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Use this baseline before changing individual settings
These settings give you a reliable reference rather than a random collection of slider values:
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- Preset: High.
- Resolution: the output resolution and refresh rate you actually use.
- Upscaler: the implementation supported by your graphics card, starting with Quality or its equivalent.
- Ray tracing: Off or reduced if the GPU is the limiting component.
- Frame generation: Off while you establish a stable base frame rate; turn it on later if latency remains acceptable.
- Low Core Mode: Off on a current desktop with six or more cores.
High is a useful visual floor in testing by Tom’s Hardware. Its 25-CPU evaluation found little additional performance from dropping to Medium on the tested systems, while the lower preset removed image quality that is difficult to recover with an upscaler. That does not make High universally optimal: an older CPU or GPU may need a lower output resolution, more aggressive upscaling, or reduced lighting features.
Install on an SSD and update the driver first
Why the drive matters
The official Gears of War FAQ, dated August 4, 2026, marks an SSD as required. It says mechanical hard drives are not supported and may cause severe loading issues, missing assets, stuttering, and crashes. This is a requirement, not a quality-of-life recommendation. Moving the installation from an HDD to an SSD can address streaming failures that no graphics preset can fix.
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Driver versions for the beta guidance
The same official guidance lists these minimum graphics-driver versions for its beta:
| GPU family | Driver version listed by the official FAQ |
|---|---|
| AMD | 26.7.1 or newer |
| NVIDIA | 610.74 or newer |
| Intel | 101.8864 or newer |
Final-release requirements can change, so treat those numbers as the dated beta guidance rather than a permanent specification. Install the current driver offered for your exact GPU, restart Windows, and only then start tuning. If a new driver introduces instability, use the game’s current official requirement as the floor instead of assuming an older package is better.
Run the built-in benchmark correctly
Benchmark results are meaningful only when they match the way you play. Set the resolution, refresh rate, HDR choice, upscaler mode, and ray-tracing state you intend to use, then run the benchmark from the game’s graphics or display options. Record the average FPS, the 1% low or worst sustained portion if the game exposes it, and whether camera movement shows shimmer, blur, or hitching.
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- Close browsers, recording tools, launchers doing downloads, and other CPU-heavy programs.
- Choose High and your normal output resolution.
- Run the benchmark once to warm up shaders and streaming.
- Run it again without changing settings and use the second run as your baseline.
- Change one setting or one related group at a time, then repeat the run.
- Keep a short note of average FPS, frame-time consistency, visual artifacts, and GPU utilization.
A higher average can still feel worse if frame pacing or 1% lows deteriorate. Conversely, a small average-FPS loss can be worthwhile when it removes traversal stutter or distracting temporal shimmer. Compare the same benchmark scene at the same resolution; changing several options at once hides which trade-off helped.
Choose an upscaler without sacrificing more detail than necessary
E-Day supports NVIDIA DLSS 4.5, AMD FSR, Unreal Engine TSR, and Intel XeSS. Select the implementation designed for your GPU, then begin with Quality (or the mode with the equivalent internal resolution). Quality modes preserve more spatial detail than Balanced or Performance modes while still reducing the number of pixels the GPU must shade.
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When to move from Quality to Balanced or Performance
If the benchmark is GPU-bound and Quality is below your display’s target, try Balanced. Use Performance only when the resolution is high enough that the game remains too demanding after reducing ray tracing and other GPU-heavy effects. Inspect thin geometry, foliage, cables, and motion during the benchmark: aggressive reconstruction can produce crawling edges, ghost trails, or a soft image even when the FPS counter looks excellent.
Compare upscalers at the same internal-resolution mode rather than comparing a Quality result from one implementation with a Performance result from another. TSR can be a strong neutral choice when your card lacks a preferred vendor implementation. XeSS is available on supported Intel hardware and may also run on other GPUs, but the practical result depends on the card and driver. The benchmark, not the label, decides which image is best on your system.
Resolution is the largest simple GPU lever
At 4K, Tom’s Hardware found its tests completely GPU-bound. At 1440p, it found a GPU-bound ceiling around 130 FPS. If utilization is near full, lower the output resolution or move to a more efficient upscaler mode before dismantling the High preset. Resolution and upscaler mode primarily trade spatial detail for GPU workload; they do not solve a CPU that cannot deliver frames quickly enough.
