How to Improve Xiaomi Phone Performance in Games

Modern mobile games like Genshin Impact, PUBG Mobile or Call of Duty Mobile require enormous computing power from a smartphone. Even the flagship models of Xiaomi and Poco can eventually begin to experience difficulties with rendering complex graphics, which leads to a drop in frames per second (FPS) and the appearance of micro-freeze. Users often face a situation when, after updating the shell of MIUI or HyperOS, the device begins to work less stable in heavy applications.

But before you think about buying a new gadget, you need to do a deep software optimization: Android, especially its shells from a Chinese manufacturer, has a lot of tools to manage the resources of the processor and graphics accelerator, and the right configuration of these parameters can do wonders, returning the former smoothness of the interface and games.

In this guide, we will not only look at the standard settings available to each user, but also touch on more advanced methods, including working with engineering menus and system files. A comprehensive approach to the issue will allow you to squeeze the most out of the existing hardware without the need for root rights or flashing the device to custom assemblies.

Activation and fine-tuning of Game Turbo

The first and most obvious step is to use the built-in game accelerator correctly, and in the MIUI and HyperOS shells, this tool is called Game Turbo (or Game Mode), which not only blocks notifications, but also redistributes CPU resources, giving priority to the running game application.

To access the advanced settings, you need to go to the Security app, scroll down to the Game Turbo section and click on the gear icon or menu. Here you should activate the "Accelerate Response" option, which reduces latency when you touch the screen. It is also important to turn on the "Productivity" mode, if it is available for your device model.

⚠️ Warning: Enabling Performance Improvement mode can lead to faster battery discharge and noticeable heating of the smartphone body during long gaming sessions.

Special attention should be paid to the sensitivity setting of the touchscreen. In the Game Turbo menu, you can select a profile for a particular game and adjust the response to touch. For first-person shooters, it is recommended to increase sensitivity in certain areas of the screen, which gives a competitive advantage when aiming.

Don’t forget to regularly update the game databases within the Game Turbo app itself. System developers are constantly adding optimizations for new versions of popular projects, and the lack of updates can deprive you of important improvements to the tab---WIDGET:checklist:Setting up Game Turbo:Add all games to the list |Enable response acceleration |Configure touchscreen sensitivity |Enable notification lock

System settings of the developer for gamers

The hidden Developer Menu contains a set of parameters that directly affect the speed of rendering the interface and the operation of background processes, and you can get there by making a few quick clicks on the build number in the About Phone section, which is one of the most effective ways to speed up the system without third-party software.

First, find the section related to drawing or rendering. The animation scale option (window, transition, duration) is set to 1x or 0.5x by default. Changing this value to No Animation or 0.5x visually speeds up the system response, freeing up CPU cycles for more important tasks, such as calculating in-game physics.

Also critical is limiting background processes: Find the "Background Process Limit" item and set the "No More than 2 Processes" or "No Background Processes" value, which will prevent the game from being offloaded from RAM and stop the overactive activity of other applications consuming resources.

Another important setting is the preferred GPU driver type. In some versions of Android, you can choose between the system driver and the Game driver. Experimental switching to the Game Driver can give performance gains in individual titles, although it does not guarantee stability on all devices.

Management of RAM and Virtual Expansion

RAM is one of the key factors that determine how fast a game will load and how often the system will unload it from memory when switching between applications. In modern Xiaomi smartphones, a feature called “Memory Extension” is often found, which takes a portion of internal memory and uses it as a virtual RAM.

Paradoxically, enabling this feature is not always useful for gaming. The read and write speed of internal flash memory (even UFS 3.1 or 4.0) is still lower than that of physical LPDDR5 RAM. In heavy games, the active use of virtual memory can lead to micro-stuttering when loading textures.

The recommended test is to play a heavy game with the memory extensions on and off. Go to Settings → Additional settings → Expand memory and select the minimum value or complete disabling of the function. After the reboot, the device will only use physical RAM, which often makes the interface more responsive.

