How to Fix GTA 5 Lag in Low-End PC – 8 Best Ways

Are you encountering lag while playing GTA 5? Got fed up due to GTA 5 Lag while playing online then don’t worry because we had listed some most useful ways which can help you to fix Grand Theft Auto 5 lag.

GTA 5 is an extremely popular game developed by the Rockstar franchise till yet. Graphics and Physics Motion in GTA 5 is incredible due to which it creates a load on GPU and CPU to process more resources.

Many players use low-end PC or laptops due to which they face lag while playing GTA 5. But you can easily fix lag and stutters in GTA 5 by following our guide.

Although Rockstar is trying to optimize the game, it will take time to roll out. Therefore, we have to wait until Rockstar rolls out optimization updates.

There are other certain methods like fps & stability booster mod, updating your graphics card drivers, unparking the CPU cores, adjusting your graphics settings, etc which you can try to optimize the game from your side.

But before you start implementing these methods, you must ensure that your PC is compatible to run GTA 5 at least.

(Related – Fix Dark Souls 3 Stuttering Lag and FPS)

GTA 5 Minimum Requirements

Your system must meet the minimum requirements to run GTA 5. Below are the minimum requirements officially declared by Rockstar to run GTA 5.

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs) / AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core Processor (4 CPUs) @ 2.5GHz
• Video Card: NVIDIA 9800 GT 1GB / AMD HD 4870 1GB
• Memory: 4GB
• Sound Card: 100% DirectX 10 compatible
• HDD Space: 90GB

Even if you meet the minimum requirements for GTA 5, you will experience lag while playing it. But as I said, you can fix them easily.

8 Best Ways to Fix Grand Theft Auto 5 Lag in Low-End PC

Below are some of the quick yet simple ways in which you can try to fix lag in GTA 5 and reduce shuttering in the game. First, implement each method and then try playing the game to compare the before and after optimized FPS.

1. Unparking your CPU Cores
2. Use Cheat Engine to Speed Up GTA 5
3. Installing FPS and Stability Booster Mod
4. Best Settings for GTA 5 Lag Fix and Boost FPS
5. Updating your Graphics Card Drivers to Fix Lag in GTA 5
6. Steam Launch Optimization
7. Disable your Antivirus
8. Use Kill Ping to Reduce Game Ping

Let’s see each method in detail and how you can implement these methods at your end.

1) Unparking your CPU Cores

One of the easiest ways to improve your PC performance is by unparking the CPU cores which in turn helps to reduce lags in GTA 5. Windows by default parks the CPU cores which leads to low performance as compared to unparked cores performance.

Download the Quick CPU Core Manager zip file. Extract the Zip file using WinRar or WinZip. Run the setup and install it on your PC.

You will find the Quick CPU Core application on your PC desktop. Just run it and set the percentage of core parking index, frequency scaling, and turbo boost index to 100% each and apply it.

Now run your game and play it without any kind of lag. Note that your PC might heat up a little bit or if you are on Laptop then you will see a little fast battery drain.

2) Use Cheat Engine to Speed Up GTA 5

Cheat Engine is free software that you can use to speed up the game. It is a hacking tool that helps to scan values in memory and change it. But we are not going to use it as a hacking tool. 

We are going to use it as a booster which could help us to reduce lag in GTA 5. Just download the Cheat Engine and install it on your PC. Run your game and make sure you complete loads up in the save house. Now minimize the game and open Cheat Engine.

Click on a small computer icon at the top left corner in Cheat Engine. It will show up all the processes ongoing in your system. Go to the applications section and just select the GTA 5 game 

After selecting the GTA 5 game, you will see an option called “Enable Speed Hack” located next to memory scan options. Just enable it by clicking on it.

Now enter any value greater than 3 in the speed textbox and click on apply. Boom your game will now run faster as compared to the previous time.

Make sure that you enter an optimal value in the speed textbox according to your system configuration. If you are playing it on an extremely low-end PC then set the value anywhere between 5-8 and for medium specs PC, I would recommend keeping it in the range of 2-4.

