FPS Optimization Guides for PC
Technical guides with real FPS impact, backed by public benchmarks. Find out which settings to enable, which to lower — and exactly how much you'll gain with your GPU.
Choose your game
The Last of Us Part I
The Last of Us Part I's PC port launched with serious optimization issues: shader compilation stuttering, brutal VRAM consumption, and inconsistent performance. After several patches, the game is playable on modest hardware if you configure the right settings. This guide covers the recommendations that appear in at least 3 technical sources and connects each setting to the estimated FPS gain on your hardware.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 remains, after several years of patches and the Phantom Liberty expansion, one of the most demanding and graphically rich PC games on the market. The good news: thanks to its full support for DLSS, FSR 3, and XeSS, it's perfectly playable even on mid-range hardware if configured correctly. This guide covers the settings that give the best FPS/visual quality ratio based on data from Digital Foundry, Hardware Unboxed, and community consensus.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 is generally well optimized for PC after the initial patches — but it offers over 40 individual graphics settings and the difference between the right and wrong configuration is enormous: from 45 to 75 FPS on the same GPU. This guide covers the settings with the best FPS/visual quality ratio and the most important decision in the game: Vulkan vs DirectX 12.
Escape from Tarkov
Tarkov is famous for its poor performance. It's not an optimized AAA — it's an early access game since 2016 with a heavily modified Unity engine that stresses the CPU like no other shooter on the market. The good news: with the right settings you can go from 30 to 60+ FPS without changing hardware. The bad news: in Streets of Tarkov and Lighthouse, no setting will save you from CPU bottleneck if your processor is old.
Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter Wilds had a troubled launch in February 2025: brutal stuttering in towns and drastic drops during sandstorms. After patches 1.1 and 1.2 (May 2025) performance improved significantly, but it remains a demanding game. This guide covers the settings that give the best FPS/visual quality ratio with real benchmark data from post-patch results.
Black Myth: Wukong
Black Myth: Wukong is one of the most demanding games ever released on PC, built on Unreal Engine 5 with Nanite and Lumen running at full tilt. At its August 2024 launch, even an RTX 4090 struggled to maintain 60 FPS at 4K on maximum settings. The key to enjoying it on mid-range hardware is disabling Lumen and leaning on upscaling — those two changes can literally double your FPS.
Hogwarts Legacy
Hogwarts Legacy arrived in February 2023 as one of the worst PC ports of that year — a stunning Unreal Engine 4 game capable of pushing even an RTX 4090 to its limits in certain areas. The core problem is twofold: heavy CPU load in Hogsmeade from NPC simulation, and Ray Tracing with an absolutely brutal performance cost. With the right settings, however, it runs perfectly well on mid-range hardware.
Alan Wake 2
Remedy's Alan Wake 2 is the first AAA game designed around Path Tracing as its primary rendering mode, making it the most demanding title in history for mid-range hardware. Without DLSS or FSR active, it's practically unplayable on any GPU below an RTX 4080. The good news: with the right configuration and upscaling enabled, even an RTX 4060 Ti can deliver a smooth and visually impressive 1080p experience.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
STALKER 2 launched in November 2024 as one of the most problematic PC releases in recent years, built on Unreal Engine 5. A combination of Lumen, Nanite, and an extremely CPU-heavy NPC AI system created a perfect storm of stuttering, frame rate drops, and crashes. Multiple patches have improved the situation, but it still requires careful configuration to run well.
Starfield
Starfield is actually reasonably well optimized compared to its reputation — Bethesda's Creation Engine 2 maintains stable frame rates in space and on planets. The real problem is in cities: New Atlantis, Neon, and Akila are designed so densely that they saturate any CPU in their central areas. With the right settings, the difference between 40 and 70 FPS is very real.
Fortnite
Fortnite (Chapter 5) runs on Unreal Engine 5 and offers two radically different rendering modes: DirectX 12 with Nanite and Lumen for visual quality, and Performance Mode (DX11) for maximum frames. For competitive play at 144+ FPS, Performance Mode is practically mandatory. This guide covers the most impactful settings to maximize your framecount without sacrificing competitive viability.
Valorant
Valorant is, by far, the best-optimized competitive shooter on the market. Riot Games designed the game explicitly to run on low-end hardware: a GTX 1050 Ti can hit 60+ FPS stably. 95% of optimizations are CPU-side, not GPU. This guide focuses on the settings that actually matter for high framerate play (144-240+ FPS) in competitive.
Counter-Strike 2
Counter-Strike 2 migrated to Source 2 in 2023 and while the game looks better, performance regressed compared to CS:GO on the same hardware. CS2 is notoriously CPU-intensive, especially on maps with dense foliage and during volumetric smoke grenades. With the right settings you can recover much of those lost FPS and reach the high framerates needed for competitive play.