It's also worth clearing the memory before you start a game. Don't just rely on automatic cleaning. The Security app has a Cleanup feature that closes the background apps and clears the cache. Regularly doing this procedure frees up (precious) megabytes for game resources.

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Before starting a competitive game, always restart your smartphone, which ensures that there is no “junk” left in the RAM from the long run of other applications.

Optimization of the display and refresh rates

Image quality and smoothness of movement directly depend on the settings of the screen. Most modern Xiaomi smartphones are equipped with AMOLED or IPS matrices with a high refresh rate of 90 Hz, 120 Hz and even 144 Hz. However, working at the maximum frequency does not always mean better performance in games.

In some cases, the game may not be optimized for high hertz, which leads to frames being out of sync and increased energy consumption. In the display settings (Settings → Screen and Brightness → Update Frequency), you can try to force a 60 Hz value for a particular game through Game Turbo or in the system settings if the game does not support 120 Hz.

On the other hand, if your device supports 120Hz in-game (like PUBG Mobile or Call of Duty), be sure to activate this mode. This requires more GPU resources, but gives a huge advantage in the smoothness of the picture. Make sure that the graphics settings inside the game itself select the maximum FPS value, and the graphics quality is reduced to “Smooth” or “Balance”.

⚠️ Attention: Forced change of screen resolution or density DPI through ADB This can cause some applications to display interfaces incorrectly, and only use these methods if you understand the risks.

Also worth paying attention to is rendering resolution. Some users resort to changing the smallest width (DPI) in the developer menu. Reducing this value can make fonts and interface elements smaller, but also reduce the load on the GPU, since the system will have to draw fewer pixels. The standard value is usually around 360-411 dpi, reducing to 320 can give a slight increase.

Temperature and trottling control

The main enemy of performance is heating. When the CPU temperature reaches a critical threshold, the trottling mechanism is triggered, the system artificially lowers the CPU and GPU frequencies to avoid overheating and damage to components, which manifests itself in a sharp drop in the FPS after 10-15 minutes of play.

To combat this, you need to ensure a good heat sink. Remove the protective case while playing, especially if it is made of silicone or dense plastic, which work as a thermal insulator. Play in a cool room or point a fan at your smartphone.

There are software-based controls. You can find Trottling GPUs on the developer menu (if available), but be careful. A safer method is to use temperature monitoring apps to understand when the device is starting to reset, and disabling GPS, Bluetooth, NFC, and mobile data (if you play over Wi-Fi) also helps.

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A stable body temperature is the key to a stable FPS. Cooling is more important than having the most powerful processor.

If you use external coolers for smartphones, make sure they are compatible with your model and don't overlap the sensors. Active cooling allows the processor to work longer at maximum frequencies without resetting, which is critical for (long) game sessions in rank matches.

Hidden commands and advanced optimization

For power users, there are deeper customization methods, one of which is using ADB (Android Debug Bridge) to disable system services that are not needed while playing, such as temporarily disabling Google Play services or heavy system widgets that consume resources in the background.

This would require you to connect your phone to your computer, enable debugging over USB, and type commands, such as a command to disable a particular package looks like this:

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.package.name

However, this method requires caution: disabling critical system components can lead to unstable operation of the phone, and it is recommended to create a complete backup of data before such manipulations.

Another trick is to clean up DNS. Sometimes the lags in online games are not caused by phone power, but by a slow server response. Changing the DNS in Wi-Fi or mobile network settings to a fast one (for example, 1.1.1.1 from Cloudflare or 8.8.8.8 from Google) can reduce ping and improve responsiveness in network games.

⚠️ Warning: Don’t use the dubious Play Market booster apps, which are often advertising junk and only add to the system’s load instead of helping.

It's also worth checking if the power saving mode is on. MIUI has a "Battery" mode with a slider. For games, it should be set to "Performance" or "Balanced," but never "Economies." The saving mode severely limits the processor frequency, making comfortable play impossible.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)