Valorant ยท stutter
Valorant stutters after an update? Shaders and overlays first
After a Valorant or GPU driver patch, hitching is usually shader compile. Spend 5-10 minutes in The Range, disable Discord / NVIDIA / Game Bar overlays, and clear shader cache (SmoothWizard tray). NVIDIA Reflex: On in-game. Do not stack Control Panel Low Latency Mode with Reflex. Power plan is Basic. Process pause is PRO.
Average FPS can look fine while abilities hitch. That is frametime. No promised frame count.
- 1
Warm shaders in Range
After a patch the GPU compiles effects on first ability use. 5-10 minutes in The Range before Competitive.
- 2
Shader cache
Close Valorant and Riot Client. SmoothWizard: Clean shader cache in the tray. Or Disk Cleanup > DirectX Shader Cache. Then Range again.
- 3
Overlays off
Discord overlay, NVIDIA App, Xbox Game Bar, Riot Client overlay if present. One overlay is enough to cut 1% lows.
- 4
Reflex, do not stack
In Valorant set NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency to On. On + Boost only if the laptop stays cool. NVIDIA Control Panel Low Latency Mode: Off when Reflex is in-game.
- 5
SmoothWizard
Basic: power plan. PRO: pause processes on fullscreen. Do not run two boosters at once.
FAQ
Click a question to show the answer. The first one is open.
Is Vanguard killing FPS?
Vanguard has to run. Do not disable anti-cheat. Fix shaders and overlays first.
On or On + Boost?
Start with On. On + Boost holds the GPU higher and heats laptops. Test in Range, not in ranked.
What does SmoothWizard do here?
Shader cache in the tray, power plan in Basic, process pause in PRO. It does not read game memory or inject an overlay.