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The best Cyberpunk 2077 settings depend on your resolution, GPU, CPU headroom and whether you want conventional raster rendering, ray tracing or the much heavier Overdrive path-tracing mode. Start with High or Ultra, keep textures high when your VRAM allows, select the quality upscaler made for your GPU, and lower Screen Space Reflections and volumetric fog before sacrificing the whole preset. Use the built-in benchmark after every major change.
The profiles below reflect the current feature set through Update 2.21, including DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation on RTX 50-series cards and the Transformer model for all RTX cards.
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Set up a reliable baseline before changing individual options
Open Settings, then Graphics, and choose the resolution and display mode you actually use for play. Select High or Ultra as the starting preset rather than changing dozens of options at random. Confirm that the game is using the intended monitor resolution and refresh rate, then run the built-in benchmark. Record the average frame rate and, more importantly, whether the frame-time graph shows consistent delivery in busy city scenes.
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- Choose the output resolution. Use 1920×1080 for a 1080p display, 2560×1440 for a 1440p display, or 3840×2160 for a 4K display. Avoid judging an upscaler while the game is rendering at an unintended desktop resolution.
- Pick a rendering mode. Begin with raster rendering. Add selective ray tracing only after the raster profile meets your frame-time target. Reserve Overdrive/path tracing for hardware that can sustain it or for short showcase sessions.
- Set textures separately from the preset. High textures preserve material detail but consume VRAM. Keep them high when the GPU has enough memory; if you see texture streaming or hitching, reduce texture quality before lowering every other setting.
- Select an upscaler or native rendering. If the GPU is comfortably faster than your target, test native resolution. Otherwise start with the vendor-appropriate quality mode described below.
- Run the benchmark. Change one group of settings at a time, rerun the same benchmark pass, and keep the profile with the best balance of image stability and frame time.
Which upscaler should you use?
Cyberpunk 2077’s current resolution-scaling controls expose DLSS Super Resolution, AMD FSR 2.1 and Intel XeSS 1.2 in Update 2.1. Patch 2.13 adds AMD FSR 3 with Frame Generation and Intel XeSS 1.3. The best choice is normally determined by the GPU vendor, but supported hardware overlaps, so compare quality at your target resolution rather than assuming one option always wins.
| GPU or situation | Recommended starting point | How to adjust |
|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX | DLSS Quality at 1080p or 1440p; Balanced when GPU load remains too high | Move from Quality to Balanced only after lowering the expensive settings identified below. Native rendering is appropriate when the GPU is comfortably above the target. |
| Supported AMD GPUs and other non-RTX hardware | FSR 3 or FSR 2.1 in Quality mode | Use Balanced when the target frame rate is not reached. Patch 2.13 makes FSR 3 with Frame Generation available. |
| Supported Intel GPUs and other compatible hardware | XeSS 1.3 where available; XeSS 1.2 on installations without the newer patch | Start with Quality, then test Balanced if the benchmark remains GPU-limited. |
| High-end GPU with substantial headroom | Native resolution | Keep native rendering when it already meets the frame-time target; upscaling is not mandatory. |
DLSS Ray Reconstruction is available on GeForce RTX hardware. In the Update 2.0 implementation it is associated with path tracing, while later patches broaden the available modes and model choices. Patch 2.13 also allows DLAA with DLSS Ray Reconstruction, letting a supported RTX system use DLSS’s anti-aliasing path without reducing the internal resolution. In Update 2.21, the Transformer model is available on all RTX cards, while DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation is limited to RTX 50-series cards.
Best settings for 1080p raster performance
At 1080p, the GPU often has enough headroom for a High or Ultra preset, so preserve image quality and tune the few options that can produce large frame-time swings. Use high textures if VRAM permits and begin with native rendering. If the benchmark falls below your target, switch to the quality mode of the upscaler appropriate for your GPU instead of dropping the entire preset.
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- Preset: High or Ultra.
- Textures: High when VRAM allows.
- Resolution scaling: Native if comfortably above the target; otherwise DLSS Quality on GeForce RTX, FSR 3 or FSR 2.1 on supported AMD or other GPUs, or XeSS on supported Intel and other hardware.
- Ray tracing: Off for the broadest GPU support and the most predictable frame rate.
- Screen Space Reflections: High initially, then Medium or Off if the benchmark is GPU-limited.
- Volumetric fog: High initially, then lower it after testing Screen Space Reflections.
- Crowd density: Keep it high when the CPU has headroom; reduce it in dense city scenes when the CPU is the limit.
