PC Gaming Settings That May Help Your Existing Graphics Card

Start with the settings that strain your graphics card

PC gamers whose graphics cards struggle can try lowering demanding settings and enabling supported upscaling, according to guides from Engadget and MSI. Their advice offers practical ways to adjust performance, with tradeoffs in image quality and responsiveness.

Engadget recommends trying Balanced or Performance graphics presets when a graphics processing unit, or GPU, struggles. These settings trade some visual detail for a higher frame rate. MSI similarly recommends reducing shadow quality and rendering resolution—the level of detail at which the game draws its images.

Both guides flag ray tracing, a graphics setting for lighting effects, as demanding. Engadget recommends turning it off on budget graphics cards.

Texture quality deserves a separate check. MSI warns that texture settings exceeding available video memory, or VRAM, can cause stuttering and pop-in, where visual details appear suddenly. Lowering that setting may address a memory limit rather than simply reduce visual quality.

Upscaling depends on your hardware and game

Upscaling draws a game at a lower internal resolution, then reconstructs a higher-resolution output. Both guides recommend supported upscaling to help performance. It gives players another way to reduce the work involved in drawing the game.

Availability depends on both the graphics card and the game, MSI says. Its guide lists RTX cards with Tensor Cores for NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Super Sampling, or DLSS, upscaling technology. MSI also cautions that newer versions of AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution, or FSR, may require newer Radeon cards.

Higher frame rates can come with slower input response

Frame generation can raise displayed frames per second, or FPS, while adding input latency—the delay between a player’s action and the game’s response. Engadget reports that tradeoff in its experience with DLSS 4.5 Multi Frame Generation. MSI also warns about increased latency.

That makes the FPS counter only part of the picture: a higher number can come with less responsive controls. MSI recommends a base frame rate around 60 FPS before enabling frame generation and advises against using it in competitive games.

Hardware limits apply here, too. MSI lists RTX 40-series or newer cards for NVIDIA Frame Generation and RTX 50-series cards for Multi Frame Generation, with game support also required.

Maintenance helps address a different performance limit

Engadget recommends updating GPU drivers and closing background applications to reduce resources spent outside the game. It also explains that dust around GPU fans can restrict airflow. A card that reaches its temperature limit may slow its processing speed.

Cleaning addresses that cooling problem, but Engadget explicitly says it does not guarantee an FPS improvement. The useful distinction is between easing demanding game settings, reducing memory pressure and addressing heat: each targets a different potential limit.