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Most performance problems in The Last of Us Part I have a diagnosable cause: shaders are still compiling, the CPU or VRAM budget is being exceeded, the game or driver is out of date, or the PC is below the published requirements. Check those conditions in that order before buying hardware or changing dozens of settings.
Start with the three checks that prevent wasted troubleshooting
Before changing graphics options, establish whether the game is actually ready to measure. Early stutter during shader compilation is not a reliable indication of normal gameplay performance, and a newly installed patch can make the game compile shaders again.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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| 1 |
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The Last Of Us Part I Standard - PC [Online Game Code] | $59.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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THE LAST OF US PART I - DELUXE EDITION - PC [Online Game Code] | $69.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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The Last of Us: Escape the Dark Board Game | $72.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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The Last of Us: Part I and Part II Scripts | $41.99 | Buy on Amazon |
- Check the game version. Open the platform’s update controls and install every available update for The Last of Us Part I. The latest official patch page located is version 1.1.5, dated July 3, 2025. Its notes describe general performance optimizations, stability fixes, improvements carried over from The Last of Us Part II Remastered for PC, and support for AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4 on compatible Radeon GPUs. The notes do not promise a particular frame rate or a fixed result on every PC. See the official PC patch notes.
- Let shader building finish. Wait at the main menu until the shader-building indicator is complete, then restart the game if it asks you to. Version 1.1.0 explicitly triggered a full shader rebuild, improved shader compilation times, and fixed a case in which progress could look complete before compilation had really finished. Do not delete shader files or modify game files as a first-line fix; the developer’s support material does not recommend that.
- Measure rather than guess. Turn on Options > HUD > Performance. Use the display to watch frame rate and CPU/GPU use while repeating the same route or standing in the same demanding scene. Change one group of settings at a time so you can associate a change in the HUD with a visual or stability trade-off.
If performance is poor only while shaders are compiling, finish that process before diagnosing CPU, VRAM, or graphics settings. If the HUD still shows a problem afterward, continue with the branch that matches the limiting resource.
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How to tell whether the CPU, GPU, or VRAM is the bottleneck
The performance HUD gives you a practical starting point. A high CPU reading with the GPU less occupied points toward processor or simulation work. A full VRAM budget or texture-related hitch points toward memory pressure on the graphics card. A heavily loaded GPU with available VRAM usually means the rendering workload is the limit, so reducing resolution or GPU-heavy effects is more logical than changing CPU options.
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- CPU-limited pattern: CPU use remains high, especially when targeting a high frame rate, while lowering resolution makes little difference. Background applications, a high frame-rate target, and CPU-sensitive world, lighting, effects, animation, or AI settings are likely contributors.
- VRAM-limited pattern: VRAM use approaches the card’s capacity and you see texture streaming pauses, hitching when entering areas, or instability after increasing texture and detail options.
- GPU-limited pattern: GPU use is high and consistent, with VRAM not exhausted. Resolution, image quality, shadows, reflections, volumetrics, and other rendering options deserve attention.
- Shader-compilation pattern: stutter is strongest after an update or during the first run, and the shader indicator is active. Treat this as preparation work, not as evidence that a permanent setting change is required.
These patterns are guides, not a universal preset. Compare the same scene after each change, because a setting that helps one system can move the bottleneck somewhere else.
Fix high CPU usage and processor-related stutter
Naughty Dog’s CPU support guidance identifies a high target frame rate as one common reason for high CPU use. The game has to prepare more frames and simulation work as the target rises, so an uncapped or unnecessarily ambitious target can make the processor the limiting component.
1. Finish preparation and remove competing workloads
Complete shader compilation, install the current game patch, and close applications that consume CPU time. Browser tabs running video or scripts, software compiling or indexing files, recording tools, and other games can all compete with the engine. Recheck the performance HUD after closing them rather than assuming the change helped.
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2. Apply a sensible frame-rate cap
Set the in-game cap at Options > Display > Framerate Cap. Choose a cap your system can sustain in demanding scenes instead of a value it reaches only in quiet areas. A stable lower target generally gives the CPU a predictable workload and reduces swings caused by chasing a peak number.
