right-click your desktop and open Nvidia Control Panel or AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition. In Nvidia, go to Manage 3D Settings, find Vertical sync, and set it to Off. In AMD Software, open Gaming, then Global Graphics, and turn Wait for Vertical Refresh to Off, unless application specifies. Apply and restart Valorant.
Some monitors have a built-in V-Sync or FreeSync toggle in the on-screen display menu. Press the physical buttons on your monitor, navigate to the gaming or display settings, and ensure V-Sync or any frame-sync feature is disabled. This step matters only if you've turned off software V-Sync and the cap persists. The other half of this decision is fixing driver sync problems.
Test for 15-20 seconds in Practice Range. Walk around and fire at bots while watching the FPS counter. If it stays at 59 or 60, V-Sync wasn't the bottleneck. Move to the next fix.
Set your GPU power plan to maximum performance
Power management modes throttle your GPU to save energy, and Balanced mode often holds frame rates at 60 FPS in games the driver considers low-demand. Valorant's art style and CPU-centric engine can trick the driver into thinking full GPU power isn't needed, so it applies a cap.
In Nvidia Control Panel, go to Manage 3D Settings, then Program Settings. Select VALORANT.exe from the dropdown or click Add and browse to your Riot Games install folder. Find Power management mode and set it to Prefer maximum performance. Click Apply. This tells the driver to run the GPU at full clock speed whenever Valorant is open. We go through detecting packet loss step by step elsewhere on the site.
AMD users open AMD Software, click Gaming, select Valorant from the game list, and go to Graphics. Find GPU Workload and set it to Graphics, then turn Radeon Chill to Off. Chill dynamically lowers FPS when it detects low mouse movement, and Valorant's precise aim can trigger it unintentionally, locking you near 60.
Windows power plan also matters. Open Control Panel, go to Power Options, and select High performance or Ultimate Performance if your system has it. Balanced mode can limit CPU and GPU clock speed, which combines with driver throttling to enforce a frame cap. Restart Valorant and test again in Practice Range.
Disable Windows fullscreen optimizations for Valorant
Windows fullscreen optimization forces games to run in borderless windowed mode, even when you select fullscreen. The Desktop Window Manager then controls frame delivery and caps it at your monitor's refresh rate, usually 60 Hz. Disabling this feature gives Valorant exclusive control over frame output. Before you commit to anything, it is worth looking at why does my valorant ping randomly spike.
Navigate to your Valorant install folder. The default path is C:\Riot Games\VALORANT\live\ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64. Right-click VALORANT.exe, select Properties, and go to the Compatibility tab. Check the box Disable fullscreen optimizations, then click Apply and OK. Repeat the process for VALORANT-Win64-Shipping.exe in the same folder.
Some systems require an additional registry tweak. Press Win + R, type regedit, and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\GameConfigStore. Find the key GameDVR_FSEBehaviorMode and set it to 2. If the key doesn't exist, right-click GameConfigStore, select New, then DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it GameDVR_FSEBehaviorMode, and set the value to 2. Restart your PC.
Launch Valorant and ensure you're running in Fullscreen mode, not Windowed Fullscreen. Go to Settings, Video, and check the Display Mode dropdown. Fullscreen gives the game exclusive access to the GPU, while Windowed Fullscreen still routes through the Desktop Window Manager. Test in Practice Range for 15-20 seconds. Before you commit to anything, it is worth looking at network problem icon in valorant despite good internet.
- Navigate to
C:\Riot Games\VALORANT\live\ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64 - Right-click
VALORANT.exe, open Properties, go to Compatibility tab - Check Disable fullscreen optimizations, click Apply, then OK
- Repeat for
VALORANT-Win64-Shipping.exein the same folder - Open Registry Editor (
Win + R, type regedit) - Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\GameConfigStore - Set GameDVR_FSEBehaviorMode to 2 (create it if missing)
- Restart PC, launch Valorant in Fullscreen mode, test in Practice Range
Check in-game frame rate limit and monitor refresh rate
Valorant has its own frame rate limiter buried in the graphics settings. Open Settings, go to Video, and scroll to the Limit FPS dropdown under Graphics Quality. If it's set to 60, On Battery, or Always, you've found the cap. Set it to a higher value like 144, 240, or Custom and type in a number 20-30 FPS below your GPU's maximum stable output.
Custom limits prevent GPU usage spikes that cause stuttering. If your PC hits 180 FPS consistently, cap it at 150-160. This keeps frame times stable and avoids the microstutter that happens when FPS swings between 180 and 120 during fights. You won't notice the 20-frame difference, but you will notice smoother pacing.
