HOW-TO · FRAME RATE LIMITER · CHECKED ON NPI 3.0.2.3
How to cap FPS with NPI's frame rate limiter
Open the game's profile in NPI, search "frame rate" (NPI's search does not match "fps"), set Frame Rate Limiter V3 (0x10835002) to the cap you want, from 20 to 1000 FPS, click Apply Changes and restart the game. It is the driver limiter behind the NVIDIA App's Max Frame Rate. In the one published CapFrameX test we found, it added about the same latency as an in-game limiter or RTSS, and an in-game limiter gave smoother frame times.
You need
- NPI
- 3.0.2.1 or newer
- Rights
- Administrator
- Driver
- 441.87 or newer
- Time
- 2 minutes
Set a cap in 60 seconds
Open the game's profile
Type the game name in the profile box. If it has no profile, add one with the right exe.
Search for frame rate
Type
frame rate. Searchingfpsfinds nothing in NPI 3.0.2.1. LAB · F15 You can also type the hex ID ↗.Pick the cap
Set Frame Rate Limiter V3 to a number from 20 to 1000. The driver stores it as a hex number, so 141 FPS is
0x0000008D. Off is0x00000000. OFFICIAL · NVAPI headerApply and restart
Click Apply Changes and restart the game. How to use NPI shows the window.
Global cap versus per-game cap
A value in the Global profile applies to every game that does not set its own value. A game profile wins over Global, so a game profile set to Off removes the cap for that game. Profiles explained shows the order. We did not test the order on a real driver.
Which limiter should you use?
We have no GPU, so we cannot measure limiters. The best modern dataset we found is Wccftech’s CapFrameX test: an RTX 4090, Cyberpunk 2077, a 120 Hz display and a 120 FPS cap. REPORTED · Wccftech
PC latency by limiter
Every limiter except V-Sync alone sits within about 3 ms of the others.
Average PC latency, lower is better
Show the data
| Item | ms | Setup |
|---|---|---|
| Reflex with V-Sync or G-SYNC | 17.6 | |
| NVIDIA Max Frame Rate | 19.0 | |
| In-game limiter | 20.0 | |
| RTSS Async | 20.1 | |
| Special K Latent Sync | 20.8 | |
| V-Sync only | 52.1 |
Frame-time smoothness differs more. The in-game limiter and RTSS were smoother than the driver limiter and Reflex in the same test, with an adaptive deviation of 5.3 and 5.7 against 9.7 and 9.6. REPORTED · Wccftech
| Case | Reasonable choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Competitive, game has Reflex | Reflex in the game, plus a cap | Lowest latency in the test. |
| G-SYNC monitor | Driver or in-game cap just under refresh | See the G-SYNC recipe. |
| Single-player smoothness | In-game limiter if it has one | Smoothest frame times in the test. |
| Old engine that breaks at high FPS | Driver limiter | No in-game option, no extra tool. |
Blur Busters measured that the older limiter set through NVIDIA Inspector added 2 to 3.5 frames of lag, and that the modern V3 limiter is comparable to RTSS. COMMUNITY · Blur Busters Old warnings about the driver limiter add lag refer to the pre-V3 limiter.
Background application limit
↗ caps the frame rate while the game window is in the background, from 5 FPS up. It reduces work when you alt-tab away. We did not measure power or fan differences.
What happened to FRL V1 and V2?
The V3 limiter came with driver 441.87. NPI 3.x exposes only V3, and older mode names belong to older NPI builds. CODE · NPI settings data
When the cap doesn’t work
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing changes | The launcher exe is in the profile, not the game exe | Attach the real exe, see the add a game page. |
| Cap works in one profile only | A value in Global is overridden by the game profile | Set the cap in the game profile. |
| Cap vanished after a while | The NVIDIA App overwrote the setting | Set it in one tool only, see NPI versus the NVIDIA App. |
| Cap ignored in borderless or windowed | Reported by players, not tested by us | Try fullscreen, or an in-game limiter. |
| Still at the old cap | Apply not clicked, or game not restarted | Click Apply Changes, then restart the game. |
Old games that need a cap
Some old engines tie physics to frame rate. Skyrim and the Fallout games are the usual examples, where players cap near 60 FPS with V-Sync. COMMUNITY · modding community We have no test of our own.
Skyrim and Fallout are the classic case for a 60 FPS driver cap: see the Skyrim, Fallout 4 and New Vegas page.
Undo it
Set Frame Rate Limiter V3 back to Off, or reset the row, and click Apply Changes. Undo and reset has the details.
Questions people ask
Is NVIDIA's frame rate limiter better than RTSS?
In the published CapFrameX test, PC latency was 19.0 ms for NVIDIA Max Frame Rate and 20.1 ms for RTSS Async, about the same, with similar smoothness. It is a single test on one game and one GPU.
Does capping FPS reduce input lag?
Capping just below the refresh rate with V-Sync or G-SYNC avoids the queue that builds when the game runs faster than the display. A cap alone on a GPU-bound game changes little.
Why is my FPS cap not working in borderless?
Reports exist of caps failing in borderless or windowed mode. We could not test it. First check the exe, the profile and that the game was restarted.
What FPS should I cap at with G-SYNC?
A few FPS below your refresh rate. Our frame cap calculator gives the number for your monitor.
Is Max Frame Rate the same as Frame Rate Limiter V3?
They appear to be the same setting. The NVIDIA API calls it FRL_FPS_ID. We did not confirm the NVIDIA App writes it, since we have no GPU.
Sources
- NVIDIA NVAPI header github.com · accessed 8 Nov 2026 · official
- Wccftech wccftech.com · accessed 8 Nov 2026 · reported
- Blur Busters blurbusters.com · accessed 8 Nov 2026 · reported