Tom’s Hardware measured a 10–15 percent improvement from reducing Screen Space Reflections to Medium or turning them off. Lowering volumetric fog produced another 10–15 percent in its testing. Those are measured ranges from that test, not a guaranteed result for every GPU or patch, but they explain why these two options are better first cuts than abandoning the High or Ultra preset.
If your frame rate remains low after those changes, use the upscaler’s Quality mode first. At 1080p, a very aggressive internal-resolution reduction can make fine geometry and signage look softer, so do not jump straight to the lowest mode unless the benchmark shows that it is necessary.
Best settings for 1440p
1440p is the practical balance between sharpness and performance for many gaming PCs. Keep High or Ultra textures, then choose DLSS Quality or Balanced, FSR 3/2.1 Quality or Balanced, or XeSS Quality or Balanced according to the measured frame time. Quality is the right starting point when you have GPU headroom; Balanced is the fallback when the target is missed.
What the RTX 2060 test indicates
In Tom’s Hardware’s RTX 2060 test, 1440p Ultra with DLSS Balanced nearly reached 60 frames per second. The same card at 1080p Ultra with DLSS Quality ran well above 60 frames per second. These results show why resolution and upscaler mode must be considered together: an RTX 2060 can approach a 60-fps 1440p target by reducing the internal resolution while retaining the Ultra preset, but it has considerably more headroom at 1080p.
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1440p tuning order
- Run Ultra with the quality upscaler and check the benchmark.
- If the average or frame-time consistency is insufficient, change Screen Space Reflections to Medium or Off.
- Lower volumetric fog one step and benchmark again.
- Move the upscaler from Quality to Balanced only if those cuts do not meet the target.
- Reduce crowd density only when the benchmark and in-game city scenes indicate a CPU limitation.
Keep crowd density high when the processor has spare capacity. Tom’s Hardware measured about a 10 percent gain from reducing crowd density on CPU-limited systems, but that change has little value when the GPU is the bottleneck.
Ray tracing without Overdrive
Conventional ray tracing can improve reflections and lighting while remaining substantially easier to run than Overdrive. Enable it selectively rather than treating the ray-tracing preset as all-or-nothing. Start with DLSS Quality at 1080p or Balanced at 1440p on a GeForce RTX card, then validate the result in the benchmark.
How to build a selective RT profile
- Establish the raster profile first so you know the non-RT baseline.
- Enable the ray-tracing features you value most, beginning with reflections or lighting rather than every available option.
- Keep the appropriate upscaler active and rerun the benchmark.
- If the frame rate is too low, reduce Screen Space Reflections and volumetric fog before removing the entire ray-tracing configuration.
- Only add another RT feature when the current profile still meets your frame-time target.
DLSS Ray Reconstruction is tied to the ray-tracing pipeline and requires compatible GeForce RTX hardware. In the current game versions, its availability depends on the selected RT mode and whether RT Reflections are enabled. Update 2.1 made it available in RT Ultra and other RT modes under those conditions; Patch 2.13 adds DLAA with Ray Reconstruction, and Update 2.21 adds the Transformer model for all RTX cards.
Do not use a ray-tracing recommendation made for one resolution unchanged at another. A profile that is playable at 1080p with DLSS Quality may need Balanced at 1440p, and the benchmark should decide which trade-off is acceptable.
4K and Overdrive/path tracing
4K Overdrive is a showcase profile, not a universal default. Overdrive moved out of preview status in Update 2.1, and the same update introduced ReSTIR GI for path-traced lighting. CD PROJEKT RED describes Overdrive as very GPU intensive and recommends GeForce RTX 40 Series 4070 Ti and higher for it.
The developer’s official target is 2160p at 60 fps on a GeForce RTX 4080 with DLSS Frame Generation enabled and measured. That is a specific target configuration, not a promise that every RTX 4080 system or every scene will maintain 60 fps. Your result will vary with the rest of the system, software, individual settings and output resolution.
4K Overdrive starting profile
- Resolution: 3840×2160 output.
- Path tracing: Overdrive enabled only after a raster or conventional RT baseline is recorded.
- Upscaling: DLSS on a supported RTX card; use the quality mode that keeps frame times consistent.
- Frame Generation: Enable it when supported and when the underlying rendered frame rate is already acceptable.
- Textures: High if VRAM allows, because texture quality is independent of the path-tracing cost.
- Validation: Run the built-in benchmark and test an actual crowded city route before committing to the profile.
