For The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered on PC, the best way to improve performance without needlessly degrading the image is to tune settings in stages: choose a realistic resolution and frame-rate target, test the upscaler your GPU supports, then reduce demanding lighting features only if you still need more headroom. There is no universal preset or guaranteed FPS gain; results depend on the scene, hardware, resolution, and settings.
This guide applies to the Remastered PC release from September 29, 2026—not automatically to the 2015 original or the 2022 Next-Gen build. CD PROJEKT RED describes Remastered as a free upgrade for existing owners on supported platforms. Read the publisher’s Remastered announcement.
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What changed in the Remastered PC version
Remastered substantially changes the game’s rendering feature set. CD PROJEKT RED says the PC version uses native DirectX 12 rendering with multithreading and adds GTAO and ray-traced local shadows alongside updated shading, tone mapping, reflections, and other rendering features. NVIDIA likewise describes the PC build as DirectX 12 only. Older advice to switch to DirectX 11 does not apply to this release. NVIDIA’s Remastered feature overview.
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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →That change matters because settings advice written for the 2015 DirectX 11 version may not map cleanly to this build. For example, NVIDIA’s older guide reported that HBAO+ ran four frames per second slower than SSAO in its historical testing, but that is not a Remastered benchmark and should not be used to predict current performance. NVIDIA’s original-game graphics guide.
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How to tune settings without sacrificing more image quality than necessary
Make one change at a time and compare it in the same repeatable scene. A busy town, a forest, and an open area can put different demands on the system, so judge the places where performance actually matters to you. The publisher warns that frame rates can fluctuate with scene, system configuration, graphics settings, and output resolution. CD PROJEKT RED’s PC requirements and support information.
- Set a target your PC and display can sustain. Start with the resolution you want to play at and a frame-rate target that suits your display and preferences. If performance is poor, test a lower output resolution or an upscaler before reducing several visual settings at once; resolution has a significant effect on performance, according to the publisher.
- Try the upscaler available for your GPU. Select a supported option and compare clarity, image stability, frame-time consistency, and input feel in motion. A higher reported frame rate is not automatically the better result if the image or latency is unacceptable to you.
- If performance still misses your target, test advanced lighting. Path tracing unifies lighting and rendering rather than mixing ray-traced and rasterized effects. Turning it off is a sensible performance-first test, but this is a tuning inference from the feature description—not a measured Remastered FPS result. NVIDIA explains the rendering approach.
- Check HairWorks against current patch notes. At launch, CD PROJEKT RED warned of a HairWorks issue that could significantly affect PC performance and recommended disabling the setting until a patch. GamesRadar reproduced the publisher’s advisory on September 30, 2026. Treat it as a launch-era, temporary warning rather than proof that the issue remains: check current patch notes before deciding whether to leave HairWorks off. GamesRadar’s report on the advisory.
- Keep other visual settings moderate until testing identifies a bottleneck. Do not drop everything to Low by default. The current official materials do not provide a readable, current setting-by-setting FPS cost table, so any gains from individual changes depend on the system and scene.
Which upscaler should you use?
The official PC feature notes list NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, AMD FSR 4 with Frame Generation and Anti-Lag 2, and Intel XeSS 2.0 with Frame Generation and Low Latency. The publisher says FSR 4 is supported on Radeon RX 7000 Series and newer graphics cards; unsupported GPUs use FSR 2. See CD PROJEKT RED’s PC feature notes.
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There is no same-system comparison in the cited materials establishing one universally best option. Use what your GPU supports, then compare at your actual output resolution. Consider visual clarity and stability, frame-rate and frame-time consistency, input latency, and whether the extra lighting effects matter enough to you to accept their performance cost. Frame Generation and low-latency features are not interchangeable with a simple image-quality preset, so judge the complete experience rather than choosing by feature name alone.
Requirements and performance caveats
- The publisher says expected FPS targets in its PC requirements are based on QA testing and may fluctuate by scene; performance also varies with system configuration, settings, and output resolution. These targets are not a promise for every PC.
- CD PROJEKT RED says Windows 10 will no longer be officially supported and requires an SSD for the latest technical enhancements. The publisher connects the SSD to faster loading and smoother asset streaming; the available information does not establish that an SSD increases average FPS.
- The detailed hardware requirements are presented in an image on the support page rather than readable text in the source material cited here. Check the current official requirements page for the actual hardware rows instead of relying on an unverified transcription.
If your local PC cannot run path tracing acceptably, NVIDIA documents streaming the game through GeForce NOW. That is an alternative to local rendering, not a graphics-setting optimization; check current service availability and supported status for your region before relying on it. NVIDIA GeForce NOW.
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