How to improve FPS in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (PC)
Space Marine 2 runs on Saber Interactive's Swarm Engine, built to push hundreds of Tyranids on screen at once. That's both its party trick and its curse: the game is far more CPU-bound than GPU-bound, even on flagship graphics cards. Here are the settings that actually move the needle, whether you're in Campaign, Operations, or Eternal War PvP.
This is what you'd gain with a NVIDIA RTX 4060
Want the RTX 4060 at the best price?
Check the current price on Amazon.
Calculations based on our FPS model combined with the % gain of each setting (measured in public benchmarks).
1. Quick wins (no visual loss)
Start here. Each one adds a little, but together they give +15% free FPS.
Ambient Occlusion
Ultra adds high-resolution ambient occlusion with an almost imperceptible visual impact in combat. Default frees up GPU headroom without it showing in cutscenes.
Reflections
Reflections on the metallic surfaces of Imperial ships and bases barely change between Default and Ultra, but Ultra costs more than it delivers.
Texture Filtering (Anisotropic)
Turning it off gains a couple of FPS but blurs floor and wall textures at distance, very noticeable in the long corridors of the Adeptus Astartes ships. Not worth it.
Shadow Quality
Dropping from Ultra to High is barely noticeable on the dynamic shadows of the swarms, but it frees up some CPU by reducing shadow recalculation for every Tyranid.
Resizable BAR + HAGS
A system-level tweak, not an in-game one: with Resizable BAR and Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling enabled, you get fewer micro-stutters when transferring texture data during level streaming.
2. Medium impact settings
Here's where most of the FPS is. Minor visual impact, major performance impact.
Cloth Simulation
Space Marine capes and banners use physically calculated cloth simulation. It's one of the heaviest CPU loads on the Swarm Engine; dropping it to Low is one of the best FPS-to-visual-impact trades in the game.
Volumetrics (fog and smoke)
Volumetric fog in missions like Kadaku or the industrial interiors of Demerium has a high rendering cost. Dropping it to Low noticeably reduces frametime spikes without making the scenes look too much worse.
Background Swarm Density
Controls how many 'background' Tyranids get simulated in Operations' massive hordes. On mid-range CPUs (6-8 cores, no 3D V-Cache) it's the setting that smooths horde spikes the most; on a Ryzen 7 7800X3D the impact is much smaller.
Ray-Traced Ambient Occlusion
RTAO costs up to 15% performance for a very subtle contact-shadow improvement, nearly invisible during fast combat against hordes. Only worth it for static screenshots.
Effects Quality (particles and blood)
With dozens of Tyranids exploding on screen (especially against Nurgloth or in Operations' final waves), particles at Ultra generate significant CPU spikes. Medium keeps the visual spectacle without the stutter.
3. Upscaling (DLSS / FSR / XeSS)
The biggest gain in the game. Compatible with almost any modern GPU.
DLSS 3 Frame Generation (RTX 40/50)
+70% FPSSince this is a CPU-capped game, Frame Generation is the most effective boost possible: it doesn't depend on the processor, so it 'jumps over' the bottleneck. Digital Foundry measured up to 70% more FPS at native 4K with it enabled.
DLSS 3 Super Resolution (Quality)
+25% FPSThe gain from pure upscaling is lower than usual precisely because of the CPU limit, but it still adds 20-29% extra at 4K with image quality practically identical to native.
FSR 3.0 Frame Generation (AMD/universal)
+60% FPSAvailable for any GPU since patch 5.0. Works just as well as DLSS FG at bypassing the CPU bottleneck, though with a bit more artifacting on fine edges like weapons and antennae.
XeSS (Intel Arc and compatible GPUs)
+18% FPSA solid alternative on Intel Arc cards or without native DLSS/FSR support. The gain is more modest than DLSS because it doesn't include frame generation on every hardware combination.
4. Tips by GPU
NVIDIA
- •On RTX 40/50 series, enable DLSS Frame Generation whenever you're playing with a controller or already above 60 base FPS; it's the single biggest improvement in the game.
- •Resizable BAR must be enabled in BIOS: without it you lose several FPS in scenes with the most Tyranids on screen.
- •If you notice micro-stutter after a driver update, clear the local shader cache folder and let the game recompile on first launch.
AMD
- •Ryzen chips with 3D V-Cache (7800X3D, 9800X3D) perform notably better in massive hordes than their non-cache equivalents, due to the Swarm Engine AI's memory access pattern.
- •FSR 3.0 Frame Generation is your best bet on Radeon GPUs: enable Anti-Lag+ alongside FSR-FG to offset the added input lag.
- •Smart Access Memory (AMD's equivalent of Resizable BAR) should be enabled to take advantage of the extra bandwidth during texture streaming.
Sistema
- •Install the game on an SSD without exception: texture streaming is tied to disk speed, and on an HDD you'll get stutters no graphics setting can fix.
- •Use Windows' 'High performance' power plan and disable Memory Integrity (Core Isolation) if you're chasing the last bit of FPS.
- •Set your RAM's XMP/EXPO profile: with RAM running at default JEDEC speed you lose noticeable performance in horde scenes, which are very memory-bandwidth dependent.
5. Known game issues
Freeze on the 'PRECREATING SHADERS' screen
Some players get stuck indefinitely on the shader precompilation screen at startup, especially after driver updates or game patches. Verifying file integrity in Steam and clearing the shader cache usually unblocks it.
Shader compilation and traversal stutters
Months after launch, micro-stutters persist when entering new zones or during the first fights of a session, even on high-end rigs. Digital Foundry documented them as shader compilation stutters not fully resolved by patches.
Estado: Partially mitigated, no definitive fix yet
Performance regressions after specific patches
Several post-launch patches (including the one that added Frame Generation) have introduced temporary FPS drops for some users, with reports of increased stutter at the start of Operations missions.
6. Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't my framerate go up even after upgrading to a better GPU?▾
Is it worth enabling Frame Generation even if my base FPS is low?▾
Which setting should I touch first if I have a 6-core processor?▾
Are the stutters at the start of a mission a problem with my PC?▾
Want to know exactly how many FPS YOUR PC will get?
Enter your GPU and CPU in our calculator and measure the real impact of each setting.
Calculate FPS for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 →Calculations based on consensus of technical sources and our own FPS model. More about our methodology →