How to Show an FPS Overlay in Any Game (5 Free Ways)
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An FPS overlay is the first tool of every optimization job — you can’t fix what you can’t measure. Here are the five free ways to get one, and more importantly, how to read the frame-time graph, which tells you what the FPS number hides.
The FPS number says how many frames. The frame-time graph says whether they arrived on time.
1. Steam overlay (fastest)
Steam → Settings → In Game → In-game FPS counter → pick a corner.
Works in every Steam game, costs nothing, shows one number. Perfect for a quick check; useless for diagnosing stutter.
2. Xbox Game Bar (built into Windows)
Press Win+G → Performance widget → pin it.
Shows FPS, CPU, GPU and RAM usage in any game without installing anything. Note: if you’ve followed our Game Bar/DVR guide, you disabled the recording features — the performance widget is also gone in that case, so use Steam or RTSS instead.
3. RTSS via MSI Afterburner (the proper tool)
The standard for actual tuning work:
- Install MSI Afterburner (RTSS comes bundled).
- In Afterburner: Settings → Monitoring → tick Framerate, Frametime, GPU usage, CPU usage, GPU temperature → for each, enable Show in On-Screen Display.
- Set Frametime display type to graph.
- In game, the overlay appears automatically; configure position/size in RTSS.
4. NVIDIA overlay
NVIDIA App/GeForce overlay → Statistics — FPS plus latency metrics on supported games (the latency readout pairs well with input lag measurement).
5. AMD overlay
Adrenalin → Performance → Metrics → Overlay — FPS, frame time, usage and temps, no extra software on Radeon systems. Covered in the Adrenalin guide.
How to actually read it
| What you see | What it means | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Flat frame-time line | Healthy | Nothing — enjoy |
| Regular small spikes | Background process polling | Debloat, Game Bar off |
| Spikes when new areas load | Storage or VRAM streaming | NVMe, lower textures |
| Spikes after patch/driver update | Shader compilation | Clear shader cache |
| GPU usage 99% + rising latency | GPU saturated | Cap FPS |
| GPU usage low + low FPS | CPU bound | Bottleneck guide |
Once you can see frame times, tools like Tier1Timer become measurable: run its latency benchmark, raise the timer resolution, and watch the pacing tighten.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
What is the best FPS counter for PC?
RTSS (bundled with MSI Afterburner) is the most capable: FPS, frame-time graph, CPU/GPU usage and temperatures, all configurable. For a quick number, Steam's built-in counter is the lightest.
Do FPS overlays lower performance?
Lightweight ones like Steam or RTSS cost a frame or two at most. Heavier overlays with capture features enabled can cost more — disable recording features you do not use.
How do I see frame times instead of just FPS?
Use RTSS via MSI Afterburner and enable the frametime graph. Frame times reveal stutter that an FPS average completely hides.
Why does my average FPS look fine but the game feels choppy?
Frame-time spikes. Sixty even frames per second feels smooth; the same 60 with a few 80 ms frames feels broken. The frame-time graph shows it, the FPS counter does not.