Having two monitors for your PC setup is a common practice to improve productivity and enhance experience. However, it’s not error-free. Sometimes issues like the second monitor lagging or freezing would occur, especially when playing demanding games. If you’re on the same boat, don’t fret! We’ve got some ideas on how to fix it.
Try these fixes
Not all methods are necessary; simply work your way down the list until you find the one that works for you.
- Change your monitor’s refresh rate
- Close bandwidth-hogging and graphics-intensive applications
- Download and install all Windows updates
- Update your graphics and monitor drivers
- Turn off hardware acceleration on Chrome & Firefox
- Run a full system scan on your PC
1. Change your monitor’s refresh rate
This issue seems to be plaguing users who have the dual monitors with 144hz and 60hz refresh rate setups. If that’s also your case, try changing the 144hz monitor to 60hz, which has proven to be working for many users. You can follow the steps below to change your monitor’s refresh rate.
-
Right click on an empty space on the desktop and select
Display Settings
.
- In the right pane, find Advanced Display Settings and click on it.
- Then click Display adapter properties for Display 1 (or 2) of your 144hz monitor.
- Select the Monitor tab. Under Screen refresh rate: , select 60 Hertz from the drop-down. Then click Apply > OK to save the changes.
2. Close bandwidth-hogging and graphics-intensive applications
It’s more demanding for the GPU to display two monitors at once. Therefore, if you’re having too many applications, especially the ones that are bandwidth-hogging and graphics-intensive running in the background, you’re more likely to encounter lagging and stuttering issues. To prevent these from happening, follow the instructions below to disable them while playing games.
- On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key + R simultaneously to open the Run box.
-
Type
taskmgr
and press
Enter
.
-
Under the
Processes
tab, right-click the applications that are eating up your resources. Then select
End task
.
You can click Network or GPU to sort the processes by network usage or GPU usage to decide which applications you should close.
Once you’re done, play your game and check if your problem has been solved. If you can’t see any improvements, try the next fix below.
3. Download and install all Windows updates
Windows updates usually come with bug fixes and bring new features. So it’s reasonable to take advantage of them to receive the utmost performance and probably fix your issues. To get the latest updates, take the steps as follows.
-
In the Search box, type
check for updates
. Then click
Check for updates
from the list of results.
-
Click on
Check for updates
. If updates are available, follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the updates for your system.
After updates are installed successfully, restart your computer and then check whether what you have done can do the trick. If your problem persists, proceed to the next fix.
4. Update your graphics and monitor drivers
Next you should check for driver updates, especially your graphics and monitor drivers. Manufacturers usually release new drivers to make sure users can get the best performance. Besides, from time to time, your device drivers can get corrupted, which would undoubtedly cause a wide range of issues, ranging from minor graphics glitches to critical system errors.
There are mainly two ways to update your graphics and monitor drivers: manually and automatically .
Option 1: Manually update your drivers
You can update your device drivers via the Device Manager:
- On your keyboard, press the Windows + R keys simultaneously to open the Run box.
-
Enter
devmgmt.msc
and hit Enter.
-
Double-click to expand the list for your devices. Then right-click on each of them and select
Update
driver
.
Then follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the latest drivers.
However, if Windows fails to find the latest drivers for you, you may need to navigate to the manufacturers’ websites to search for, download, and install the correct drivers for your system.
To get the latest driver for your graphics card, you can click on the link below.
Option 2: Automatically update your drivers
Manually updating your drivers can be a tedious task. And when you encounter any issues during this process, you’ll need some tech knowledge to solve them. In this situation, we suggest you use a dedicated updater tool like Driver Easy to help automatically detect any outdated drivers, then download and install the latest drivers for your system.
- Download and install Driver Easy.
-
Run Driver Easy and click on the
Scan Now
button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any devices with outdated drivers.
This requires the Pro version which comes with full support and a 30-day money-back guarantee. You’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All. If you don’t want to upgrade to the Pro version, you can also update your drivers with the FREE version. All you need to do is to download them one at a time and manually install them.
After updating your device drivers, restart your device. If your second monitor is still lagging while playing games, proceed to the next fix.
5. Turn off hardware acceleration on Chrome & Firefox
By default, hardware acceleration is enabled to utilize your computer’s graphics processing unit (GPU) to tackle graphics-intensive tasks. However, it’s not error-free. Sometimes it can cause your browser to lag, freeze, or even crash. In addition, turning on hardware acceleration can drain your computer’s battery. To troubleshoot the issues you’re having, try turning it off on Chrome and Firefox. Then see how things go.
On Chrome
-
On the top-right, click on the
three-dot
and select
Settings
.
-
On the search box, enter
hardware acceleration
. Then you’ll see the option
Use hardware acceleration when available
. Switch off the toggle button.
On FireFox
-
On the top right, click on the menu button (
three lines
). Then select
Settings
.
-
Select
General
from the left navigation pane. Scroll down to the
Performance
section, uncheck
User recommended performance settings
to display additional settings. Uncheck
Use hardware acceleration when available
.
After applying the changes, play your game and check if there’re any improvements. If this doesn’t make a difference, try the next fix below.
6. Run a full system scan on your PC
If none of the methods outlined above work, it’s time to make some tweaks on the system level. It’s that you need to check if you have any corrupted system files, which may be the culprit of a wide range of issues. To verify if that’s your case, you can use the System File Checker tool by running the sfc /scannow command. Wait for it to verify the integrity of your system files, which may take a while to finish.
If there’s a line showing you that “Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations. ”, you may need to use a more advanced tool like Restoro to scan your PC for problematic files and replace the files that are malfunctioning.
-
Download
and install Restoro.
- Launch Restoro and it will run a free scan of your PC. Upon completion of the scan, the software will conduct a diagnosis and show you a summary of system issues. This will take a few minutes.
-
If it detects any issues on your PC, click
Start Repair
to let it start the repairing process.
After the repair, reboot your computer. Play your game and you should have a lag-free experience.
Hope this guide helped! If you need any assistance, write them down in the comment section below. We’ll be happy to help you with your question.