The Tool Desk
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This guide reflects CD PROJEKT RED’s Update 2.0/Phantom Liberty requirements, its official ray-tracing and FSR guidance, and PC features listed in Update 2.3 (July 16, 2025). The settings described here are for the PC version; console and Mac options should not be assumed to match.
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What the major graphics settings actually change
Conventional rendering
The non-ray-traced presets use the game’s standard lighting and reflection techniques. They are the sensible starting point for older or midrange hardware, for players targeting a stable 60 FPS, and for anyone who prefers lower latency over maximum lighting detail. CDPR’s official requirements separate these presets from ray tracing and Overdrive targets, so a card that meets a conventional 1080p recommendation is not automatically an Overdrive-capable card.
Ray tracing
Ray tracing adds hardware-accelerated calculations for effects such as reflections, shadows and lighting. Cyberpunk 2077’s named Ray Tracing Ultra preset is a conventional ray-tracing tier. It should not be described as identical to path tracing: the game treats Path Tracing as a separate, more demanding mode.
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Ray Tracing: Overdrive and Path Tracing
Ray Tracing: Overdrive is the preset above Ray Tracing Ultra and includes path-traced rendering. CDPR describes it as “very GPU intensive, therefore it’s set to ‘off’ by default.” You can enable it through Settings → Graphics → Quick Preset, or turn on Path Tracing (Technology Preview) separately in Settings → Graphics, under the Ray Tracing section.
Path tracing calculates a broader set of light paths and can make indirect lighting, reflections and shadows more coherent, but the cost is substantial. Overdrive is therefore a visual-quality option for powerful GPUs, not a default upgrade that every ray-tracing system can absorb.
Photo Mode path-traced screenshots
Photo Mode has a separate path-traced screenshot feature for supported ray-tracing GPUs. CDPR lists minimum VRAM thresholds of 8 GB at 1080p, 10 GB at 1440p and 12 GB at 2160p for that screenshot function. These are Photo Mode support thresholds, not general game requirements. At higher resolutions, or on a less powerful GPU, rendering a screenshot can take seconds or even minutes.
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DLSS Super Resolution renders the game internally at a lower resolution and reconstructs an output closer to your display resolution. That can recover performance lost to ray tracing, although the result depends on the chosen mode, motion, fine detail and your hardware.
DLSS Ray Reconstruction
Update 2.0 added NVIDIA DLSS 3.5, including DLSS Ray Reconstruction, which CDPR says improves the quality of ray-traced effects. It requires a GeForce RTX graphics card and is available only when Path Tracing is enabled. In other words, it is not a universal sharpening toggle for every rendering mode.
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The Update 2.0 notes listed Game Ready Driver 537.42 as the minimum driver for Ray Reconstruction at that time. That number is historical guidance; check the current game and driver requirements before troubleshooting a modern installation.
DLSS preset choices
Update 2.3 gave the DLSS Super Resolution preset tooltip more detailed information and fixed a bug involving CNN and Transformer preset selection. The tooltip can help you choose a mode for your resolution and performance target, but it does not establish that one preset is categorically best on every GPU, display or scene. Compare the available modes in a repeatable location and keep the one that gives you acceptable detail and stability.
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FSR, FSR Frame Generation and the Update 2.3 additions
Upscaling and Frame Generation are separate controls
AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 3 combines image upscaling with frame-generation technology. In Cyberpunk 2077, FSR upscaling and FSR Frame Generation are distinct settings. CDPR states that Frame Generation can be enabled only when FSR 3 upscaling is enabled in the original FSR 3 implementation.
The game retained both FSR 2.1 and FSR 3 so players could choose based on their own visual-quality and performance preferences. Do not assume that the newer number automatically looks better in every scene; test it at your output resolution.
What Update 2.3 added
The PC notes for Update 2.3, dated July 16, 2025, list three relevant additions:
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- AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 for compatible AMD GPUs. A supporting AMD driver is required before the FSR 4 option appears.
- AMD FSR Frame Generation 3.1, which can be combined with any upscaler.
