Start by lowering shadows, reflections, and lighting. Those are Intel’s recommended “big three” first adjustments because they often carry a large rendering cost. If you still miss your frame-rate target, test ray tracing, volumetric lighting, ambient occlusion, and anti-aliasing. Then compare render scaling with in-game DLSS or FSR, if your game and hardware support them.
There is no universal “10 FPS per setting” rule. A setting’s cost depends on the game engine, its implementation, your resolution, and whether your system is limited by the GPU or CPU. Change one option at a time and compare the same repeatable scene so you know which trade-off actually helped.
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The best order for changing graphics settings
Use this order as a practical first pass, not as a promise that every game will respond identically.
| Order | Settings to test | Why test them | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shadows, reflections, lighting | Intel identifies these as the “big three” to turn down first. Their implementations can be expensive for the GPU, CPU, or both. | Less detailed shadows, simpler reflections, or flatter-looking scenes. |
| 2 | Ray tracing, volumetric lighting, ambient occlusion | These add physically detailed lighting, fog, and contact shading that can consume substantial rendering resources. | Reduced lighting depth, fog quality, or small-scale shading. |
| 3 | Anti-aliasing | Lower sample counts or a less demanding method can reduce the work required to smooth jagged edges. | More visible shimmering or stair-stepped edges. |
| 4 | Render scale and upscaling | Rendering fewer pixels lowers the resolution workload. DLSS and FSR reconstruct a higher-resolution image from a lower-resolution render. | Softness, ghosting, flicker, or other reconstruction artifacts. |
| 5 | Frame generation | Supported technologies can insert or generate additional displayed frames. | Displayed frame rate is not the same as conventionally rendered frame rate; smoothness and responsiveness vary by game. |
Vendor guidance supports this order, but it does not establish a cross-game frame-rate gain for any individual option. A dated NVIDIA guide for Control, for example, illustrates title-specific effects and should not be treated as a prediction for another game.
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Set a target and create a fair comparison
Decide what “better performance” means before changing anything. You might be trying to hold 60 frames per second, reach a monitor’s 120 Hz refresh rate, eliminate stutter, or make a demanding game playable at all. A higher average frame rate is not automatically better if frame pacing becomes uneven or controls feel less responsive.
Use a repeatable scene
- Load the same save, benchmark, training area, or opening route each time.
- Record a baseline for at least 30 to 60 seconds. Note average FPS and, if available, one-percent-low FPS or frame-time graphs.
- Change one setting or one tightly related group, apply it, and restart the scene if the game requires that for the change to take effect.
- Repeat the same movement and camera path, then record performance and image-quality observations.
- Keep the change only if its visual cost is acceptable for the gain you need.
Compare three things together: performance in the same scene, image clarity and detail, and perceived smoothness or responsiveness. This controlled approach is practical guidance rather than a universal test procedure mandated by Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD.
1. Lower shadows, reflections, and lighting first
Shadows
Shadow quality can involve filtering, shadow-map resolution, cascade count, contact shadows, and other techniques. Some implementations are primarily GPU-heavy; others add CPU work through scene submission or visibility calculations. That is why the same “High” setting can cost very different amounts in two games.
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Move shadows from Ultra to High, or High to Medium, before dropping texture quality. Textures mainly affect memory use and surface detail, while shadows can affect every object that casts or receives light. Watch for distracting flicker, disappearing contact shadows, or visibly unstable edges after lowering the option.
Reflections
Screen-space reflections, planar reflections, probe-based reflections, and ray-traced reflections have different costs and failure modes. Lowering reflections can remove expensive calculations in scenes with water, glass, wet roads, or polished floors. If a menu offers separate options for reflection quality and ray-traced reflections, test both rather than assuming they are interchangeable.
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Lighting quality
Lighting controls may govern global illumination, light count, light-map quality, or per-pixel effects. Lowering them can improve performance in scenes with many dynamic lights, but it may make interiors, night scenes, and character faces look flatter. Some games place several unrelated effects under one “lighting” slider, so inspect the advanced menu when available.
2. Test ray tracing, volumetric lighting, and ambient occlusion
Ray tracing
Ray-traced shadows, reflections, and global illumination can be among the most demanding options in a game that supports them. Turn off the specific ray-traced effect that contributes least to your experience, or move its quality from high to medium, before abandoning the entire visual preset. Ray tracing is not a single workload: shadows may behave differently from reflections or global illumination.
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NVIDIA’s Control Graphics and Performance Guide, dated August 27, 2019, shows why title-specific testing matters. Its measurements describe Control on hardware and software of that period, not an expected result for a current system or a different engine.
Volumetric lighting
Volumetrics create visible shafts of light, fog depth, smoke, and atmospheric haze. They can require substantial work at every pixel, particularly at high resolutions. Lowering volumetric quality often preserves the game’s basic lighting while reducing the density or resolution of fog and light shafts.
Ambient occlusion
Ambient occlusion darkens creases, corners, and contact points so objects do not appear to float. Screen-space ambient occlusion, horizon-based methods, and ray-traced variants have different costs. If the option is separate from general lighting, test it after the big three; a lower setting may be difficult to notice during motion while still reducing workload.
