Achieving the perfect balance between visual fidelity and smooth performance is a constant challenge for many gamers. It’s therefore necessary to know which graphics settings have the greatest impact on game performance so that you can adjust them to make it favorable and thus optimize your gaming experience.

In this post we’ll tell you which graphics settings directly affect the performance of your games along with tips on how to adjust them to get the most out of your GPU and make your gameplay smoother.

What are the graphics settings that affect the performance of my games the most?

Let’s see which are the graphic aspects that can affect to a greater or lesser extent the performance in a game:

Resolution

Within the graphics settings the resolution represents the number of pixels in the game that your PC’s GPU renders, which determines the frame rate that is executed while you’re playing.

The higher the resolution of the game, the more power the GPU will need to process its graphics. Therefore, if upscaling brings the resolution of your game to a low but acceptable resolution, its performance can improve notably.

Resolutions and their effects on the game

• 1080p resolution (1920x1080): You’re probably one of the many gamers who use this resolution as standard, which provides a good balance between quality and performance.
• 1440p resolution (2560x1440): This resolution produces sharper images but requires a powerful GPU.
• 4K resolution (3840x2160): The ideal resolution if you’re looking for maximum detail, although your PC must have a first level hardware to support it and be able to play smoothly.

In case you have a monitor of 20 inches or less, it would be favorable to maintain a resolution of 1280x720p. This will improve the frame rate and reduce the loss of quality.

Upscaling

This aspect is often included as an option in modern games. It allows your PC to render the frames at a lower resolution and then scale them to fit the resolution of your monitor. So with upscaling you’ll improve the quality of the image and thus the performance of the game.

Popular upscaling options

To improve the performance of your games with upscaling you have the following options:

• NVIDIA DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling): This is a neural network that has an integrated an AI that improves the image quality of the game, increases the frame rate and reduces latency. This option is also included in GeForce RTX GPUs.
• AMD FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution): This technique produces high-resolution images from lower-resolution inputs, thus achieving a noticeable improvement in the performance and image quality of your games.

Once you have applied the upscaling we recommend that you keep it running for 15 to 20 minutes so that you can evaluate the performance and image quality obtained. Then turn the scaler on and off to compare the difference.

Shadows and lighting

In many modern games shadows and lighting are important because they help to create ambiance, as well as add atmosphere and realism to the scenarios where the story unfolds. These elements are also used to boost gameplay and storytelling. Hence, both have a substantial impact on performance and visual quality.

Reducing the quality of shadows to a medium level and disabling dynamic shadows will increase the frame rate, which will improve game performance.

Although it looks visually stunning, ray tracing can hurt the performance of non-RTX GPUs. To avoid this consider disabling or reducing advanced lighting effects such as global illumination.

Textures and filtering

Textures are another of the graphics settings that boost a game’s visual appeal, while anisotropic filtering improves its clarity at oblique angles. However, if your PC’s GPU does not have enough VRAM, performance will suffer.

Configuring textures and filtering for better performance in a game

• Set up the game with the textures at a medium level so that you gradually increase them to a point where the quality is good and you notice improvements in performance.
• Prioritize the setting of high-quality textures (if possible) as their visual impact on the game is significant.
• Set texture filtering to maximum as this has a minimal impact on performance and if your PC’s GPU is modern, it’ll be able to handle it without a problem.

Anti-Aliasing

Anti-aliasing (AA) is a graphics setting that smooths edge pixels, although its activation can be demanding for the system. Among the types of antialiasing available to achieve this result are:

• MSAA (Multisample Anti-Aliasing): GPU intensive, but effective.
• FXAA (Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing): Less demanding but can blur textures.
• TAA (Temporal Anti-Aliasing): Balances quality and performance.

Configuring antialiasing for best in-game performance.

• Start with FXAA or lower AA settings to prioritize game performance.
• Set MSAA to 2x or 4x to achieve a good balance between quality and performance.
• Consider disabling AA if you play at higher resolutions, where jaggies are less noticeable.

Post-processing effects

Although they add an attractive visual touch to the game, post-processing effects can compromise performance. Some of the common post-processing effects include:

• Motion blur
• Depth of field
• Chromatic aberration
• Bloom

Configuring post-processing for better game performance.

• Disable motion blur to improve clarity and performance.
• Consider disabling depth of field and chromatic aberration for a cleaner image and better frame rates.
• Experiment with bloom settings to find a balance between visual appeal and performance.

Reflections and mirror effects

These graphics options make reflective surfaces and objects in the game look realistic, although achieving this result can be demanding on your PC’s GPU. The types of reflections you’ll have available to apply in the game are:

• Screen Space Reflections (SSR): Enabling this option in the game will create subtle reflections on wet surfaces and puddles.
• Ray-traced reflections: Enabling this rendering technique simulates how light bounces off objects in a scene, adding more realism to images.

Configuring reflections and mirroring effects for better game performance

• Consider disabling reflections to boost performance in fast-paced games.
• Reduce the quality of reflections in slow-paced games where atmosphere is important.
• Enable reflections with ray tracing only if you have a high-end system or when using DLSS/FSR.

Drawing distance and level of detail

The draw distance is the distance that determines how far the player can see from the camera in a game, while the level of detail (LOD) represents how objects appear in the scene as they move away from the player.

Setting the draw distance and level of detail for better game performance

• Reduce the draw distance in open world games so that you can get better performance.
• Adjust the LOD until you find the balance where distant objects are still visible but not extremely detailed.

Tips for optimizing graphics settings in specific games

An important thing to keep in mind is that the impact of the graphics settings in a game can vary depending on the title and its specifications. This is why we recommend that you practice the following tips to help you get the most out of your games:

• Look for specific optimization guides for popular titles.
• Use game benchmarks or third-party tools to measure performance changes.
• Be aware that some games may have unique settings that can significantly impact performance. This is the case for city building games where you’re likely to find among the settings a Population Density option.

Graphics settings and in-game performance: Final words

Undoubtedly the graphic settings can be determinant in making a game have a higher or lower performance in its execution.

So, to ensure that your games have optimal performance we recommend that you put into practice our tips and make the corresponding game settings in aspects such as resolution, shadows, lighting, reflections, textures, anti-aliasing, draw distance and level of detail (LOD).

Once this is done pay attention to the response of the game to see if there is a distinguishable improvement in its performance. If not then keep adjusting the settings until you get a performance that meets your requirements.

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