How to improve FPS in Factorio (PC)
Factorio isn't a game measured in FPS in any meaningful way: its engine renders even enormous factories effortlessly, and the counter that actually matters is UPS (Updates Per Second, with a fixed target of 60). The frame rate rarely drops because Wube's engine is written in C++ and hand-optimized over more than a decade of early access; what does collapse in advanced games is UPS, and that isn't fixed by lowering graphics settings, but by redesigning the factory. This guide focuses on how to diagnose and cure simulation bottlenecks in megabases, not on shadow sliders.
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Calculations based on our FPS model combined with the % gain of each setting (measured in public benchmarks).
1. Quick wins (no visual loss)
Start here. Each one adds a little, but together they give +38% free FPS.
Performance overlay (F4 + /toggle-perf-view)
Before touching anything, enable the F4 menu with the show-time-usage and show-entity-info options to see exactly which system (logistics, electricity, trains, circuit network) is consuming the most tick time. The /toggle-perf-view command breaks down the cost in milliseconds per category, essential because optimizing blindly in Factorio is usually a waste of time.
Reduce Circuit Network usage
Circuit networks (red/green wires, combinators) are among the biggest UPS eaters in megabases because every connection is constantly recalculated. Giant networks connecting hundreds of chests or logic balancers can cost more simulation time than all of the physical production.
Replace very long belts with trains
Every conveyor belt segment updates every tick to move items, and lines hundreds of tiles long accumulate a considerable simulation cost. Trains, although they look more complex, are much cheaper in UPS because they're only calculated on the track sections they occupy.
Limit biters and aggressive evolution
Biter AI, their pathfinding, and base attacks consume CPU cycles proportional to nest size and pollution cloud. In games oriented purely toward building megabases, disabling enemies frees up UPS directly.
Shadow and particle quality
Unlike the rest of the settings on this list, this one does affect rendering FPS (not simulation UPS), and it's only relevant on laptops with modest integrated graphics. On any modern dedicated GPU, Factorio's 2D rendering is never the bottleneck.
2. Medium impact settings
Here's where most of the FPS is. Minor visual impact, major performance impact.
Redesign production into modular compact builds
The fewer active entities that exist to produce the same amount of output, the lower the simulation cost per tick. Compact designs that maximize productivity per entity directly reduce the number of objects the engine has to update each tick.
Replace filtered inserters with passive-provider design
Inserters with circuit conditions require constant evaluation of those conditions. In large bases with thousands of conditioned inserters, that cost adds up. Migrating to passive logistics designs reduces the work per tick.
Audit oversized production
It's common in long games to accumulate duplicate or oversized production lines of intermediate items that are no longer consumed at the expected rate. Using the Production tab to identify surpluses and dismantling redundant lines recovers UPS without sacrificing real output.
Optimize the power grid
Every independent electric network the game has to solve separately adds simulation cost. Using too many power switches to segment the network multiplies that cost. Consolidating into one large network is cheaper in UPS.
3. Upscaling (DLSS / FSR / XeSS)
The biggest gain in the game. Compatible with almost any modern GPU.
4. Tips by GPU
NVIDIA
- •The GPU barely matters in Factorio: any NVIDIA card from the last 8-10 years sustains 60 rendering FPS with no effort, even in enormous megabases.
- •Don't enable DLSS or any type of scaling: Factorio is a 2D game with sprites, it has neither support nor any real use for AI-based upscaling.
- •Use the NVIDIA control panel to cap FPS at 60 and reduce power draw/temperatures, since the engine can render far beyond what's needed with no benefit.
AMD
- •Just like with NVIDIA, any modern AMD GPU is more than enough for Factorio's rendering.
- •There's no support for or need of FSR: the bottleneck is never the GPU, so enabling scaling provides no real benefit.
- •On laptops with integrated AMD graphics, make sure the game runs on the iGPU to save battery, since performance will be identical.
Sistema
- •The CPU, specifically single-thread performance, is the only component that really determines how far your factory can grow before UPS drops below 60. Prioritize frequency over core count.
- •Make sure you have enough RAM (16 GB recommended) in megabases with millions of entities: swapping from insufficient memory does cause severe micro-stutter.
- •Use the /toggle-perf-view command or the Time usage menu (F4) periodically as the factory grows to catch simulation bottlenecks before they become critical.
5. Known game issues
UPS drops in megabases with millions of entities
Beyond a certain size, UPS consistently drops below 60 even on the fastest desktop CPUs on the market, because Factorio's simulation is fundamentally single-thread and deterministic. It's not a bug: it's a structural limit of the engine that the community only tackles by redesigning the factory, not with hardware.
Estado: Partially mitigated by the partial multithreading optimizations introduced in the 1.1.x/2.0 series, but the core production logic remains single-thread.
Fluids and trains generating unpredictable UPS spikes
Poorly designed fluid systems and train networks with deficient signaling can generate occasional simulation cost spikes that aren't proportional to the apparent size of the factory, making diagnosis difficult without using F4's timing breakdown.
6. Frequently asked questions
Why is my factory slow if I have a powerful GPU?▾
What is UPS and why is it more important than FPS in this game?▾
Does lowering graphics quality help performance in a megabase?▾
What hardware do I actually need to sustain a megabase with several million SPM?▾
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Calculate FPS for Factorio →Calculations based on consensus of technical sources and our own FPS model. More about our methodology →