How to Show FPS in Any Game: 5 Free FPS Overlays
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To show FPS in any game, turn on the free FPS overlay you already have: Alt+R on an NVIDIA card (NVIDIA App), Ctrl+Shift+O on an AMD card (Adrenalin), Steam’s Performance Monitor for Steam games, or Win+G → Performance in Xbox Game Bar. RTSS works in every game on any GPU and adds the frame-time graph, which shows the stutter that the raw FPS number hides.
| FPS overlay | Works with | How to turn it on | Shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA App | GeForce GPUs | Alt+Z → Statistics, then Alt+R to toggle | FPS, latency, GPU/CPU usage, temps |
| AMD Adrenalin | Radeon GPUs | Ctrl+Shift+O | FPS, frame time, GPU/CPU usage, temps |
| Steam Performance Monitor | Steam games | Steam → Settings → In Game | FPS (rendered vs generated), CPU, GPU, RAM |
| Xbox Game Bar | Any game, Windows 10/11 | Win+G → Performance → FPS (one-time access + restart) | FPS, CPU, GPU, VRAM, RAM |
| RTSS + MSI Afterburner | Any game, any GPU | Afterburner Settings → Monitoring | Everything, plus a frame-time graph |
The FPS number says how many frames. The frame-time graph says whether they arrived on time.
1. Steam overlay (fastest)
To show FPS in Steam games, open Steam → Settings → In Game and turn on the Performance Monitor (Steam’s performance overlay, which replaced the old single-number counter in 2025). Pick a screen position and a hotkey, then choose a detail level: from one FPS number up to FPS, CPU, GPU and RAM.
The Steam overlay counts rendered and DLSS/FSR-generated frames separately, which the old counter couldn’t. On an older client the setting is called In-game FPS counter — pick a corner and it shows one number. Either way it only covers games launched through Steam.
2. Xbox Game Bar (built into Windows)
To show FPS with Xbox Game Bar on Windows 10 or 11:
- Press Win+G in a game.
- Open the Performance widget (from the widget menu if it isn’t already open).
- Click the FPS tab. The first time, it says Game Bar needs extra access: click Request access, accept the UAC prompt and restart the PC. FPS stays blank or N/A until you restart.
- Click the pin icon so the Game Bar FPS overlay stays on screen while you play.
Shows FPS, CPU, GPU, VRAM 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 FPS overlay (GeForce / NVIDIA App)
If you’re on a GeForce card, you already have an FPS overlay built in:
- In the NVIDIA App, open Settings → Features and make sure the NVIDIA Overlay is on.
- In a game, press Alt+Z to open the overlay, go to Statistics and pick a preset or Custom to choose the readouts — FPS, latency, GPU/CPU usage and temps.
- Press Alt+R to toggle the NVIDIA FPS overlay on and off from then on.
- On RTX cards, the latency readout pairs perfectly with input lag measurement and NVIDIA Reflex.
No extra software needed — it’s the fastest FPS overlay for NVIDIA users.
5. AMD FPS overlay (Adrenalin)
Radeon users have an equally capable overlay in the driver:
- Open AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition and press Ctrl+Shift+O to toggle the Performance Overlay in-game.
- Under Performance → Metrics → Overlay, enable FPS, frame time, GPU/CPU usage, and temperatures.
- Full driver setup is in the best AMD Adrenalin settings guide.
No extra software on Radeon systems — it’s the fastest FPS overlay for AMD users.
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 Tier1Suite 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.
How do I turn on the NVIDIA FPS overlay?
Enable the in-game overlay in the NVIDIA App (Settings → Features), then in a game press Alt+Z, open Statistics and pick the stats you want. After that, Alt+R toggles the NVIDIA statistics overlay with FPS on and off in any game.
Why does the Xbox Game Bar FPS counter not show anything?
The Game Bar Performance widget needs one-time permission to read FPS. Open the FPS tab, click Request access, accept the UAC prompt and restart the PC. Until you restart, FPS stays blank or N/A while CPU and GPU usage still work.
How can I see FPS without Xbox Game Bar?
Use Steam's Performance Monitor (Settings → In Game) for Steam games, the NVIDIA App overlay (Alt+R) on GeForce cards, AMD's Performance Overlay (Ctrl+Shift+O) on Radeon cards, or RTSS with MSI Afterburner for any game on any GPU.