Games start lagging like hell sometimes and alt tabbing out of the game and back in always fixes it

Troubleshooting Game Lag on a Lenovo Legion 5 Laptop: Effective Strategies

Gaming on a laptop with high-performance specifications often promises smooth gameplay; however, many users experience occasional lag spikes that disrupt their experience. If you’re encountering such issues, particularly with a Lenovo Legion 5 equipped with a Ryzen 7 4800H processor, 16 GB RAM, and an RTX 2060 GPU, you’re not alone. This article explores common causes of game lag and provides practical solutions to help restore optimal performance.

Understanding the Issue

It’s not uncommon for certain games to suddenly experience severe lag, rendering gameplay unresponsive. A typical symptom is stuttering or freezing that resolves temporarily when switching out of the game via Alt-Tab and then returning. This pattern, observed in titles like Expedition 33 and Space Marine 2, often occurs despite the hardware exceeding the game’s requirements. Such issues tend to manifest when gaming settings push the system to its limits, with GPU utilization hovering above 95% and frame rates dropping to 40-50 fps.

Potential Causes

Several factors can contribute to sporadic game lag:

1. Overloaded GPU or CPU Resources: Running games at high or near-maximum capacity can lead to thermal throttling or resource contention.
2. Background Processes: Other applications or system tasks may compete for resources, affecting game performance.
3. Driver Issues: Outdated or incompatible graphics drivers can cause performance inconsistencies.
4. Thermal Management: Overheating components can throttle performance to prevent damage.
5. Software Conflicts: Background overlays, antivirus scans, or misconfigured settings may interfere with game execution.

Recommended Solutions

To address these lag issues effectively, consider implementing the following strategies:

1. Update Graphics Drivers: Ensure your RTX 2060 drivers are up-to-date. Visit the NVIDIA website or use the GeForce Experience app to install the latest drivers, which often include performance improvements and bug fixes.

2. Adjust In-Game Settings: Since your system is struggling at high settings, try lowering graphics quality, resolution, or disabling resource-intensive features like shadows or anti-aliasing. Using optimized presets can help maintain smoother frame rates.

3. Optimize Background Processes: Close unnecessary applications running in the background to free up CPU and memory resources. Use Task Manager to identify and terminate non-essential processes during gaming sessions.

4. Monitor Hardware Temperatures: Use tools like HWMonitor or MSI Afterburner to keep an eye on CPU and GPU