Why Is My High-End PC Getting Very Low FPS in Dota 2?

Question

PixelRogue905 - April 16, 2025

Hey everyone, I’ve got a pretty powerful setup with an Intel i9-10900KF and an RTX 3070, but recently my Dota 2 FPS has dropped to around 15-20 and just won’t improve. My GPU temps are low enough that the fans don’t even turn on, so it doesn’t seem like an overheating issue. I’ve tried common fixes like raising process priority and switching power plans, but nothing’s helped so far. Has anyone faced this or have ideas on what might be causing such low performance despite good hardware? System specs: Intel i9-10900KF 3.7GHz, RTX 3070, Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Master motherboard, 16GB RAM.

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4 Answers

Answer 1 · 2025-04-17 05:39:26

If the problem persists, try benchmarking your CPU and GPU with other games or synthetic tests to isolate if this is only a Dota issue or a hardware problem. You can also try reinstalling Dota or resetting your Windows power plan to default. As a last resort, some people have done clean Windows installs to fix mysterious performance drops.

Answer 2 · 2025-04-17 00:46:31

First thing to check is whether your system is accidentally running the game on an integrated GPU instead of your RTX 3070. Sometimes Windows or the drivers switch to the onboard graphics which will tank your FPS. Make sure your monitor is plugged into the GPU’s output, not the motherboard’s. Also, double-check in your Nvidia control panel that Dota 2 is set to use the high-performance GPU.

Answer 3 · 2025-04-16 16:01:16

Adding to what’s been said, sometimes allocating more RAM to the game or resetting your in-game settings to default can fix issues. Plus, make sure none of your hardware is damaged or malfunctioning — even powerful systems can choke if a component is failing.

Answer 4 · 2025-04-16 06:16:20

Have you tried toggling the Discord overlay off? Some users have reported a weird memory bug where Dota suddenly eats up 20+GB of RAM with Discord enabled, which kills performance. Also, switching between Vulkan and DirectX in graphics settings sometimes resets whatever is causing the slowdown. Finally, updating GPU drivers can help if an update broke things or fixed a related issue.