- Intel XeSS 2.0, including XeSS Frame Generation on compatible hardware.
These are capabilities announced for that build. Game patches, GPU support and driver requirements can change, so verify that your current installation exposes the same options before diagnosing a missing setting.
Why CDPR sets a baseline for Frame Generation
CDPR recommends at least 60 FPS before enabling FSR Frame Generation. At a lower base rate, it warns that visual artifacts become more noticeable and frame pacing can suffer. It also strongly advises a display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz or higher. Generated frames can increase the displayed cadence, but they do not make the underlying simulation, input response or base render as fast as a genuinely higher native frame rate.
Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling must be enabled for the FSR Frame Generation setup described by CDPR. The support material also contains driver-version recommendations, but those versions are volatile; use the current guidance for your driver branch rather than treating an old number as permanently valid.
Official PC hardware targets
CDPR describes Cyberpunk 2077 as graphics- and processor-intensive, requires DirectX 12, and publishes separate targets for conventional rendering, ray tracing and Overdrive. The table below is the Update 2.0/Phantom Liberty requirements table, not an independent benchmark. Its expected frame rates are vendor targets, so an unlisted graphics card cannot be assigned a guaranteed result from them.
| Rendering target | Preset, resolution and expected result | Processor | Graphics card | Memory and storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional minimum | Low, 1080p, 30 FPS | Core i7-6700 or Ryzen 5 1600 | GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB, Radeon RX 580 8 GB or Intel Arc A380 | 12 GB RAM; 70 GB SSD |
| Conventional recommended | High, 1080p, 60 FPS | Core i7-12700 or Ryzen 7 7800X3D | GeForce RTX 2060 Super, Radeon RX 5700 XT or Arc A770 | 16 GB RAM; 70 GB SSD |
| Conventional Ultra target | Ultra, 2160p, 60 FPS | Core i9-12900 or Ryzen 9 7900X | GeForce RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 7900 XTX | 20 GB RAM; 70 GB NVMe |
| Ray-tracing minimum | RT Low, 1080p, 30 FPS | Core i7-9700 or Ryzen 5 5600 | GeForce RTX 2060, Radeon RX 6800 XT or Arc A750 | 16 GB RAM; 70 GB SSD |
| Ray-tracing recommended | RT Ultra, 1080p, 60 FPS | Core i9-12900 or Ryzen 9 7900X | GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or Radeon RX 7900 XTX | 20 GB RAM; 70 GB NVMe |
| Ray Tracing: Overdrive | 2160p, 60 FPS | Core i9-12900 or Ryzen 9 7900X | GeForce RTX 4080 | 24 GB RAM; 70 GB NVMe |
For the Overdrive row, CDPR explicitly measured the 2160p/60 target with DLSS Frame Generation enabled. That is a manufacturer test condition, not a guarantee that every GeForce RTX 4080 system will deliver the same result in every location, driver version or patch.
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How to choose settings for your system
Step 1: Set the real target first
- Identify your monitor’s native resolution and refresh rate.
- Choose the base frame rate you want before generated frames: 30 FPS for a minimum experience, 60 FPS for a broadly responsive target, or higher if your display and hardware support it.
- Decide whether path-traced lighting is worth sacrificing performance and latency for your play style.
Step 2: Pick a rendering family
- Older or entry-level PC: start with conventional Low or High settings at 1080p. Add an upscaler only if you need more headroom.
- Modern midrange PC: try conventional High or RT Low/Ultra according to the official tier your hardware most closely resembles. Measure your base rate before considering Frame Generation.
- High-end ray-tracing PC: test RT Ultra first, then Path Tracing or Overdrive. Use DLSS Ray Reconstruction only when Path Tracing is enabled and your GeForce RTX card supports it.
- Overdrive-focused PC: treat the RTX 4080/2160p/60 row as the closest published example, with DLSS Frame Generation already on in CDPR’s measurement. Lower resolution or a different upscaler may be necessary on other systems.
