How to improve FPS in Squad (PC)
Squad is the benchmark for large-scale tactical shooters: matches of up to 100 players split into squads, with heavy vehicles, supply logistics, and FOB construction all simulated at once on the client. Offworld Industries built the game on Unreal Engine 4, but the real load doesn't come from the graphics side — it comes from processing dozens of players, vehicle AI, ballistic projectile physics, and real-time radio communication systems. The result is an engine that pushes the CPU harder than almost any other multiplayer title, leaving the GPU in a secondary role except at high resolutions.
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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 +61% free FPS.
Foliage/Grass Density
Squad's tall grass isn't just cosmetic: on Ultra it hides prone players and saturates vegetation rendering on large maps. Lowering it to Low frees up a lot of CPU/GPU load and improves your competitive visibility.
View Distance
With multi-square-kilometer maps and dozens of players spread across the terrain, view distance dramatically increases the number of entities the CPU must process each frame.
Shadow Quality
Dynamic shadows from vehicles, buildings, and vegetation on large maps are one of the most expensive tasks for the GPU in UE4.
Effects Quality
Artillery explosions, vehicle smoke, and gunfire from dozens of simultaneous players generate particle spikes that hit both CPU and GPU in large engagements.
Anti-Aliasing
Unreal Engine 4's TAA in Squad has a moderate GPU cost and can introduce some blurriness at range, right where spotting enemy silhouettes matters most.
2. Medium impact settings
Here's where most of the FPS is. Minor visual impact, major performance impact.
Texture Quality
Squad isn't especially VRAM-demanding except on very limited cards, so Texture Quality barely moves the framerate on most modern GPUs.
Mesh Quality
Controls the level of detail (LOD) of vehicles, structures, and deployables, which can add up quickly on maps with a lot of logistics content.
Post Process Quality
Groups effects like bloom, depth of field, and color correction that on Ultra add a noticeable GPU load without providing any tactical advantage.
Resolution Scale
Squad lets you render below native resolution and upscale, which directly relieves GPU load in the most demanding large-scale combat scenes.
3. Upscaling (DLSS / FSR / XeSS)
The biggest gain in the game. Compatible with almost any modern GPU.
NVIDIA DLSS 2
+30% FPSSquad integrates DLSS 2 into Unreal Engine 4, especially useful at 1440p and 4K where GPU load climbs due to dense vegetation rendering and massive combat effects.
AMD FSR 2
+25% FPSFSR 2 works on any GPU and offers a solid alternative to DLSS for those without an NVIDIA card, with reasonable image quality in Quality mode.
4. Tips by GPU
NVIDIA
- •Enable Reflex if your Squad build supports it to reduce input latency in close-quarters combat, where every millisecond counts.
- •On mid-range GPUs, prioritize lowering Foliage and View Distance before touching textures: the real bottleneck is almost always the CPU, not VRAM.
- •Use DLSS in Quality mode at 1440p/4K to free up GPU headroom in combat scenes with vehicles and smoke, without sacrificing sharpness.
AMD
- •Enable Anti-Lag to reduce perceived latency in short-range firefights, very common in Squad's urban combat.
- •FSR 2 in Quality mode is your best ally if your CPU is already comfortable and you want to squeeze out a bit more FPS at high resolutions.
- •Check that high-performance mode is enabled in the Adrenalin panel, since Squad sustains CPU/GPU loads through very long matches.
Sistema
- •Prioritize a CPU with strong per-core performance over more cores: Squad relies on the main thread to simulate players, vehicles, and logistics.
- •Install the game on an NVMe SSD. Squad's maps are huge, and streaming terrain/vegetation from an HDD causes visible stutters while moving in a vehicle.
- •Close overlays and background applications, since in 100-player matches any extra CPU usage translates directly into the framerate.
5. Known game issues
Micro-stutters when entering areas with many players
It's common to see occasional framerate drops when approaching hotspots with 20-30 players, vehicles, and deployables active at once.
CPU spikes when deploying or destroying FOBs
Building and destroying logistics structures generates computation spikes on the main thread that can translate into brief stutters.
Incomplete use of multiple cores
Much of Squad's game logic still relies on a dominant thread, so CPUs with many cores but mediocre frequency perform worse than expected.
6. Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't my powerful GPU improve FPS in Squad?▾
Which setting gives the most FPS with the least visual loss in Squad?▾
Is it worth enabling DLSS or FSR in Squad?▾
What CPU do I need to play Squad smoothly on full servers?▾
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 Squad →Calculations based on consensus of technical sources and our own FPS model. More about our methodology →