Cheat Engine does not help to reduce the lag in-game but it helps to speed up the frames per second so that we can play the game a little bit more easily. The audio track in the game will also become a little bit fast.

Just note that you do not use a cheat engine as a hacking tool. We at ShoutMeBack never promote hacking and illegal stuff. Use cheat engine only for educational use,

3) Installing FPS and Stability Booster Mod

There is a GTA 5 mod script that you can use to reduce lag to a great extent. You just need to download a .bat file from the below link. The script will help you to increase FPS and maintain stability.

You can also fix the graphics which does not load with the help of FPS and Stability booster mod script. One of the key features of this mod is that you can apply it while playing GTA 5 online. It is a 100% safe and secure method.

Follow the below steps to run the FPS and Stability mod script:

1. First of all, just download the mod from the above link. Extract the zip folder using WinRar or WinZip software
2. Run your GTA 5 game after extracting the zip file. Now minimize your game and go to the extracted folder
3. In the folder, you will find a .bat file, Just run it and wait until it shows “Press any key to continue”
4. Just press any key and the bat file will start to perform its task to reduce the lag. All done now enjoy your lag-free GTA 5 game.

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4) Best Settings for GTA 5 Lag Fix and Boost FPS

Graphics Settings is one of the key settings given by the Rockstar developer to us to make our GTA 5 game smoother and reduce lag in it. 

Before you try optimizing the in-game settings, I recommend you disable the fullscreen optimizations and enable the high DPI settings for GTA 5 application.

If you don’t know how to do it then read the below paragraph or you can skip the best optimal settings for GTA 5. To disable the Fullscreen optimizations and enable the high DPI overrides, just go in your GTA 5 root folder {The directory where GTA 5 is installed in your PC} and right-click on GTA 5 application, and go to the Properties.

In the Compatibility section, you will find disable fullscreen optimization option. Just select it and then click on Change high DPI settings.

Now select “Override high DPI behaviour” and click on “Ok” to save it. Apply the same properties for GTA 5 launcher and PlayGTAV too.

Once you have done it for 3 of the files then you can start your GTA 5 game and start changing the in-game settings to boost the performance of the game. Just set your game settings to the below one to see maximum fps while playing GTA 5.

Best Graphics Settings for GTA 5:

• Ignore Suggested Limits to OFF
• Directx Version: Directx 11
• Resolution: Default Monitor Resolution else 1280×720
• Aspect Ratio: Default
• Refresh Rate: Default Monitor Refresh Rate
• FXAA: On
• MSAA: 4x
• Nvidia TXAA: Off
• Vsync: Off
• Population Density: Low or Medium
• Population Variety: Low
• Distance Scaling: Low
• Texture Quality: Medium
• Shader Quality: Medium
• Shadow Quality: Low
• Reflection Quality: Low
• Reflection MSAA: Off
• Water Quality: Medium
• Particles Quality: Low
• Grass Quality: Medium
• Soft Shadows: Sharp
• Post FX: Normal
• Motion Blur: Off
• Depth of Field: Off
• Anisotropic Filtering: Off
• Ambient Occlusion: Off
• Tessellation: Off

Final Optimal Graphics Settings Screenshots:

That’s all with Graphics settings. Now let’s see the advanced optimal settings which you must set in the advanced graphics settings of the GTA 5 game.

1. Long Shadows: Off
2. High-Resolution Shadows: Off
3. High Detail Streaming While Flying: Off
4. Extended Detail Scaling: Off
5. Extended Shadows Distance: Off
6. Frame Scaling Mode: Off

That’s all with advance graphics settings. You can also turn off the Screen Kill Effects and First Person Ragdoll in Display and Camera settings respectively.

In case after applying the graphics and advance graphics settings your game still lag then you can try more Lower settings than the above-defined settings.

But I recommend you to set it to the above define one because lowering more the graphics settings will ruin your GTA 5 gaming experience.

(Related – Easily Fix Gameloop Lag and Stuttering)

5) Updating your Graphics Card Drivers to Fix Lag in GTA 5

Graphics card plays a huge role when we play games on PC. If your pc has a low-end graphics card then I recommend you to change it at least with GTX 660 because it is the minimum card requirement to run GTA 5.