Step 3: Select an upscaler
Choose DLSS, FSR or XeSS according to the options your GPU and current game build expose. There is no official universal image-quality winner among them. Compare foliage, thin cables, neon signs, distant geometry and fast camera movement at your actual output resolution. Keep the option that balances clarity, shimmer and frame rate for your eyes and hardware.
Step 4: Add Frame Generation only after the base rate is acceptable
- Run the game with Frame Generation off and confirm that the base rate is about 60 FPS or higher if you intend to follow CDPR’s FSR guidance.
- Enable Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling in Windows if it is not already enabled.
- Turn on the required upscaler. For the original FSR 3 Frame Generation path, FSR 3 upscaling must also be enabled; FSR Frame Generation 3.1 has broader upscaler compatibility in Update 2.3.
- Enable Frame Generation and check frame pacing, input feel and image artifacts in a busy area rather than only in a quiet interior.
- Use a 120 Hz-or-higher monitor when possible, as CDPR strongly advises for this use case.
Should you use DLSS, FSR or XeSS?
The official documentation explains what each technology does and which hardware or mode restrictions apply, but it does not establish a universal quality ranking. The practical choice is a compatibility and preference decision.
| Option | What the documentation establishes | What to check yourself |
|---|---|---|
| DLSS Super Resolution | Available on supported GeForce RTX hardware; Update 2.3 added more detailed preset-tooltip information. | Detail stability, ghosting and performance at your resolution. |
| DLSS Ray Reconstruction | Improves ray-traced effects; requires a GeForce RTX card and Path Tracing enabled. | Whether the path-traced image improves enough to justify its GPU cost. |
| FSR 2.1/3 | Both are retained so players can choose; original FSR 3 Frame Generation requires FSR 3 upscaling. | Motion artifacts, fine-detail reconstruction and base frame rate. |
| FSR 4 | Added in Update 2.3 for compatible AMD GPUs with a supporting driver. | Whether your exact GPU, driver and current build expose the option. |
| XeSS 2.0 | Added in Update 2.3, with XeSS Frame Generation on compatible hardware. | Compatibility, pacing and clarity in your preferred scenes. |
Common problems and practical fixes
Overdrive or Path Tracing is missing
Confirm that you are running the PC build and have updated the game. Open Settings → Graphics and check the Ray Tracing section, or use Quick Preset for Overdrive. Console and Mac menus do not necessarily expose the same controls.
DLSS Ray Reconstruction cannot be selected
Check all three conditions: the GPU must be a GeForce RTX model, Path Tracing must be enabled, and the driver must meet current support requirements. The old 537.42 figure belongs to the Update 2.0-era guidance and should not be treated as a current universal minimum.
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For the original FSR 3 implementation, enable FSR 3 upscaling first. For the Update 2.3 FSR Frame Generation 3.1 path, verify that your current build and hardware support the broader compatibility described in the patch notes. Also check Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling and install a currently supported driver.
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Generated frames look unstable
Measure the base rate with Frame Generation disabled. If it is below CDPR’s recommended 60 FPS baseline, lower the rendering resolution or preset first. Check for pacing problems on a 120 Hz-or-higher display, and compare the result in motion-heavy scenes where artifacts are easiest to see.
Performance is far below the published target
The requirements are vendor targets tied to specific presets, resolutions, hardware and, for Overdrive, DLSS Frame Generation. Check that you are comparing the same conditions, confirm DirectX 12 operation, and avoid extrapolating from a different GPU tier. Background applications, current drivers, game patches and CPU limits can all change the result.
A sensible starting profile
For a general 1080p PC that is near CDPR’s conventional recommended tier, begin with the High preset, leave Path Tracing off, and test DLSS, FSR or XeSS at the mode that keeps your base rate near 60 FPS. For a stronger ray-tracing system, start at RT Ultra and add an upscaler before trying Path Tracing. For an Overdrive experiment, enable Path Tracing, use the upscaler appropriate to your GPU, verify a roughly 60 FPS base rate, and only then test Frame Generation. Change one setting at a time so you can identify whether a visual problem comes from ray-traced lighting, reconstruction or generated frames.
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