How to improve FPS in Warframe (PC)
Warframe runs on the Evolution Engine, a motor with more than a decade of accumulated optimizations that moves the game smoothly on virtually any PC. The real challenge isn't hitting playable FPS, it's holding high, stable rates when the screen fills with particles: chained Warframe abilities, enemy swarms in exterminate or defense missions, and the open worlds (Plains of Eidolon, Orb Vallis, Cambion Drift) with their volumetric fog and dense vegetation. This guide tunes the graphics settings that weigh most on the GPU without sacrificing the visual readability parkour and fast combat need.
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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 +38% free FPS.
Particle Quality
Reduces the density and detail of particles generated by abilities, explosions, and weapon effects, the main cause of FPS drops in fights against large enemy groups.
Dynamic Shadows
Lowers the resolution and number of real-time shadow-casting light sources, especially costly in defense missions with many active ability lights.
Antialiasing
Switches from TAA/SMAA to FXAA (or disables it if you use DLSS/FSR, which already smooth edges), cutting load without generating excessive jaggies at high resolutions.
Draw Distance
Slightly reduces how much geometric detail loads at medium and long range, most relevant in the open worlds with wide vistas.
Local Reflections (SSR)
Disables screen-space reflections, which have a disproportionate cost relative to their visual payoff in metallic interiors (Corpus ships, Orokin structures).
2. Medium impact settings
Here's where most of the FPS is. Minor visual impact, major performance impact.
Volumetric Lighting
Removes volumetric light shafts and dense fog, especially heavy in Cambion Drift and Orokin interiors with light beams cutting through dust.
Texture Quality
Reduces the size of textures loaded into VRAM; useful on GPUs with 4-6GB of VRAM that suffer stuttering in the open worlds.
Motion Blur
Disables motion blur, which barely costs performance but improves visual clarity during bullet jumps and high-speed combat.
Ambient Occlusion
Sets ambient occlusion to an intermediate level; on High/Ultra it adds a noticeable cost in scenes with many stacked objects and enemies.
Vegetation Detail (open worlds)
Reduces grass and foliage density in Plains of Eidolon and Orb Vallis, zones where the GPU suffers most from the amount of instanced geometry.
3. Upscaling (DLSS / FSR / XeSS)
The biggest gain in the game. Compatible with almost any modern GPU.
NVIDIA DLSS
+35% FPSAvailable since the update that introduced modern upscaling; in Balanced or Performance mode it delivers a considerable FPS jump in open worlds and mass combat with minimal sharpness loss.
AMD FSR
+28% FPSA useful cross-platform alternative on AMD and Intel GPUs; works well in Quality, though it can introduce some ghosting in the dense foliage of Cambion Drift.
Dynamic Resolution
+15% FPSAutomatically adjusts internal resolution to hold an FPS target; useful as a safety net during particle spikes in Steel Path.
4. Tips by GPU
NVIDIA
- •Enable DLSS in Balanced mode to gain FPS headroom in Steel Path without a noticeable loss of sharpness.
- •Use Reflex/low-latency mode from the control panel to reduce input lag during bullet jumps and fast combat.
- •Cap the game's frame limit slightly below your monitor's refresh rate to avoid tearing without enabling V-Sync.
AMD
- •Enable FSR in Quality if your GPU is mid-range (RX 6600 or below) to stabilize FPS in the open worlds.
- •Radeon Anti-Lag helps keep response times steady during enemy-horde fights in Arbitrations.
- •Make sure the driver's power mode is set to "Performance" on laptops, since Warframe is sensitive to mobile GPU throttling.
Intel
- •On Arc, keep drivers up to date: Warframe has received specific compatibility improvements in recent releases.
- •Enable XeSS as an upscaling alternative if DLSS/FSR don't perform as well on your setup.
- •On CPUs with integrated graphics, lower render resolution before texture quality, since the iGPU is the real bottleneck.
Sistema
- •Install the game on an SSD: load times between Star Chart nodes and procedural level generation benefit greatly from read speed.
- •Close third-party overlays (Discord, GeForce Experience) during Steel Path, as they add micro-stutter on top of the engine's own particle spikes.
- •Update to the latest DirectX 12 if your system supports it; the game's DX12 mode reduces CPU overhead in missions with many enemies.
5. Known game issues
FPS drops in massed Steel Path combat
When several Warframes cast particle-heavy abilities at once against large enemy groups, frame time can spike for a second or two regardless of the GPU used.
Stutter when entering open worlds
The transition into Plains of Eidolon, Orb Vallis, or Cambion Drift triggers a texture and vegetation streaming load that causes brief micro-stutter, especially on mechanical hard drives or limited VRAM.
6. Frequently asked questions
Why do my FPS only drop in Steel Path and not in normal missions?▾
Is it worth enabling DLSS or FSR in Warframe?▾
What causes the micro-stutter when entering Cambion Drift or Orb Vallis?▾
Is it worth playing in DX12 instead of DX11?▾
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 Warframe →Calculations based on consensus of technical sources and our own FPS model. More about our methodology →