Patch 2.13 added AMD FSR 3 with Frame Generation, while Update 2.21 added DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation specifically for RTX 50-series cards. Use the frame-generation option exposed by your hardware and game version; do not assume that a feature available on one GPU family is available on another.
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Use the benchmark to identify the real bottleneck
A low frame rate does not automatically mean that every setting should be reduced. The sequence below separates GPU-heavy, CPU-heavy and resolution-related limits.
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- Check the native-versus-upscaled result. If switching from native to Quality upscaling produces a clear gain, the GPU and output resolution are limiting performance.
- Test Screen Space Reflections. A 10–15 percent gain in Tom’s Hardware’s measurement indicates that this option is a high-value cut on systems with a similar GPU-limited pattern.
- Test volumetric fog. The same test measured another 10–15 percent improvement from lowering fog, although your result may differ.
- Test crowd density in a city scene. About 10 percent was measured on CPU-limited systems. If lowering it changes little, restore the higher setting and focus on GPU options.
- Compare frame-time consistency, not only average FPS. A profile with a slightly lower average but fewer spikes can feel better during driving and combat.
- Repeat after enabling RT or Overdrive. Each lighting mode changes the workload, so a raster benchmark cannot validate a path-traced profile.
Practical profiles by target
| Target | Core settings | First compromises |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p, broad hardware support | High or Ultra, high textures when VRAM permits, native or vendor Quality upscaler, RT off initially | Screen Space Reflections, then volumetric fog; crowd density only when CPU-limited |
| 1440p near 60 fps | High or Ultra textures, DLSS/FSR/XeSS Quality or Balanced, selective RT if headroom remains | Screen Space Reflections and fog before moving from Quality to Balanced |
| Ray-traced 1080p | Selective RT, DLSS Quality on RTX, benchmark after each RT feature | RT feature count, then reflections and fog |
| Ray-traced 1440p | Selective RT, DLSS or another supported upscaler in Balanced as needed | Screen Space Reflections, fog, then heavier RT features |
| 4K Overdrive showcase | Overdrive/path tracing, DLSS and supported Frame Generation, high textures with sufficient VRAM | Upscaler quality and individual RT options; use a conventional RT profile for normal play if frame times are inconsistent |
Common problems and fixes
The game looks blurry after enabling an upscaler
Move from Balanced to Quality, or return to native rendering if the GPU has enough headroom. At 1080p especially, aggressive internal-resolution reductions can make small text and distant geometry look soft. Keep the preset high and reduce Screen Space Reflections or fog instead of immediately choosing a lower upscaler mode.
Frame rate is low only in crowded areas
Reduce crowd density and benchmark a city scene. The measured gain is about 10 percent on CPU-limited systems, so this change is most useful when the processor—not the GPU—is saturated. Restore the higher value if the benchmark shows a GPU limitation instead.
Ray tracing destroys performance
Return to the raster baseline, enable one RT feature at a time and use the recommended upscaler mode for your resolution. Overdrive is substantially more demanding than conventional RT; the developer’s 4070 Ti-or-higher guidance and RTX 4080 4K/60 DLSS Frame Generation target apply to that specific path-tracing workload.
Textures cause hitching or streaming problems
Lower textures one step while leaving the rest of the profile intact. Texture quality is primarily a VRAM decision, so reducing it can address memory pressure without sacrificing the lighting, reflections and fog settings that determine most GPU frame time.
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First establish a stable rendered frame rate without generated frames. Then enable the Frame Generation option provided by your game version and GPU. Patch 2.13 supports AMD FSR 3 Frame Generation; Update 2.21 supports DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation on RTX 50-series cards. Validate the complete profile in the benchmark and in a representative gameplay route rather than judging the feature from a menu preview.
Quick Recap
Recommended final workflow
- Choose the display resolution and run High or Ultra with high textures if VRAM permits.
- Use native rendering when comfortably above the target; otherwise select DLSS Quality, FSR 3/2.1 Quality or XeSS Quality for the compatible GPU.
- Benchmark and record the result.
- Lower Screen Space Reflections, then volumetric fog, using the benchmark after each change.
- Adjust crowd density only when city scenes show a CPU limit.
- Add selective ray tracing after the raster profile is stable.
- Attempt Overdrive only on hardware suited to its workload, treating 4K as a showcase target.
- For RTX hardware, test the available Ray Reconstruction mode; for RTX 50-series cards on Update 2.21, test DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation.
- Keep the profile that delivers consistent frame times and acceptable image quality in the scenes you actually play.
