Turning down the heaviest graphics settings
Also searched as: lower graphics settings fps · lower settings for fps · reduce graphics fps · turn down shadows fps · drop settings fps
What it does
Dropping the GPU-heavy in-game settings — ray tracing, shadows, reflections, volumetric fog, view distance — to gain frames.
The honest verdict
Graded real. After resolution, this is the most reliable FPS lever there is, and it is honest about the trade: these settings cost real GPU work, so turning the few heaviest ones down buys real, measurable frames. The trick is they are not equal — ray tracing, shadow quality, and volumetric/cloud effects are usually the expensive ones, while textures (if you have the video memory for them) and anisotropic filtering are nearly free and worth keeping. …
Where it genuinely fits a rig, Compy can recommend it — applied with a snapshot first and a one-click rollback after, like every change it makes.
The full graded entry
The rest of this write-up — the specifics behind the grade — ships inside the app. The Blackbook publishes its verdicts here — the full write-ups stay in the book, on your rig, next to your own measurements.
The Compy Blackbook holds 191 graded entries like this one, judged against your hardware — and every change it does make is reversible, with the receipt to prove it.
See Compy →