My gaming PC isn't exactly up-to-date, considering I have a 5-year-old graphics card and an AM4 processor. The temptation to upgrade my hardware has been there since the RTX 40 series launched, but I've managed to keep it at bay. Strictly speaking, my PC doesn't need hardware upgrades — it's just that it doesn't feel as high-end as it used to three years ago. To address that complaint, however, I've been using some performance-boosting techniques to extend my PC's lifespan. Hardware upgrades will come eventually, but they'll be my last resort.

Clearing my backlog of older titles

Improvise, adapt, overcome

This might not boost performance directly, but playing older titles that I missed out on indirectly makes my PC feel more powerful than it is. These last few years, I've not been able to devote as much time to gaming as I used to, which has led to many standout titles falling by the wayside. My backlog has grown immensely, and it also includes even older classics that I never got around to. From Red Dead Redemption 2 and Metro Exodus to Assassin's Creed Origins and Half-Life 2, I've got my work cut out for me.

The urge to buy the latest and greatest components to run the most demanding games is understandable, but my backlog of older games has tons of must-play gems that I've ignored for far too long. Playing these games will not only allow me to appreciate how good we had it back then, but also make it easier to spend months and possibly a few years without making any hardware upgrades. You might consider this a cop-out, but it works for me.

Overclocking my GPU

Every bit counts

Perhaps the easiest way to prevent your PC from becoming outdated is to overclock your graphics card and squeeze out a few more frames. Now, overclocking isn't a magic wand that can make my RTX 3080 run like an RTX 4080, but it's still free performance with not a lot of downsides. I've been able to extract 5–10% more performance, on average, by running a stable overclock using MSI Afterburner, and that's worth something.

Sure, overclocking alone won't make my PC last longer, but combined with everything else I'm doing, it makes a real difference. The RTX 3080 isn't as power-efficient as the latest GPUs, so overclocking it has forced me to upgrade to a larger UPS — the older one beeped ceaselessly past a certain system load. That still seems like a small price to pay compared to the cost of a brand-new graphics card.

Undervolting my CPU

I should have done this ages ago

Since I got my new PC three years ago, I have never really stuck with an overclock or undervolt for long. I was impatient; I didn't want to waste time finding the right settings for a small performance bump. That was then, and this is now — I'm looking for every little performance boost I can get. Undervolting my Ryzen 7 5700X has not only brought down the high idle temps I have always dealt with, but also made my gaming experience smoother.

I've noticed higher 1% lows, slightly higher average FPS, and a more silent PC overall. Even if undervolting my CPU hadn't improved performance, I would have stuck with it due to the lower temps. Another bonus is the fact that I don't need to think about getting a better cooler — my current 240mm AIO wasn't the upgrade I expected it would be. I can keep using the same CPU, cooler, case, and fans for years, and only upgrade when I really need to.

Enabling PBO and Resizable BAR

About time, right?

As an AMD Ryzen owner, you'd think I'd be running Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) from day one. The thing is, I did that, but it actually increased my already high idle temps, so I disabled and forgot about it. Of late, I've started messing around with PBO and Curve Optimizer, and despite the slightly higher idle temps, I've decided to keep them enabled since they do seem to contribute to the overall performance.

The other setting I finally activated was Resizable BAR (ReBAR). Somehow, my primary SSD has always been MBR-formatted, and I was too lazy to convert it to GPT, which is what you need to use UEFI and ReBAR. I recently converted my SSD from MBR to GPT, enabled ReBAR in the UEFI, and saw a generous performance boost in almost all games. It was only around a 10 FPS boost at the maximum, but that still allowed me to breach 60 FPS in games like Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Experimenting with Lossless Scaling

Whatever works

I know how some people feel about AI-generated frames (I was in the same camp), but after using Lossless Scaling, I'm not as aggressively opposed to it. This program allows you to enable frame generation in any game, and based on my short stint with it, it makes a real difference, provided you don't go overboard (there will still be a difference, but not the good kind). Generated frames, as opposed to rendered ones, don't boost the underlying responsiveness of the image, so you need to use them in moderation.

I only used the X2 mode to double my framerate, and I was pleasantly surprised at the results. Games like Cyberpunk 2077 usually struggle to break 60 FPS on my PC on 1440p high ray-traced settings, but Lossless Scaling easily pushed the FPS counter past 100. I've been using the tool occasionally, and I'm happy to state that I'm not as opposed to frame generation as I once was. I wouldn't recommend using the more aggressive modes, but 2x frame generation is very serviceable if you're getting a decent base framerate already.

How long can I make my PC last?

These techniques might help me avoid hardware upgrades for a year or two, but I'll probably buy a new graphics card, upgrade to AM5, or get an OLED monitor after that. Heck, I might even do that last one this year itself. Still, extending my gaming PC's lifespan by around two years is no joke, considering I'm not spending anything to overclock or undervolt it, use PBO, or try Lossless Scaling.