3. Reduce CPU-sensitive settings selectively
The official CPU article lists these settings as having moderate to major CPU effects. Lower one group, replay the same section, and keep the setting at the highest value that leaves useful headroom:
- Draw distance
- Directional shadow distance
- Dynamic lights quality
- Real-time reflections quality
- Effects density
- Volumetric effects quality
- Animation quality
- Ambient character density
- AI quality
World distance, character density, animation, and AI options can affect how much the processor prepares and simulates. Lighting, reflections, volumetrics, and effects can involve both CPU setup and GPU rendering, so use the HUD to verify which resource actually falls.
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- Experience the emotional storytelling and unforgettable characters in The Last of Us, winner of over 200 Game of the Year awards.
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4. Treat resolution and textures as conditional choices
When the CPU is the clear bottleneck and the GPU has spare capacity, raising resolution or selected texture settings can shift some work toward the GPU. This is not a general recommendation: do it only after confirming that the GPU and its VRAM have room. If the GPU is already saturated or VRAM is near capacity, increasing those options will make performance worse.
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Naughty Dog documents a cores <num> launch argument that limits the engine to a chosen number of CPU cores. It may lower reported CPU use, but the same guidance warns that it can reduce performance. Advanced users can compare a normal launch with a carefully chosen limit in the same scene, but it is not a default optimization and should be removed if frame pacing or throughput deteriorates.
Fix high VRAM usage, texture hitching, and graphics-memory crashes
The developer’s VRAM guidance starts with eliminating other GPU-memory users, then updating software, and only afterward lowering specific options. Close GPU- or VRAM-intensive applications such as other games, high-resolution video tools, or GPU-accelerated creative workloads before judging the game’s own allocation.
1. Update both game and graphics driver
Install the current game patch and the current driver from your GPU manufacturer. Restart Windows after installing a driver so the new components are fully loaded. Driver numbers mentioned in the May 2023 version 1.0.5.0 notes—AMD Adrenalin 23.4.3 and NVIDIA 531.79—are historical examples, not current download recommendations.
2. Lower the options that consume VRAM
If memory pressure remains, reduce the settings named in the official VRAM article. They include:
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- Texture quality for objects, characters, environments, and visual effects
- Texture streaming rate
- Image-based lighting
- Screen-space reflections
- Screen-space subsurface scattering
- Depth of field
- Motion blur quality
- Bloom resolution
Texture quality and streaming rate are usually the first places to look when entering a new area causes a burst of memory use. Levels of detail, reflections, lighting, and post-processing can also reduce the allocation, but each carries a different visual cost. Make one change group at a time and watch whether the HUD’s VRAM reading and hitching improve.
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3. Interpret the published VRAM figures correctly
The support article lists 4 GB of VRAM as a minimum and 8 GB as recommended (Naughty Dog, 2023). Those are publisher requirements, not a guarantee that every card with that capacity will deliver a particular resolution, preset, or frame rate. A card can also run short of practical headroom because of its chosen texture, detail, resolution, or background workload.
Improve FPS without chasing a universal “best settings” preset
There is no source-backed universal preset that fixes every PC configuration. Use a repeatable comparison instead:
- Choose a demanding, repeatable scene and enable Options > HUD > Performance.
- Record the frame-rate behavior and whether CPU, GPU, or VRAM is closest to its limit.
- Change one related group—CPU-sensitive, VRAM-sensitive, or GPU-rendering settings.
- Replay the same route and compare average smoothness, pauses, and frame-time consistency, not just a peak FPS number.
- Keep the change only if the measured resource and the symptom improve without an unacceptable visual loss.
| Observed limit | First settings or action to try | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| CPU usage remains high | Cap the frame rate; close CPU-intensive applications; lower draw distance, shadow distance, dynamic lights, reflections, effects density, volumetrics, animation, ambient character density, or AI quality | CPU use and frame-time spikes should fall without making the GPU or VRAM the new limit |
| VRAM is near capacity | Close GPU/VRAM-heavy applications; lower texture quality, texture streaming rate, levels of detail, image-based lighting, screen-space effects, depth of field, motion blur, or bloom resolution | Area-entry hitching and memory pressure should ease |
| GPU is saturated but VRAM has headroom | Reduce resolution or GPU-heavy visual options, then retest the same scene | GPU load and frame time should improve; stop if image quality falls more than the gain justifies |
| Stutter occurs while shaders are building | Allow compilation to complete after the game or a patch rebuilds shaders | Do not use early compilation performance as the baseline for normal play |
Lowering every option at once makes it impossible to learn which resource was limiting. It also risks sacrificing image quality where your hardware had plenty of headroom.
