MARCH 2021 PCWorld 105improve performance, Steam’s frame rate
counter can be very helpful.
To activate it, open up Steam, click the
Steam menu option in the upper-left corner of
the screen, and select Settings from the menu
( 1 ). A new window will open.
Click the In-game item from the options.
You’ll see an In-game FPS counter drop-down
in the main portion of the screen ( 2 ). Click it,
select which corner of the screen you’d like the
counter to appear in, and boom! That’s it. You
can optionally check the High
contrast color box underneath
the drop-down menu if you’d
like the data to stick out more
in-game. By default, Steam uses
unobtrusive white text.
Click OK at the bottom to
save your tweak. The next time
you boot up a game, Steam’s
FPS counter will appear in your
chosen corner of the screen.
Use the information wisely.
The downside of using
Steam’s frame rate counter is
that it works only with Steam
games or with games you’ve configured
manually to run through the Steam launcher.
For other games, the software that comes with
Nvidia and AMD graphics cards also offers FPS
counters that can be configured deep in their
settings, but they require using the respective
in-game overlays from those companies,
which are more obtrusive and difficult to set up
than Steam’s simple settings tweak.
If you decide you want to upgrade your
hardware, our guide to the best graphics cards
(go.pcworld.com/fsgc) can provide concrete
recommendations and buying advice. And if
you want to delve deeper into Steam’s depths,
be sure to check out our guide to 17 obscure
Steam tips and tricks that can power up your PC
gaming experience (go.pcworld.com/17tp).
Valve’s PC platform does a whole lot more than
merely peddle games.1.2.