There is no single best graphics preset for every ray-traced PC game. Start with the resolution you actually play at, test the ray-tracing effects you care about in a representative scene, then use a quality-focused upscaling mode or reduce individual settings if performance falls short. Treat frame generation separately: it can make motion look smoother, but it does not replace a responsive baseline.
How to tune a ray-traced game without guessing
- Set your real output resolution. Begin at the resolution of your monitor and the game’s normal output target. Record the current settings and observe performance in a scene you can reproduce, such as a busy combat area or a location with prominent reflections and lighting.
- Enable the effects you want to evaluate. Ray tracing can mean reflections, shadows, indirect lighting, or other effects; games expose different combinations and quality levels. Change one option at a time, comparing the same scene and camera view so you can judge both its visual contribution and performance cost.
- Try a supported upscaler before sacrificing every effect. Start with a quality-focused mode. If performance is still inadequate, move toward Balanced or Performance and inspect fine detail, motion stability, and responsiveness. Upscaling reconstructs a higher-resolution output from lower-resolution input; it is a tradeoff, not a free gain with identical pixels. NVIDIA describes DLSS Super Resolution in those terms.
- Reduce the least valuable cost next. If upscaling does not meet your target, lower a specific ray-tracing effect or another demanding setting and compare again. Priorities are personal: a player who values reflections may retain them and reduce a less noticeable effect, while another may choose the reverse.
- Assess smoothness and responsiveness separately. Check how the game feels during camera movement and input, not just its displayed frame rate. Decide whether the result meets your own target before adding frame generation.
Which settings should you lower first?
Use the scene you actually play as the test, because an effect’s value and cost vary by game and location. NVIDIA’s Control graphics and performance guide discusses separate options including ray-traced reflections, transparent reflections, contact shadows, indirect diffuse lighting, and debris, alongside resolution, textures, and volumetric lighting. That illustrates why “ray tracing” is not one universal toggle; it does not establish a priority order for other games.
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- Keep the effects that change what you notice. Compare each effect on and off in scenes where it should be visible. If its contribution is hard to see in your normal play, it may be a better candidate to reduce than one central to the look you want.
- Do not assume every expensive-looking setting is ray tracing. A game’s other options, including volumetric lighting or resolution-related settings, may also affect performance. Change them individually to identify the tradeoff rather than lowering several at once.
- Compare quality levels within an effect. Where the game offers them, a lower ray-tracing quality level may preserve the effect you value while costing less than its highest setting.
How to choose an upscaler and mode
Use the upscaler and mode available in your specific game, then judge the output at your normal resolution. A higher performance mode can improve frame rate by starting from a lower-resolution input, but fine detail and motion behavior may differ. Compare modes in a repeatable scene, paying attention to edges, small details, moving objects, and input feel.
| Technology | What to check | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA DLSS | Check which DLSS features the game exposes, including Super Resolution, Frame Generation, Ray Reconstruction, or DLAA. | NVIDIA describes Super Resolution as reconstructing output from lower-resolution input; DLAA is native-resolution anti-aliasing rather than a performance upscaler. Feature availability and performance depend on game integration and supported GPU. NVIDIA DLSS documentation |
| AMD FSR | Check the game menu and AMD’s current compatibility information for the particular FSR feature you want. | AMD’s FSR page describes a suite including FSR Upscaling, FSR Frame Generation, FSR Ray Regeneration, and FSR Radiance Caching, with compatibility distinguished by feature and GPU generation; do not assume the entire suite is available on every Radeon card or game. AMD FSR technologies |
| Intel XeSS-SR | Use the presets provided by the game and compare the resulting image at your output resolution. | Intel’s developer guide lists presets from Native Anti-Aliasing through Performance and Ultra Performance, with recommendations dependent on output resolution. Its advice about avoiding XeSS alongside other upscalers or TAA is guidance for game integration, not a direction to disable TAA globally in unrelated games. Intel XeSS-SR developer guide |
These vendor descriptions are not a controlled comparison of DLSS, FSR, and XeSS on the same game and system. Compare the options available on your PC by image quality at your output resolution, performance in your scene, motion stability, game and hardware support, and latency. Check current vendor compatibility pages and the in-game menu: support differs by technology, game, and hardware.
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When frame generation helps—and when it does not
Frame generation creates additional displayed frames; upscaling, by contrast, reduces the input rendering resolution and reconstructs the output. Do not treat a higher displayed frame rate from frame generation as proof that the game’s underlying rendering rate or input responsiveness improved. First establish a baseline that feels responsive, then decide whether generated frames make movement look better without making control feel worse.
Support and implementation are game-specific. NVIDIA’s driver guide says DLSS options vary substantially by title and warns against combining native DLSS Frame Generation with Smooth Motion because doing so can lower performance and cause visual artifacts. See NVIDIA’s driver guide for that specific warning; do not generalize it into a claim that all frame-generation technologies behave identically.
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Why there is no universal performance gain
The performance cost of ray tracing and the benefit of changing a setting depend on the game, scene, GPU, resolution, and settings combination. One historical illustration is NVIDIA’s 2019 Control guide: it reported “up to 89%” for a higher-fidelity DLSS mode in its tested heavy-GPU-load situations and “up to 197%” for lower-resolution performance modes under that guide’s test conditions. Those are vendor-published, title-specific results—not expected gains for another game or PC. NVIDIA’s guide provides the context.
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For a more specific settings recommendation, the meaningful inputs are the game, GPU, output resolution, desired frame-rate range, and tolerance for latency. A GPU buying threshold cannot be inferred from one game’s guide; requirements differ by title and target resolution.
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