Absolutely, optimising frame rate or FPS (Frames Per Second) in any game, including Half-Life 2, enhances your gaming experience, and the same can be achieved by tweaking settings and upgrading some aspects of your machine. Here are several methods you can use: 1. **Lowering In-Game Settings**: Games, including Half-Life 2, have various adjustable visual settings. Entering the game's settings menu and decreasing features like texture quality, anti-aliasing, shadows etc., can give an immediate boost to performance. 2. **Optimizing PC Settings**: Ensure that your PC is running in High-Performance mode. This can often be selected in your computer's power settings. This allocates more resources to your game, leading to smoother performance. 3. **Game Optimization Software**: Consider trying game optimization software like Nvidia's GeForce Experience (for Nvidia GPU users) or AMD's Gaming Evolved (for AMD GPU users). These programs can optimize your game settings for performance and provide FPS improvement. 4. **Update Graphics Card Drivers**: Manufacturers often release updates for the drivers of their graphic cards. Download the most recent drivers for your graphics card. 5. **Closing Background Applications**: Background apps tend to use up valuable system resources. Close unnecessary background applications prior to launching your game. This could boost your game performance. 6. **Turn Off Vertical Sync (V-Sync)**: If you have V-Sync turned on, it can limit your FPS. Turning off V-Sync eliminates the FPS-cap that might interfere with your game's performance. 7. **Hardware Upgrade**: If the above suggestions still don't help, your hardware might be the bottleneck. Consider upgrading your Graphics card (GPU), adding more RAM, or moving to a Solid-State Drive (SSD). Remember to install the latest patches for Half-Life 2, as they often provide performance enhancements and bug fixes, which could improve the frame rate. Also, bear in mind that all systems are different, and what may work for one system, may not work as well for another. It's crucial to alter settings one at a time and observe their effect on the game to ensure the best possible combination for your machine.