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3. Adjust anti-aliasing carefully
Anti-aliasing smooths jagged polygon edges and reduces shimmering. A game may offer MSAA, temporal anti-aliasing, a temporal upsampler, fast approximate methods, or a vendor-specific option. Lower sample rates or select a less demanding method when the current mode is consuming too much performance.
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4. Use render scale, DLSS, or FSR
Render scale
Render scale controls the internal resolution used before the final image is displayed. Setting it below 100% reduces the number of pixels the GPU must shade, often improving performance at the cost of clarity. At 80%, for example, the game renders fewer pixels in each dimension than at 100%; the exact workload reduction depends on the engine and other passes.
Lower render scale only as far as necessary. Check text, distant signs, hair, foliage, and HUD elements for blur. If the game separates a 3D render scale from interface resolution, keep the interface at native resolution when possible.
DLSS Super Resolution
NVIDIA defines DLSS Super Resolution as reconstructing higher-resolution frames from a lower-resolution render. Available modes and hardware support vary by game and GPU. Select a quality-oriented mode first, compare it with native rendering, and move toward a performance-oriented mode only if you still need more headroom. Look for ghosting, crawling detail, and loss of fine texture in motion.
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FSR
AMD FSR technologies also use lower-resolution rendering and reconstruction, with the exact feature and mode determined by the game and implementation. If a game includes an integrated FSR option, use that before relying on a driver-level substitute; the integrated path can expose controls designed for that title.
Radeon Super Resolution
AMD’s Radeon Super Resolution (RSR) is a driver-level option with explicit system and software requirements. AMD’s support article was last updated June 25, 2025 and refers to Adrenalin Edition 25.6.1 instructions, so check the current requirements in Radeon Software before enabling it. AMD recommends a game-integrated FSR implementation where one is available. RSR should be considered a fallback for compatible games rather than proof that every title supports every FSR feature.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.5. Treat frame generation as a separate feature
Frame generation creates or inserts additional displayed frames between conventionally rendered frames. That can make camera movement appear smoother, but it does not reduce the work required to render the original frames in the same way that lowering shadows or render scale does.
Support depends on the game, graphics API, driver, and hardware. Enable it only after establishing a reasonable base frame rate, then test fast camera pans, aiming, menus, and busy combat. Compare perceived smoothness and input response, not just the number shown by an FPS counter. Some implementations can introduce visual artifacts or a less direct feeling even when the displayed frame rate rises.
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Settings changes are most effective when they target the component that is saturated. Use an in-game overlay or monitoring tool to observe GPU utilization, CPU utilization by core, clock speeds, temperatures, and frame times while reproducing the problem.
Signs of a GPU limit
- GPU utilization remains near its limit while one or more graphics settings are reduced.
- Lowering render scale, ray tracing, volumetrics, or lighting produces a clear performance improvement.
- Resolution changes affect FPS more than reducing simulation or view-distance options.
Prioritize the graphics settings in this article when these signs appear.
Signs of a CPU or game-thread limit
- One CPU core or thread is heavily loaded even when total CPU utilization looks moderate.
- GPU utilization falls below its potential in crowded areas, during heavy simulation, or at very high frame-rate targets.
- Lowering resolution changes FPS little, while reducing view distance, crowd density, physics, or simulation settings helps.
Graphics sliders cannot remove a CPU bottleneck that comes from game logic, streaming, or simulation. If the target remains unattainable after sensible tuning, Intel identifies a faster GPU or CPU as possible next steps, but your monitoring results should determine which component is relevant.
Common problems after changing settings
The game looks blurry
Restore native render scale or choose a higher-quality upscaling mode. Check that a separate dynamic-resolution option has not also been enabled. Compare static text and moving foliage, because temporal reconstruction can look sharp in one and soft in the other.
Edges shimmer or crawl
Raise anti-aliasing quality, switch to a different anti-aliasing method, or increase the upscaler’s quality mode. Lowering shadows and reflections may preserve more clarity than reducing anti-aliasing too aggressively.
FPS is higher but controls feel delayed
Check whether frame generation is enabled and compare it with the same scene without generated frames. Also check the base, conventionally rendered frame rate; a high displayed number does not guarantee low latency.
Performance changes are inconsistent
Use the same scene and route, allow shader compilation or asset streaming to finish, and repeat the test. Background tasks, thermal throttling, and a CPU-limited section can hide the effect of a GPU-focused setting.
A feature is missing from the menu
Confirm that the game version, graphics API, GPU, driver, and operating system support it. DLSS, FSR, ray tracing, and frame generation are not universal menu options, and driver-level features such as RSR have their own requirements.
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A practical tuning checklist
- Set a target frame rate and decide whether consistency, image quality, or responsiveness matters most.
- Record a baseline in a repeatable scene.
- Lower shadows, reflections, and lighting one at a time.
- Test ray tracing, volumetric lighting, and ambient occlusion.
- Adjust anti-aliasing while inspecting thin and moving details.
- Compare native rendering with render scale, DLSS, or FSR modes supported by your game and hardware.
- Test frame generation separately, judging base FPS, latency, and artifacts.
- Monitor GPU and per-core CPU usage if the target is still missed.
- Keep the lowest-cost visual compromise and restore any setting whose reduction is not worthwhile.
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