The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →If a new PC game is running poorly, first check whether the GPU is the limit. If it is, turn off ray tracing if enabled, lower shadows or the overall quality preset one step, then try the game’s built-in upscaler or a modestly lower render scale. Change one option at a time and compare the same scene. There is no universal order that improves every PC: lowering resolution may do little when the CPU or another bottleneck is responsible.
Start by checking what is limiting performance
Before reducing image quality, establish a baseline. Use the game’s built-in benchmark if it has one; otherwise, revisit a repeatable scene and note average FPS and whether motion feels uneven. Keep the scene and test conditions as consistent as possible so you can tell whether a change helped.
On supported systems, AMD’s Radeon Game Advisor can report average FPS, frame-time graphs and percentiles, and suggested settings. It is an optional AMD tool, not a requirement for diagnosing a game on every PC. AMD says its monitoring may take up to 90 seconds. AMD Radeon Game Advisor
A game can be limited by CPU rendering work or by different GPU constraints, such as fill rate or memory bandwidth. Unity’s documentation distinguishes these kinds of limits; therefore, a single setting change is not guaranteed to help every system. Unity: Optimizing graphics performance
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Which graphics settings should you lower first?
1. Turn off ray tracing if it is enabled
Ray tracing can add substantial work, but its cost depends on the game, the specific ray-traced effects, the scene, and the hardware. If you need more performance and ray tracing is on, disabling it is a sensible first experiment. Epic’s Unreal Engine documentation discusses the performance costs involved in ray tracing. Epic Games: Ray Tracing Performance Guide
Do not expect a fixed FPS gain. NVIDIA’s results for Control are specific to its tested GPU-heavy scenarios: NVIDIA reported DLSS frame rates increasing “as much as 89%” in a higher-fidelity mode and “up to 197%” in lower-resolution performance modes. Those figures are not a prediction for other games or players. NVIDIA: Control DLSS 2.0
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2. Lower shadows or the quality preset one step
If performance is still short, reduce shadow quality or step down the overall preset by one level—for example, from Ultra to High, if those are the options the game provides. Unity notes that real-time shadows can be resource-intensive, while AMD’s Game Advisor includes a preset reduction among its possible recommendations. The specific options and their costs vary by game. Unity: Optimizing graphics performance; AMD Radeon Game Advisor
3. Try in-game upscaling or a modestly lower render scale
If the GPU remains the constraint, use a supported in-game upscaler or reduce render scale or resolution modestly. These changes can reduce the amount of rendering work, but they can also soften detail. Prefer an in-game upscaler when the game offers one and your hardware supports it: AMD recommends its in-game FSR option over driver-level Radeon Super Resolution (RSR) when built-in support is available, because game-specific optimizations may improve the result. Availability depends on the game and hardware. AMD: Radeon Super Resolution
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Unreal Engine’s dynamic-resolution system can lower screen percentage as GPU workload rises. That is an engine feature, not a setting available in every game. Epic Games: Dynamic Resolution
What if lowering resolution barely changes FPS?
Treat that result as a clue: the game may not be limited by pixel processing. Another GPU constraint, CPU rendering work, or a game-specific problem may be holding performance back. Unity’s documentation describes several distinct GPU limits as well as CPU-side rendering work, so continuing to reduce resolution may cost image quality without addressing the actual constraint. Recheck the same scene and test a different setting rather than assuming every graphics option has the same effect.
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How to test changes without guessing
- Record a baseline. Run the game’s benchmark or choose a repeatable scene. Note average FPS and whether frame pacing feels uneven.
- Change one setting. Start with ray tracing if enabled, then test shadows or a one-step preset reduction, and then try upscaling or render scale if the GPU appears to be the limit.
- Repeat the same test. Compare the same scene under similar conditions. A built-in benchmark is preferable to comparing unrelated gameplay moments.
- Keep changes that help. Stop when performance feels smooth enough and the image still looks acceptable; there is no need to set every option to Low.
Balance performance against image quality
Think about each option in three ways: how much performance it may cost, how noticeable the image-quality trade-off is, and whether the game and your hardware support the alternative. Ray tracing and shadows can improve visuals but have implementation-dependent costs. Lower render scale can reduce rendering workload when pixel processing is the limit, at the expense of detail. Upscaling options differ by game and GPU support.
The cited guidance does not establish a universal, measured ranking of FPS gains across all games and PCs. Use the sequence as a set of controlled experiments, not a promise that one setting will always produce the biggest improvement. Epic’s guidance also stresses defining a frame budget for projects targeting real-time performance; for players, the practical counterpart is choosing a frame-rate experience that feels responsive enough without sacrificing more image quality than necessary. Epic Games: Ray Tracing Performance Guide
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