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Check whether your PC meets the published requirements
Naughty Dog’s requirements page, dated April 1, 2023, lists the following minimum and recommended configurations. The two tiers both specify 16 GB of RAM and 100 GB of SSD storage. They are suitability guidelines, not a promise of a specific FPS target.
| Component | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or Intel Core i7-4770K | AMD Ryzen 5 3600X or Intel Core i7-8700 |
| GPU | AMD Radeon 470 (4 GB), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (4 GB), or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB) | AMD Radeon RX 5800 XT (8 GB), AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (8 GB), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super (8 GB), or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (8 GB) |
| System memory | 16 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Operating system | Windows 10 64-bit, version 1909 or newer | Windows 10 64-bit, version 1909 or newer |
| Storage | 100 GB SSD | 100 GB SSD |
The requirements page encourages an SSD for optimal performance and warns that older hard disk drives may cause issues. Verify which drive contains the installation before considering hardware changes. Moving the game to a compatible internal SSD can address storage-related streaming problems, but it will not cure an unrelated CPU limit, GPU limit, shader rebuild, driver fault, or crash.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Keep patches and drivers current without relying on old version numbers
Patch notes are the authoritative place to check whether a known performance or stability change has shipped. Version 1.1.5 is the latest official patch located for this guide, dated July 3, 2025; its notes report broad optimizations and stability fixes but no quantified benchmark gain. Check the patch index again if your installation is newer than that date.
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For drivers, use the current package supplied by NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel for your exact GPU. Install it, restart the machine, and then launch the game once more. The driver versions cited in older patch notes should not be treated as a target in 2026. A current driver can remove a compatibility problem, but it cannot make a below-specification CPU or GPU perform like a faster model.
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Patch history includes fixes for crashes during shader building, loading, and particular hardware or game conditions. Those fixes show that crashes can have different causes; they do not identify the cause of an individual crash on your PC.
- Write down the exact error text, if any.
- Record your CPU, GPU and VRAM capacity, system RAM, Windows version, driver version, game version, and installation drive.
- Note the point of failure: launch, shader building, loading a save, entering a location, changing a setting, or during play.
- Confirm that shader compilation is complete, the game is patched, the driver is current, and competing CPU/VRAM workloads are closed.
- Return unusually aggressive CPU, VRAM, or frame-rate settings to conservative values and retest the same trigger.
- If the crash persists, submit those details through Naughty Dog’s official support route rather than deleting files or applying undocumented launch tweaks.
The official support index groups material for CPU use, VRAM use, shader rebuilding, frequently asked questions, and system requirements. Use the symptom-specific article that matches your evidence instead of treating every crash as a graphics-setting problem.
Separate audio faults from performance faults
Pops, clicks, missing cinematic dialogue, and incorrect surround output are covered by separate audio troubleshooting. If your “performance” complaint is actually one of those symptoms, use the audio-specific guidance: for pops or clicks, set audio latency to Medium or High and relaunch; for missing cinematic dialogue, set Output Mode to Traditional. These changes do not address CPU, GPU, VRAM, or shader performance.
When an advanced change is justified—and when to stop
Advanced launch arguments and aggressive setting changes are useful only when they answer a specific observation. The cores <num> argument is an example: compare it only when CPU use is the symptom, document the original result, and remove it if performance or frame pacing worsens. Do not stack it with several unknown tweaks, because you will lose the ability to identify the cause.
Stop troubleshooting settings when the HUD shows a sustained hardware limit that matches the published requirements and the game is patched, shaders are complete, drivers are current, and background workloads are closed. At that point, a lower frame-rate cap or lower quality target may be the practical solution. Buying storage, memory, or a graphics card should be a separate hardware decision based on the measured bottleneck, not a blanket response to every hitch or crash.
A compact decision path
- Shader indicator active: wait for compilation, especially after a patch-triggered rebuild.
- CPU high in the HUD: close CPU-heavy applications, cap the frame rate, then lower the listed CPU-sensitive settings.
- VRAM near full: close GPU-heavy applications, update game and driver, then reduce the listed VRAM-sensitive settings.
- GPU high with VRAM available: reduce resolution or GPU-heavy effects and compare the same scene.
- Drive is an older HDD: verify the installation and consider an SSD because the requirements page warns of HDD-related issues.
- Crashes continue: document the trigger and versions, then use official support.
This order keeps temporary shader work, resource limits, software versions, storage, and genuine faults separate. It also prevents a setting change that helps one bottleneck from being mistaken for a universal fix.
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