Ray tracing: spend the budget where you see it
Xbox Wire confirms hardware ray-tracing support. Ray tracing can improve lighting and reflections, but it consumes GPU time that could otherwise support resolution or steadier frame pacing. Treat it as an optional visual cost rather than a requirement for a good image.
- GPU at or near full utilization: reduce or disable ray tracing first, then test lighting-related options, before lowering texture quality.
- GPU headroom available: leave ray tracing enabled and compare its image benefit in scenes with reflective surfaces and complex lighting.
- VRAM pressure or texture pop-in: keep textures at a level your card can hold and investigate storage and streaming before blaming ray tracing.
There is no cited, reproducible percentage cost for every individual shadow, volumetric, texture, lighting, or effects slider. Use the in-game benchmark to measure each change on your own card instead of treating a generic percentage as guaranteed.
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Frame generation improves the counter, not the base-render latency
Xbox Wire confirms DLSS 4.5 Dynamic Multi Frame Generation and Super Resolution, and the Steam listing identifies optional frame generation and multi-frame generation. These technologies create additional displayed frames from rendered frames. They can make motion appear smoother, but they do not replace the responsiveness of the underlying frames.
- First tune resolution, upscaling, ray tracing, and CPU-heavy settings until the ordinary frame rate is stable.
- Use a frame-rate cap appropriate for your monitor and verify that frame pacing is consistent with generation disabled.
- Enable the supported frame-generation option and repeat the benchmark.
- Test aiming, camera turns, and rapid combat rather than judging only the displayed FPS.
- Keep it disabled if controls feel delayed, artifacts are distracting, or the base rate is too low for the generated frames to be convincing.
Frame generation is most useful when the base renderer already delivers a reasonably high, stable rate. If the game is stuttering at its source, generating more images can make the counter larger without fixing the hitch.
Low Core Mode usually hurts modern desktop performance
Low Core Mode is intended for unusually constrained processors or specific streaming problems. Tom’s Hardware tested 25 CPUs and found that it reduced performance on every normal configuration, commonly by 14% to 32%. The exception was an unusual dual-core setup, where the mode fixed asset-streaming problems and freezes.
Leave it off on a modern desktop with six or more cores. If you suspect a streaming issue, record a benchmark with the mode off, enable it for a second run, and compare both average performance and hitching. Keep the mode only if it resolves a reproducible freeze or streaming failure that other fixes do not address; do not enable it because a menu description sounds like it might free resources.
Find out whether the CPU or GPU is limiting you
Signs of a GPU bottleneck
- GPU utilization stays close to full during the slow sections.
- Lowering output resolution or selecting a more efficient upscaler produces a clear FPS increase.
- Reducing ray tracing or lighting effects helps while changing CPU-related options does little.
Use a lower output resolution, a more efficient upscaler mode, or less ray tracing. At 4K this is the expected pattern in the cited testing.
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Signs of a CPU bottleneck
- GPU utilization is well below its limit while one or more CPU cores remain saturated.
- Lowering resolution barely changes FPS.
- Closing background workloads or reducing CPU-heavy scene settings improves frame delivery.
Keep High as the starting point, close background applications, and consider a faster CPU if the limitation persists. E-Day showed unusually strong CPU scaling in Tom’s Hardware’s tests, so a powerful GPU does not guarantee high frame rates at lower resolutions.
What the CPU results mean
In Tom’s Hardware’s 2026 lab results, a Ryzen 7 9800X3D delivered 42% higher 1080p High performance than a Ryzen 5 7600X. In a separate comparison, the spread between the cited Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Ryzen 5 9600X was nearly 29% at Ultra but only 6.8% at Ludicrous. These are controlled test-lab results, not guaranteed gains on every motherboard, memory kit, driver, or background workload. They demonstrate why CPU choice and preset can matter even when the game looks GPU-heavy.
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1080p high-refresh play
Start with High, native 1080p, and the upscaler’s Quality mode. If the GPU is underused but the frame rate stalls, check CPU utilization and background tasks before lowering resolution. A faster CPU can matter substantially at this target: the cited 42% result is specifically a 1080p High comparison.