However, if you have a better graphics card and still your game is lagging then it might be occurring due to outdated graphics card drivers. Just update your card driver. You can do it manually by going in your device manager and then right-click on your graphic card driver and click on “Update”.

Else you can use Driver Booster Pro which is free to download on Windows as well as on Mac. Advance Driver Booster helps to update all our outdated drivers with just a 1-click feature.

It has a real-time collection of drivers database which continuously get updated whenever a new driver version gets launched by the developers. So you don’t have to worry about all the drivers and can just update them all using a single click on the “Update all” button.

6) Steam Launch Optimization

This optimization section guide only works if you are playing GTA 5 game by using Steam. Steam has different launch commands which you can try to reduce lag in any games like GTA 5, etc.

Do note that the below method will not work if you are launching GTA V from Epic Games or Rockstar Games. It only works in the case of Steam.

To set the GTA 5 launch options in Steam, follow the below steps:

1. Open the Steam and Right-click on the GTA 5 icon in game library.
2. Click on the Properties and under General tab click on Set Launch Options.
3. You will need to enter the below commands and click on OK to save the launch options.
4. Restart the Steam and GTA 5 game to see better fps and performance.

GTA 5 Steam Launch Commands for Low-End PC:

-fxaa 0 -tessellation 0 -shadowQuality 0 -textureQuality 0 -anisotropicQualityLevel 0 -grassQuality 0 -postFX 0 -particleQuality 0 -lodScale 0.0 -shadowSoftness -multiSample 1 -noInGameDOF -noquattransform linear -pedLodBias 0 -reflectionQuality 0 -SSAO 0 -waterQuality 0 -vehicleLodBias 0

The above command will do mostly the same settings which you have applied in the best optimal settings section but you can try it to ensure you get more FPS and better performance in GTA 5.

Apart from setting the launch options, you can try setting the high priority for GTA 5, GTA 5 launcher, and PlayGTAV from your Task Manager to ensure the game can utilize more resources.

Just note you will have to set the priority in Task Manager every time you run the game or you can create a .bat script and run it every time to open the game with high priority.

(Related – Best Ways To Fix Lag In Call Of Duty Mobile)

7) Disable your Antivirus

Antivirus software consumes lots of memory resources and CPU utilization even in the background too. I highly recommend you to at least stop your antivirus software when you are going to play GTA 5. As both applications (GTA 5 and Antivirus software) require lots of resources and utilization, you may see lag while playing the game.

Even Windows Defender Security consumes lots of resources in the background which is used for real-time protection. You can see in the below image the percentage of resources consumed by Windows Defender.

Just disable your antivirus until you are playing GTA 5 and enable it again after you finish your gaming. To disable your antivirus, just go to the antivirus dashboard and search for any feature regarding Stopping it for some time.

Every antivirus has a different layout and procedure to stop it from running for some time. You can search on Google regarding your antivirus company about how to stop it for some time.

In the case of Windows Defender, go to “Virus and Threat Protection” settings and turn off the “Real-Time Protection” and save it.

8) Use Kill Ping to Reduce Game Ping

If you are facing ping issues while playing GTA 5 online then it might be caused due to poor network connectivity. Just restart your router and then try again playing it.

If still, the problem occurs then you can use the Kill Ping service which helps to reduce ping in many online games. Kill Ping has different servers which help to maintain a good route when sending data packets from their server to game servers. Below are some of the location where Kill Ping have their server located:-

You must try Kill Ping to reduce ping and boost your game performance when playing online games like GTA 5, etc. It only charges 1.66$ per month with 15 days money-back guarantee.

In case you do not understand anything then you can watch the below video which shows step by steps about how to fix lag in GTA 5 for some methods.

Final Words

I think it’s not too hard to fix lag in GTA 5. You can easily do it by using the above methods which work in most cases. If the above methods did not work then it is time for you to upgrade your old PC to a newer one.

I hope you like the article and if I miss any point or methods regarding how to fix lag in GTA 5 then please let me know in the comment section.