Sony knows a thing or two about making a gaming console, as is evident by its extremely successful lineup of PlayStation consoles over the years. Now with the latest PS5, the company is continuing the trend of making powerful, well-performing consoles.
However, just like everything tech, your PS5 will also eventually run into random bugs and glitches that can introduce some lag in your gaming experience. In this article, we’re taking a look at why your PS5 might be lagging and what you can do to fix the problem.
Why does this happen?
Lags in gaming consoles are more common than you might think. Some common causes include:
- Unstable internet connection.
- Latency issues.
- The PS5 is overheating.
- Not enough space on the internal drive.
- High graphics settings.
- Software issues.
Also read: How to fix unrecognised disc in PS4?
How to fix this?
Here are seven fixes you can try out.
Restart your console
The good old ‘have you tried turning it off and on again’ paradigm also works here. Restarting your console or just about any device is one of the best ways to fix many seemingly random issues.
Check your internet
Restarting your router can help eliminate any unseen network or connectivity issues that you may be facing. All you have to do is turn off your router, wait for a bit and then turn it back on again.
If you were using WiFi to play games on your console, reboot it and try playing over an ethernet connection. Wired connections not only give you the best possible speeds and stability but also provide maximum protection against connection drops and other network issues that can plague your gaming experience.
Check the air vents
Another possible reason for performance drops could be thermal throttling because your console getting too hot. If you’ve kept your PS5 in a relatively small space or without enough circulation around it, the console can get pretty hot rather quickly causing performance to drop.
Check to ensure that there’s enough airflow around the console and stop using it for a while to allow the internals to cool back down.
Set PS5 to performance mode
While the PS5 does have enough power to run most games at 60FPS, some titles are just too demanding at times. You can fix any lags in such games by using the PS5 performance mode. Here’s how.
Step 1: Head over to the PS5’s Settings.
Step 2: Navigate to Saved Data and Game Settings.
Step 3: Select Performance Mode.
Step 4: Select Performance Mode.
Note that you might see a drop in visual quality after switching to performance mode but the performance should be better and more stable.
Clear internal storage
This is the simplest method of all and requires the least amount of work. Note that you will, however, need a backup of your game data if you want to restore your progress. We suggest backing the data up in the cloud since you have issues with your system storage.
Step 1: Head over to the PS5’s Settings.
Step 2: Find Application Saved Data Management in the settings menu.
Step 3: Click on Saved Data in System Storage.
Step 4: Click on Delete
Step 5: Find the game you’re having issues with and press the X button on your Dualshock 5 controller to delete the game data.
Now restart your game or application to check if the error still persists.
Rebuild console database
The PS4’s Safe Mode has a bunch of handy options that can help resolve several issues with the console. One such option is the Rebuild Database, option five in the Safe Mode menu.
This restructures your drive so that your console can read it just like new again. If you’re facing issues with your storage devices, this should be the first item on your troubleshooting list, especially considering slow or problematic storage can really hurt your games.
Read our in-depth guide to know how to enter (or exit) the PS4 Safe Mode.
Update the console
Updating the console to the latest version possible can often fix performance issues.
There are two ways you can do this.
- Update using the internet.
- Update using local installation media (USB/CD)
We strongly recommend trying to update using the console’s interface and the internet. However, if that doesn’t work out for you, you’re going to have to boot into Safe Mode and try updating your console from there.
However. before you start the update process, follow these steps to clear out the previous update’s notification.
Step 1: Head over to Notifications from the main menu.
Step 2: Scroll down to find the last update notification and press the Options button on your Dualshock 5 controller. Select Delete from the side menu.
You can now start updating your console to the latest update.
Check out our detailed guide on how you can reset your PS5.
Also read: How to fix PS5 error: CE-107857-8?