Elden Ring
Elden Ring is generally a decent PC port from FromSoftware, but it has one well-known issue: the game's physics are tied to framerate and the engine has a native 60 FPS cap. Unlocking higher framerates or fixing frame pacing requires third-party tools. Beyond that, the game responds well to standard graphics adjustments and an RTX 3060 can maintain stable 60 FPS at Ultra.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3's 2022 Next-Gen update added ray tracing and new visual effects — but also introduced performance issues that many users didn't have with the original version. This guide covers both scenarios: how to get the most out of the Next-Gen version with DLSS/FSR, and why many players prefer the classic pre-NG version for better performance on mid-range hardware.
Grand Theft Auto V
GTA V has been on the market since 2013 but remains one of the most customizable PC ports ever made. The PC version has dozens of individual settings, allowing very fine-grained performance control. The game uses DirectX 11 with no native DLSS support, though mods add FSR 2. The biggest catch: two settings (MSAA and Extended Distance Scaling/Grass Quality) can consume over 50% of your GPU budget on their own.
Minecraft
Minecraft Java Edition is one of the most-played games in the world and also one of the worst-optimized by default. It's an entirely CPU-bound game: the GPU barely works, but the chunk system and world logic saturate the CPU at medium-to-high render distances. The good news: with the right mods (Sodium, Iris, Lithium) the game can run 5-10x faster than vanilla. This guide covers both vanilla optimization and the mod route.
Apex Legends
Apex Legends runs on a modified version of Valve's Source engine, giving it a very optimizable base. With the right settings, mid-range hardware can reach stable 144 FPS. The game supports DLSS and FSR natively. The main performance challenge occurs during hot-drops, where high player density creates a CPU bottleneck. This guide covers the settings for maximum competitive FPS.
Call of Duty: Warzone
Call of Duty: Warzone uses the IW8 engine from Infinity Ward with DirectX 12 rendering. The game supports DLSS, FSR, and XeSS natively and has dozens of separate quality settings. The most well-known issue is massive RAM consumption (16 GB real minimum) and VRAM problems with On-Demand Texture Streaming. Shadow Map Resolution and the texture system are the critical performance points.
League of Legends
League of Legends is one of the most-played games in the world and one of the best-optimized that exists. Hardware requirements are extremely low: even integrated graphics can run it. The bottleneck is almost always the CPU, especially during 5v5 teamfights with many simultaneous visual effects. This guide focuses on how to reach and maintain stable 144-240+ FPS in competitive play.
Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 uses Larian Studios' Divinity Engine 4, with a very high level of visual detail for an RPG. The game supports DLSS and FSR (added in post-launch patches) and has granular settings. The most well-known problem is Act 3 (the city of Baldur's Gate), which has a severe CPU bottleneck due to NPC, dialogue, and urban geometry density. Acts 1 and 2 outdoor areas are more GPU-demanding.
Rust
Rust runs on Unity Engine and has a well-earned reputation as one of the worst-optimized games on the market relative to its visual quality. Populated servers generate a significant CPU bottleneck. The good news is that settings have enormous impact: Object Quality is the most important setting and can radically change FPS. With the right configuration, mid-range hardware can achieve a playable experience.
Rainbow Six Siege
Rainbow Six Siege uses Ubisoft's AnvilNext engine and is one of the most popular tactical shooters on the market. The game is extraordinarily well-optimized for competitive play — it's possible to reach 300+ FPS on mid-range hardware with the right configuration. The most important and unique setting in Siege is Render Scaling: Ubisoft recommends 85-90% as the optimal performance-to-image-quality balance. LOD Quality and Shadow Quality complete the main optimizations.
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 is a visually impressive game with volumetric lighting, explosion effects, and highly detailed environments. It's one of the most GPU-demanding games of its generation. DLSS and FSR are practically mandatory to achieve stable 60 FPS on mid-to-high-range hardware. The biggest performance enemies are Shadow Quality, Bloom, and Volumetric Fog, which have disproportionate GPU costs. Large battles with many enemies also cause notable FPS drops.
ARK: Survival Ascended
ARK: Survival Ascended is the ARK remake in Unreal Engine 5 with Lumen, Nanite, and Ray Tracing. It's one of the most GPU-demanding games on the market alongside Cyberpunk 2077 with RT. An RTX 4090 can drop below 60 FPS at Epic settings. The key is two critical changes: disabling Lumen (real-time global illumination) and using DLSS+FrameGen. With these changes, the game is perfectly playable on high-mid-range hardware.
Forza Horizon 6
Forza Horizon 6 launches in great shape on PC with full DLSS 4, FSR 4 and XeSS 2.1 support, plus Ray-Traced Global Illumination (RTGI) and RT reflections. Its built-in benchmark lets you tune settings precisely, and most options scale very well. This guide compiles recommendations from Wccftech, TechSpot, DSOGaming and the official Forza support docs, mapping every setting to the FPS gain you'll see on your hardware.