Monitor refresh rate can silently override your in-game settings. Right-click your desktop, select Display settings, scroll down and click Advanced display, then check the Refresh rate dropdown. If it's 60 Hz, your monitor is physically incapable of showing more than 60 frames per second. Increasing in-game FPS above 60 still improves input latency, but you won't see the extra frames. It helps to understand valorant error code 59 fix before going further.
To change refresh rate, open the same Advanced display menu and select 144 Hz, 165 Hz, or whatever your monitor supports. If the dropdown only shows 60 Hz, your monitor may not support higher rates, or you're using an HDMI cable on a port that's limited to HDMI 1.4, which caps at 60 Hz for 1080p. Switch to a DisplayPort cable or HDMI 2.0 if your monitor has it. Test in Practice Range after applying the new refresh rate.
Remove third-party overlays and background apps
Overlays from Discord, GeForce Experience, and game recording software can enforce frame caps to keep recordings smooth. Discord's in-game overlay occasionally limits FPS to 60 when hardware acceleration conflicts with Valorant's anti-cheat. Open Discord, go to User Settings, then Advanced, and toggle Hardware Acceleration off. Restart Discord and Valorant.
GeForce Experience has an in-game overlay with recording and instant replay features. Press Alt + Z to open the overlay, click the gear icon for Settings, and go to General. Turn off In-Game Overlay. If you need ShadowPlay, re-enable it after confirming the FPS cap is gone, then check whether recording triggers the cap again.
Xbox Game Bar in Windows 10 and 11 captures gameplay and applies frame smoothing that can interfere with Valorant. Press Win + G to open Game Bar, click the settings gear, and go to Capturing. Turn off Record in the background while I'm playing a game. You can also disable Game Bar entirely by going to Windows Settings, Gaming, and toggling Xbox Game Bar off.
Background apps like browser tabs with video, OBS Studio, and RGB lighting software occasionally hog GPU resources and force Valorant into a throttled state. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), go to the Processes tab, and sort by GPU usage. Close anything using more than 5% GPU while Valorant is running. Test in Practice Range for 15-20 seconds after closing each app.
Keep your FPS stable after fixing the cap
Once the cap is gone, your FPS may swing wildly between 100 and 300 depending on map complexity and player count. Wide swings cause microstutter because frame pacing becomes inconsistent. Set an in-game frame limit 20-30 FPS below your typical high to smooth out frame times. If you hit 240 FPS on Range but drop to 180 in a 10-player Deathmatch, cap it at 160.
Lower your graphics settings to raise your FPS floor. Turn Material Quality, Detail Quality, and UI Quality to Low. Set Anti-Aliasing to MSAA 2x or off, and disable Bloom, Distortion, and Improve Clarity. These changes can lift your minimum FPS by 30-50 without making the game look worse in combat. Visibility often improves because there's less visual noise.
Update your graphics driver every 4-6 weeks. Nvidia and AMD release game-ready drivers that fix frame-time stutters and unlock performance in specific titles. Download drivers directly from Nvidia or AMD's website rather than relying on Windows Update, which often lags behind by weeks. Use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) in Safe Mode before installing a new driver to avoid conflicts from leftover files.
If your FPS is stable but you still see stuttering or rubber-banding during online matches, the issue is network rather than hardware. Packet loss and ping spikes decouple your visual FPS from server updates, making smooth frames look janky. Tools like GearUP optimize game traffic routing to cut down on jitter and stabilize your connection so frame pacing matches server tick rate. It won't raise your FPS, but it stops the feeling that your inputs are delayed even when frames are high. A free trial is available for PC.
Questions people still ask
Why does my Valorant FPS drop to 59 only during matches but not in Practice Range?
Network activity and player count increase CPU load, which can trigger power-saving throttling if your GPU power plan is still in Balanced mode. Set the power plan to Prefer maximum performance for Valorant specifically in Nvidia or AMD control panel. Background apps like Discord or a browser can also start consuming GPU when a match begins.
Does running Valorant at higher FPS than my monitor refresh rate actually help?
Yes. Higher FPS reduces input latency by 5-10 ms even on a 60 Hz monitor because the game engine samples inputs more frequently. Cap it at double your refresh rate (120 FPS for 60 Hz, 288 FPS for 144 Hz) for the best balance between lower latency and stable frame pacing.
Will disabling fullscreen optimizations affect other games or Windows features?
No. The compatibility setting applies only to the specific .exe file you modified. Other games and Windows features like Alt+Tab behavior remain unchanged. You can re-enable it anytime by unchecking the box in the Compatibility tab.
My FPS unlocked but now it stutters between 100 and 200. How do I fix it?
Set an in-game frame rate limit 20-30 FPS below your average high. If you hit 200 in quiet moments but drop to 120 in fights, cap it at 100-110. Consistent frame pacing matters more than peak FPS for smooth gameplay. Also lower Material Quality and Detail Quality to Medium or Low to raise your minimum FPS.