Speed up your Mac for Gaming
- nSpira
- Aug 21, 2015
- 2 min read
Some tips you may try to improve your Mac's performance for gaming.
Improve your latency, get a faster FPS or generally speed things up.
Background Apps
Close all other applications to ensure they are not running in the background using bandwidth, they can also lower your ‘FPS’ Framerate.
Ethernet Cable
If you can, connect your PC to the router via an ethernet cable.
This is faster than Wifi normally and helps to reduce lag caused when mobile devices connect via Wifi.
Better Latency
Try using Hasten which optimises your network settings to send packets faster.
Originally I created this app for my own gaming needs.
DNS Server
You may try connecting with another DNS server.
Google provides a free app which compares your DNS with others:
https://code.google.com/p/namebench/
Dock & Desktop - Improve ‘FPS’ Framerate
Try to keep your desktop as empty as possible, too many files on the desktop can slow down your Mac. Use one of the default background images or none at all, would be better. Keep only the most used applications in the dock, fewer is better for performance.
Dashboard Widgets
They are also using memory even if you are not using them.
Try to keep only the most necessary widgets in the Dashboard.
You may see how much memory a widget is using in the Activity Monitor.
Remove Login Items
Remove unused or non critical apps from your login items. These apps will be opened and run in the background when your start your computer.
You may find and remove these apps fro the Login items at System Preferences/Users & Groups, then click on the Login Item tab.
Disk Permissions
At times there may be conflicts between different apps accessing files or permissions may not be correct. You may repair permissions by using the Disk Utility app, located in Applications/Utilities.
Select the startup disk, then click the First Aid tab, then click the Repair Disk Permissions button.
Upgrade RAM
This can provide a significant improvement in performance.
You may see how much RAM your Mac has by
Clicking on the Apple Logo in the Menu Bar, then About this Mac and then click on the Memory tab.
Here you can also see what type of RAM you Mac is using.
I like this site for sourcing replacement parts for my Mac, they also provide easy to follow tutorials.
Toubleshooting Performance Problems
1. Restart your modem or router
Switch it off for at least 30 seconds.
2. Other devices sharing your net
Check if other devices are connected to the same network via Wifi.
Check if they are using bandwidth intensive activities like downloading films.
3. Check for App conflicts and problems
Use the Activity Monitor to check for apps which are using too much CPU or memory.
For example if you have many browser tabs open it may cripple performance by using a lot of Memory.
Sometimes you may see an application process which is frozen and you may quit it, or force quit it.
Commentaires