There is no single best preset for every PC. For smooth play, start with ray tracing and path tracing off; for a visual upgrade, test ray-traced lighting and an upscaler; and reserve path tracing for a deliberate image-quality choice. This guide covers The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered on PC, released September 29, 2026—not the older 4.04 build. The Remastered upgrade is free for previous owners within the same platform ecosystem, and its rendering changes mean older settings advice may not match the current game.
Start with a profile that matches your priority
Keep conventional rasterized quality as high as your PC can run consistently, then tune the most demanding features to your resolution and frame-rate goal. Treat the profiles below as starting points, not guaranteed performance settings: frame rates change with hardware, resolution, graphics settings, and the scene being played.
Smooth, consistent play
- Begin with ray tracing and path tracing off.
- Keep conventional quality settings high, then lower demanding options or output resolution if actual gameplay falls short of your target.
- Judge consistency in the areas and combat situations you play, rather than relying on one quiet scene.
Balanced image quality
- Try ray-traced lighting if performance has enough headroom.
- Enable an upscaler supported by your GPU when needed, then compare the image in motion as well as while standing still.
- If the installed build offers a performance-oriented ray-traced global-illumination mode, compare it with the higher-quality option. The earlier PC update described such a mode as favoring frame rate over range and precision; check the Remastered build’s current labels rather than assuming the older menu wording is unchanged.
Maximum lighting detail
- Try path tracing as an intentional visual trade-off, not as a default recommendation.
- Use supported upscaling and frame generation where available, and assess image stability and responsiveness during actual play.
- Generated frames and upscaling do not guarantee the same visual result or feel on every system.
What changed in the Remastered PC version
CD PROJEKT RED’s Remastered notes list native DirectX 12 rendering with multithreading, improved shading and tone mapping, updated lighting, GTAO as an additional screen-space ambient-occlusion option, ray-traced local shadows, updated screen-space reflections and shadows, and PC path tracing. The notes also list NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 with Ray Reconstruction, AMD FSR 4 with Frame Generation and Anti-Lag 2, and Intel XeSS 2.0 with Frame Generation and Low Latency. See the official Remastered announcements and notes.
FSR 4 is listed for AMD Radeon RX 7000 Series and newer; on unsupported GPUs, the game uses FSR 2 instead. Check the current in-game options and graphics-driver support before choosing a technology or following detailed setup advice.
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Earlier next-gen guidance may refer to a different feature set. The earlier PC update introduced ray-traced global illumination and ambient occlusion, optional ray-traced reflections and shadows on compatible hardware, Ultra+ settings, FSR 2.1, and DLSS 3. Those details are useful context, but the Remastered notes should guide decisions about the current version. Read the earlier next-gen update notes.
How resolution, ray tracing, and upscaling affect the choice
Output resolution
Higher output resolution can substantially reduce frame rate. CD PROJEKT RED puts it plainly: “Higher resolution will significantly affect FPS.” Choose your resolution first, then evaluate settings at that output rather than assuming results from a lower resolution will carry over. CD PROJEKT RED’s PC requirements and performance notes.
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Ray tracing and path tracing
These are visual choices with performance consequences, not settings that should automatically be enabled on every PC. Compare ray tracing on and off in the same locations, and try path tracing only if its visual changes matter more to you than the additional performance cost. The official performance guidance emphasizes that results depend on scene, gameplay, settings, output resolution, and hardware configuration; it does not establish a universal best setting or model-specific frame rate.
Upscaling and frame generation
Use the option available for your GPU and build, and compare the result in motion. CD PROJEKT RED’s published QA configurations for ray-tracing and path-tracing targets used DLSS, FSR, or XeSS on Auto; the path-tracing configuration also enabled frame generation. Other configurations used native resolution. Those test conditions matter: a performance figure from an upscaled or frame-generated configuration should not be treated as a native-rendering result.
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A practical tuning order
- Confirm the version and patch. Check that you are running Remastered and that the game is updated. Its rendering and feature support differ from version 4.04.
- Set your output resolution and target. Pick the resolution you intend to use and a frame-rate goal that suits your display and preference.
- Establish a rasterized baseline. Turn off ray tracing and path tracing, keep conventional quality high, and check performance during normal gameplay.
- Adjust for consistency. If performance misses your target, reduce demanding quality options or output resolution one change at a time, then recheck the same kind of gameplay.
- Test ray-traced lighting. Enable it only if performance remains acceptable. Compare the available quality or performance-oriented option if the current build exposes one.
- Choose an upscaler if needed. Select a technology supported by your GPU and drivers, then check for image instability or distracting artifacts in motion.
- Test path tracing last. Add supported upscaling and frame generation where available, and decide whether the visual result is worth the change in performance and responsiveness.
If an option is missing or lighting looks wrong
Check the game version, graphics drivers, and the labels in the installed build before assuming a feature is unavailable. Patch 5.00b, released October 1, 2026, fixed an issue where DLSS was unavailable in the Xbox Play Anywhere PC version and adjusted lighting, including some interiors that appeared too dark. That fix is specific to that edition; it should not be generalized to every PC storefront. Check CD PROJEKT RED’s current patch notes.
Exact menu paths and feature availability can vary with the installed Remastered build and hardware. If a setting described in older advice is absent or named differently, rely on the current in-game options and official notes rather than forcing an old-version path.
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What the official performance figures can—and cannot—tell you
CD PROJEKT RED says its expected frame-rate targets are based on QA tests and may fluctuate with scene and gameplay. Its requirements guidance also ties results to hardware configuration, settings, and resolution. Because the published requirements table’s values are not established here, this guide does not assign FPS figures to GPU models or claim that a particular card is best.
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