1440p
Use High and Quality upscaling first. Tom’s Hardware observed a GPU-bound ceiling around 130 FPS at 1440p in its test setup. If your target is below that and the GPU is saturated, preserve image quality by reducing ray tracing before moving from Quality to Balanced. If utilization is low, investigate CPU limits instead.
4K
Expect the GPU to determine performance in demanding scenes. Keep High textures when VRAM and streaming are healthy, then choose between ray tracing and a higher-quality reconstruction mode according to what you notice on screen. If native 4K is too slow, Quality upscaling is the first compromise; Balanced or Performance follows only when the benchmark still misses your target.
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Settings comparison: know what each control trades
| Setting area | Primary trade-off | What to monitor |
|---|---|---|
| Output resolution and upscaler mode | Spatial detail versus GPU workload | Average FPS, edge stability, texture clarity, and shimmer |
| Ray tracing | Lighting and reflection fidelity versus GPU time | GPU utilization, frame pacing, and visible lighting improvements |
| Frame generation | Displayed smoothness versus base-render latency and artifacts | Input response, generated-frame consistency, and base FPS |
| CPU-heavy preset options | Scene complexity and frame delivery versus processor time | Per-core utilization, 1% lows, and traversal hitching |
| Low Core Mode | Streaming behavior on constrained CPUs versus normal throughput | Freezes, asset loading, average FPS, and frame pacing |
Fix common stutter and image-quality problems
Stutter, missing assets, or crashes during loading
- Confirm the game is installed on an SSD, as required by the official FAQ.
- Update to the current driver for your GPU family.
- Run the benchmark twice so one-time shader or streaming work does not distort the comparison.
- Close downloads and recording applications that compete for storage or CPU time.
- Test Low Core Mode only if the issue is reproducible on a modern system; the normal expectation is lower performance with it enabled.
Blurry or shimmering image
Return the upscaler to Quality, compare another supported implementation at the same mode, and check thin geometry during camera movement. Do not judge a reconstruction mode from a still screenshot alone. If the image remains soft, native resolution with a lower ray-tracing setting may be preferable to a more aggressive Performance mode.
High FPS but sluggish controls
Disable frame generation temporarily and compare the same scene. A displayed frame rate can rise while base-render latency remains unchanged. Re-establish a stable non-generated rate, then decide whether the smoother animation is worth the additional processing path.
GPU appears idle while FPS is low
Check whether one CPU core is saturated, close background workloads, and keep the High preset while testing. Lowering resolution will not remove a CPU ceiling. If the pattern persists across clean benchmark runs, the processor—not the graphics card—is the upgrade that addresses the limit.
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Use this order to avoid trading away image quality unnecessarily:
- Meet the SSD requirement and update the driver.
- Set High, your normal resolution and refresh rate, and Quality upscaling.
- Benchmark twice and note average FPS, 1% lows or frame pacing, GPU utilization, and visible artifacts.
- If GPU-bound, reduce ray tracing, then move the upscaler from Quality to Balanced only if needed.
- If CPU-bound, close background work and evaluate the processor; do not expect Low Core Mode to help a normal six-core-or-better desktop.
- Re-test image stability after every upscaler change.
- Enable frame generation only after the non-generated result is stable and responsive.
- Keep the profile that meets your target with the cleanest frame pacing, not simply the largest FPS number.
What the official statements establish
Mike Perzel, Rendering Lead at The Coalition, described the PC work this way in Xbox Wire on July 14, 2026: “Built on DirectX 12, we’re focused on delivering a great experience across console and PC. Partnering with NVIDIA gives us the opportunity to further enhance that world for PC players with the performance, responsiveness, and visual fidelity PC players expect.” The statement explains the game’s DirectX 12 foundation and the emphasis on performance, responsiveness, and visual fidelity; it does not promise a particular FPS on a particular PC.
The dated official FAQ’s SSD warning is equally specific: “SSD Required: HDDs (slower mechanical drives) are not supported and may cause severe loading issues, missing assets, stuttering, and crashes.” Treat that as a platform requirement when diagnosing instability.
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