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There is no single best ray-tracing preset for every PC game. Start at your monitor’s output resolution, measure a representative scene, then tune one setting at a time. Keep the effects you value most, use a supported upscaler at its most quality-focused mode if performance is short, and lower individual effects only as needed. Treat frame generation as a separate smoothness option—not a substitute for a responsive baseline.
How to tune ray-traced graphics without guessing
- Set your target. Choose the resolution you actually play at and a frame-rate range that feels right for your game. Competitive play may make responsiveness more important than extra reflections; a slower single-player game may justify a different balance.
- Choose a repeatable scene. Use the same area, camera position, and movement when comparing settings. Check both a visually representative scene and a demanding one; a quiet corridor may not reveal the cost of a busy, reflective scene.
- Establish a baseline. Enable the ray-tracing preset or effects you want to evaluate and record performance. Change one setting at a time so you can tell what each change does to image quality and frame rate.
- Try upscaling before making broad quality cuts. If the game supports an upscaler on your hardware, begin with a quality-focused mode. Move toward Balanced or Performance only if needed, and inspect fine detail, motion stability, and responsiveness as well as the frame counter.
- Trim settings selectively. If upscaling is not enough, lower one ray-tracing effect or other demanding setting at a time. Keep the effects whose contribution matters to you; repeat the comparison in the same scene.
- Evaluate frame generation separately. Check how smooth motion feels and whether controls remain responsive. A higher displayed frame rate does not by itself show that the game is rendering frames faster or responding to input sooner.
This is a tuning method, not a universal preset or a claim of independent testing. A setting’s visual impact and performance cost depend on the game, scene, hardware, and output resolution.
Which ray-tracing effects should you keep?
Ray tracing is not one universal switch. Games can expose separate effects and quality controls, and the options vary by title. Decide which visual changes you notice and value, then compare their cost in your own game rather than applying a ranking from another one.
Use the game’s effects as individual choices
NVIDIA’s Control Graphics and Performance Guide discusses options including ray-traced reflections, transparent reflections, contact shadows, indirect diffuse lighting, and debris, alongside resolution, textures, and volumetric lighting. It is a useful illustration of how many distinct controls a game may expose, but its recommendations and results are specific to Control.
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For example, if reflections are central to the look you want, keep them and test reducing a less noticeable effect. If lighting or shadows matter more in your game, prioritize those instead. Compare the image in motion as well as in a still frame; a difference that looks striking when paused may be less important during play.
How to choose an upscaler and mode
Upscaling renders the game from a lower-resolution input and reconstructs an image at the selected output resolution. NVIDIA describes DLSS Super Resolution this way. It can improve performance, but it is a tradeoff—not a guarantee of identical pixels at a higher frame rate. Compare image quality at your chosen output resolution, performance in the specific game, motion stability, latency, and support for your GPU.
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DLSS
NVIDIA’s DLSS documentation describes several distinct features: Super Resolution reconstructs output from lower-resolution input; Frame Generation generates additional frames; and Ray Reconstruction uses an AI network to produce pixels between sampled rays in ray-traced scenes. DLAA is native-resolution anti-aliasing, not a performance upscaler. Availability and performance depend on the game integration and supported GPU. NVIDIA describes Ray Reconstruction as enhancing image quality for intensive ray-traced scenes; that is the vendor’s product description, not an independent test result.
FSR
AMD’s FSR Technologies page describes its current “Redstone” suite as including FSR Upscaling, FSR Frame Generation, FSR Ray Regeneration, and FSR Radiance Caching. Its compatibility information distinguishes support by feature and GPU generation. Do not assume every feature is available on every Radeon card or in every game; check the game menu and AMD’s current compatibility information. AMD also describes game-menu and driver-based routes for supported titles.
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XeSS
Intel’s XeSS Super Resolution Developer Guide lists presets from Native Anti-Aliasing through Performance and Ultra Performance, with guidance that depends on output resolution. Its advice about avoiding XeSS alongside other upscalers or TAA concerns game integration; it is not a reason to disable TAA globally in unrelated games.
These vendor descriptions do not establish a controlled, common-game ranking of DLSS, FSR, and XeSS. Check which option the game offers on your system, then judge its image and performance in that title. Do not assume the technologies have identical quality, latency, or hardware coverage.
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What frame generation changes—and what it does not
Frame generation creates additional displayed frames; it is distinct from upscaling, which reduces rendering workload by using a lower-resolution input. Assess generated-frame smoothness separately from the game’s underlying responsiveness. If controls feel laggy, a higher displayed frame rate may not solve the problem.
NVIDIA’s driver guide notes that game-specific DLSS options vary substantially with implementation and title. It also warns against using native DLSS Frame Generation together with Smooth Motion: the two compete, and combining them can lower performance and cause visual artifacts.
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Why there is no universal performance gain
Frame-rate changes depend on the exact game, GPU, resolution, scene, settings, and feature implementation. NVIDIA’s 2019 Control guide reported “up to 89%” for a higher-fidelity DLSS mode in its tested heavy-GPU-load situations and “up to 197%” for lower-resolution Performance modes under that guide’s test conditions. These are historical, vendor-published results for Control, not predictions for another game or PC. The guide’s GPU recommendation is likewise game-specific, not an all-games buying threshold.
A model-level graphics-card recommendation would require current benchmarks for your game and target resolution, as well as budget and availability. Requirements differ by title, so a general recommendation for a graphics card for ray tracing would not establish what you need for a particular game.
What to include when asking for a specific recommendation
To get useful settings advice, provide the game, GPU, output resolution, desired frame-rate range, and how much input latency you will tolerate. Those details determine which effects, upscaler mode, and frame-generation options are worth testing. Recheck the game’s menu and vendor compatibility pages when features or drivers change.
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