Your average FPS is lying to you
Average FPS can look great while the game still stutters, because it hides the worst moments. The number that catches that is called the 1% low, the average of your slowest one percent of frames. A big gap between average and 1% low almost always points to background load, RAM, or an ageing CPU.
| What you notice | Likely cause | What actually helps |
|---|---|---|
| High average, occasional freezes | Background apps, shader compiling | Close overlays, let shaders cache once |
| Stutters that repeat in the same spot | Storage stalls, HDD or a full SSD | Move the game to an SSD with headroom |
| Smooth solo, drops in crowded scenes | CPU or RAM struggling to keep up | Check RAM speed and XMP, consider more CPU cache |
| Stutters only in one specific game | Game engine issue, not your PC | Check patch notes before touching hardware |
Illustration generated with AI.
Why does RAM affect 1% lows more than average FPS?
Average FPS is forgiving. It smooths one bad second out over a whole minute of play. A 1% low cannot hide that way, because it is built from exactly the frames that were struggling.
RAM running below its rated speed, or running single channel when the board supports dual, shows up first as a wider gap between average and 1% low, not as a lower average. We have covered the XMP side of this before in why your RAM might be running slower than the box says, and the channel side in whether a single RAM stick is worth the saving right now. Both push 1% lows down before they touch the average.
Is this a CPU problem or a GPU problem?
If your GPU usage sits near 100% the whole time and lows still dip, that is closer to a genuine GPU limit, and there is not much software can do about it. If GPU usage drops during the stutter, the CPU or the data feeding it is the bottleneck.
That second case is where a CPU with more cache earns its price. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the one we reach for specifically because its extra cache keeps frame times consistent under load, not because its average FPS number is dramatically higher than the chip below it.
From the floor
Every machine that leaves our floor gets run through an actual game session before it ships, not just a synthetic benchmark. Synthetic tools are good at average FPS and bad at catching a stutter that only shows up when twelve players are on screen at once.
We have caught more real issues that way than any spec sheet number would have flagged, usually a RAM kit not actually hitting its rated speed out of the box.
FAQ
What counts as a bad 1% low?
There is no single number, but as a rule of thumb, a 1% low under half your average FPS is worth investigating. Closer to your average means smoother, consistent frame delivery.
How do I actually measure my own 1% lows?
NVIDIA's FrameView and RTSS/CapFrameX both log this for free during normal play. Run a few minutes in the part of the game where you usually notice stutter, not the menu screen, for a number that means anything.
Will more RAM alone fix bad 1% lows?
Only if you were actually running short on capacity, which shows up as heavy disk activity during the stutter. If you have enough capacity already, the fix is usually speed and channel configuration, not quantity.
Does a faster CPU always fix 1% lows?
Not always. It helps when the processor is the bottleneck, which is common, but GPU-bound stutter at high resolutions will not improve much from a CPU upgrade. Check GPU usage during the stutter first.
Should I worry about this on a budget build?
Worth checking, not worth losing sleep over. Budget builds naturally have wider gaps between average and 1% low, since there is less headroom everywhere. The table above is the same fix path regardless of budget.
Bring your build model number to the store and we will check where your 1% lows are actually coming from before you spend on an upgrade that will not fix it.
Related: Why is your RAM running slower than the box says? · How to enable Resizable BAR on your gaming PC · Should you buy one RAM stick now, or two?
Shivam Chandravansi builds and stress-tests every machine that leaves the Get Right PC floor. Published 21 September 2026.
