Turn off ray tracing first if it is enabled, then step down shadows or reflections. If the game is still GPU-limited, try its supported upscaler or reduce render resolution. Change one setting at a time and compare smoothness with image quality: the best order depends on the game, your hardware and what visual compromises you can accept.
What should you lower first?
Use this as a starting order, not a guaranteed ranking. Visual settings can increase processing demands and reduce or destabilize frame rates; EA recommends lowering some in-game graphics options for players whose PCs are close to a game’s minimum requirements. The impact of any option varies by game and system.
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- Ray tracing or path tracing: If enabled, disable it or reduce its quality first, especially when the game is GPU-heavy. These effects can be demanding, but no fixed FPS gain applies across games or PCs.
- Shadows and reflections: Step their quality down one level and test before switching everything to Low. Their performance cost and visible impact are title-specific.
- Render resolution or upscaling: If the GPU remains the constraint, try an upscaler supported by both your game and hardware, or lower the render resolution. This can reduce rendering load, but inspect image clarity, particularly small text and interface elements.
- Other demanding effects: Test options such as volumetric lighting, ambient occlusion, anti-aliasing and level of detail one by one. Their cost and visual consequences differ between titles.
- Textures and world detail, when memory is constrained: Lower these if the game reports memory pressure or your system has limited physical memory. Do not assume every texture-related setting is a major FPS lever: AMD’s guidance describes texture-filtering quality as having a small performance impact.
NVIDIA’s Control graphics guide illustrates how settings such as ray-traced effects and shadow detail can trade image quality for performance in that game. Its results are examples, not predictions for another title or configuration.
How to test a change without guessing
- Record your current graphics settings and frame rate. Use the same scene or built-in benchmark for each comparison where practical.
- Change one setting, then replay that scene or run the benchmark again. Changing several options together makes it difficult to tell which one helped.
- Compare frame-rate stability as well as the number shown for FPS. Check the image, responsiveness and playability; with an upscaler, look closely at fine details, text and UI.
- Keep a change if its improvement is worthwhile for the visual cost. Restore it if the image gets worse without a meaningful gain, then test another option.
This iterative approach reflects AMD’s advice to balance image quality and performance. Riot Games Support’s surfaced guidance likewise recommends testing graphics changes and gradually turning settings back up; the detailed page could not be verified here, so that point is limited to its surfaced summary.
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Why there is no universal “lowest-cost” setting
The right adjustment depends on what is limiting your PC. Microsoft’s Direct3D guidance discusses CPU-limited cases, the extra GPU demand of high-resolution settings, and memory conditions in which lower detail may be appropriate. It says: “The vast majority of games are limited by CPU performance on systems with high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs).” That is general technical guidance, not a diagnosis of every game or computer.
- If reducing graphics quality noticeably improves performance, the change may be addressing a GPU-side constraint. It is still worth comparing options rather than assuming all settings cost the same.
- If graphics changes barely affect FPS, further lowering visuals may not address the cause. Check GPU selection, CPU or memory pressure, drivers and game-specific issues instead.
- If the game or system indicates memory pressure, reducing detail or textures may be more relevant than adjusting an unrelated visual effect.
Microsoft’s guidance includes technical examples that may reflect older implementation details, so treat it as bottleneck context rather than a universal recipe for modern titles.
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Check that the game is using the right GPU
On a laptop with both integrated and dedicated graphics, confirm that the game is assigned to the dedicated GPU. EA specifically recommends checking dedicated-GPU use, particularly on laptops, and also points players to graphics-driver and software troubleshooting. If selecting the correct GPU or addressing a driver issue changes performance, lowering more visual settings may not be necessary.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
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Upscaling is an option, not a universal fix
A game-supported upscaler can render at a lower resolution and reconstruct a higher-resolution image, reducing rendering load in supported configurations. Availability and results depend on the game and hardware, and the image may look less clear. Judge the result in the scenes you actually play, including fine text and interface elements.
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Windows Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR) is one specific feature, not a general setting available on every PC. Microsoft’s current Auto SR guidance lists eligible processor and device categories, Windows 11 version 24H2 or later, up-to-date drivers, and display and game requirements. The feature is opt-in, does not currently support HDR, and may affect text or UI. Check Microsoft’s current eligibility information and your game’s compatibility before relying on it.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.When lowering graphics settings doesn’t help
- FPS barely changes: Check whether the game is CPU-limited or facing memory pressure; graphics reductions may have little effect when the constraint is elsewhere.
- You are playing on a laptop: Verify that the dedicated GPU is selected for the game.
- Performance changed after an update or driver change: Check the game’s and graphics driver’s current state before continuing to trade image quality for little benefit.
- Only one game performs poorly: Look at that title’s settings and compatibility; a setting’s cost in one game does not establish its cost in another.
EA’s PC graphics troubleshooting guidance covers in-game settings, dedicated GPU selection, updates and drivers. AMD’s Radeon gaming guidance also explains the trade-off between graphics quality and performance.
Quick Recap
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