Minecraft is an all-time classic game, which should work on most systems. However, some users report that their high-end PCs can’t run Minecraft properly without having many problems with their frames per second.
This is of course very annoying, you want your high-end PC to be able to run demanding games, far more so than Minecraft. I’m here to list the reasons and solutions for high-end PCs lagging in Minecraft. Hopefully, after this, you’ll be able to play Minecraft without issue.
The most common reason for Minecraft lagging is that your computer doesn’t have enough RAM to spare. Make sure that you don’t have an excessive amount of apps running in the background. Try turning off every app except Minecraft and see if it fixes your lag. Of course, there are multiple reasons why Minecraft can lag but this is the most common one.
Now that you’re aware of the most common reason why Minecraft can lag, let’s go over it in detail below. The solutions given are not listed in any particular order, although they may vary in complexity. Keep reading to find out more about why Minecraft is lagging on your computer.
1. Adjust Video Quality Settings
This might seem obvious to you, but let’s be as thorough as possible. If Minecraft is lagging on your high-end PC, try reducing the quality settings. Now, a high-end PC should be able to handle Minecraft regardless of the settings.
But, adjusting your video settings can be useful to eliminate your computer specs as the problem. If there is a bug or other issue causing Minecraft to lag, then you should lag regardless of your video settings in the game.
2. Clear RAM Cache
Let’s not get into what exactly RAM cache is, however, Windows is notoriously bad at clearing it efficiently. That’s why you should control how much of your RAM cache is taken up when playing Minecraft.
Let Minecraft run for a few minutes, then press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to enter the task manager. After you have entered the task manager, select the Performance tab.
After this, click Memory on the left and check the number under Cached. Let it sit for a while and see if it gets cleared automatically.
If the cached memory keeps building up without clearing itself, consider clearing it manually. You can do this easily by downloading Empty Standby List and running the program.
I would recommend that you schedule Empty Standby List to run every so often to make sure that Windows doesn’t build up an excessive pool of cached RAM. Doing this doesn’t damage your computer in any way, shape, or form.
To download and schedule the Empty Standby List, follow the steps below.
- Download the program from here
- From your Windows search bar, type “Task scheduler” and click the icon
- In the Task scheduler, click on Create a new task on the right side
- Give a name to the task (it doesn’t matter what it is)
- Click on Change user or group then Advanced
- Click on Find now on the right side of the new menu
- Scroll down the list until you find SYSTEM and click it, then press OK
- After this, check the box for Run with highest priority and then Configure for your version of Windows in the drop-down menu at the bottom
- After this, go into the Triggers tab at the top of the window and click on New
- Check the box for Repeat task for every then select how often you want the RAM cache to clear (I prefer every 5 minutes)
- In the drop-down menu for For a duration of, set it to Indefinitely then check the Enable box
- Go to the Actions tab and select New
- Browse and find Empty Standby List and select it
If this list is too long for your taste then you can check out a video guide on how to do it here.
3. Update Graphics Card Drivers
You can try to update your graphics drivers to see if that fixes your issue. Having outdated graphics drivers can cause a lot of problems for your computer, and this doesn’t only include low FPS in-game but things such as computer crashes and more.
To do this, simply head to your manufacturer’s website and download new drivers. A lot of people have Nvidia graphics cards, and their drivers are available here.
Make sure you select your specific graphics card when downloading drivers. If you’re hesitant about your specific GPU, go to the device manager in Windows, click on Display adapters and check.
4. Prioritize In Task Manager
You can set the priority for processes when you are using your computer. Windows will then allocate more performance to the process you have chosen to have a higher priority. You can try and do this for Minecraft to see if it solves your lag problems.
To do this, follow the steps below. Start Minecraft before performing these steps.
- Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete
- Go into the Task Manager
- Click on the tab called Details
- Right-click on Java and set its priority to High
5. Reinstall The Game
Reinstalling games that are suffering in performance or are buggy is usually a good idea. If you have a save file that you want to keep, head to %appdata%\. minecraft\saves\ and copy the save file. Put it on your desktop and then uninstall the game.
As I mentioned above, reinstalling a game can work depending on what issues are present. It’s certainly a good all-around solution to fix bugged or corrupt game files that make your game lag.
6. Remove Demanding Add-ons
Addons are great, but some of them use up a lot of resources such as RAM. Having a lot of add-ons can cause Minecraft to lag. I recommend that you experiment with turning off certain add-ons and see if your experience gets any better.
Also, look for updates to your add-ons. Having outdated addons can cause Minecraft to be unstable and lag. If you’re running an online server I would recommend limiting the number of add-ons that can be used on that server.
7. Clean Up The Hard Drive
If you haven’t run the Windows Disk Cleanup tool in a while, consider doing this. The tool will clean all the useless temporary files and other files that aren’t useful to your computer.
It’s very easy to do, simply head to Run by pressing the Windows key + R then type cleanmgr and press OK. After this, simply follow the steps. It shouldn’t take too long.
How Much RAM Is Needed For Minecraft?
The minimum recommended requirement is an allocated amount of 2 gigs. Depending on how many add-ons and mods you are using, you might need more. How much RAM you need also depends on what video settings you play on.
If you use a bunch of mods, allocate around 4 gigabytes to Minecraft. Make sure not to allocate more gigs of RAM than your computer actually has, that’s not going to work out that well for your computer. Having 4 gigabytes of space allocated to Minecraft should be absolutely fine even when playing with add-ons.
As I mentioned before, if you have a ton of add-ons and mods to Minecraft, then the RAM demands rise quite quickly and I would recommend around 8 gigabytes to start with.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you’re playing on a multiplayer server, you’re going to need more RAM. For example, two players on a server will be heavier on your computer than one, and so forth.
How Do I Allocate RAM To A Minecraft Server?
I mentioned earlier that you can allocate RAM to Minecraft, something that you might have been aware of. So, how do you actually go about doing this? Let’s go over it below.
- Open your Minecraft Client
- Head to the tab called Installation
- To the right of the Play button, click the three dots and then Edit
- At the bottom of the new window, click on More options
- At the bottom of the next window, find JVM Arguments
- In this text, you will find some text. In this text, find the part that says something like 2G.
- Change this number to switch the amount of allocated RAM. For example, if you type 6G, your computer will allocate 6 gigabytes of RAM to Minecraft
Very important: Don’t allocate more RAM memory than your computer has installed.