There is no single best Destiny 2 graphics preset for every PC. The right settings depend on your graphics card, processor, display resolution, refresh rate, and whether you prioritize image clarity, smooth frame rates, or peripheral visibility. Start at your display’s native resolution, set a frame-rate target your PC can sustain, then adjust render resolution and demanding effects one at a time.
Before changing settings: confirm your PC and display
Use your monitor’s native resolution for the clearest image unless performance makes a lower render resolution necessary. Also confirm the refresh rate selected for the display in Windows and in the game’s display options; a high frame-rate target is useful only if your hardware can sustain it and your display can show it.
Bungie’s PC system requirements list Windows 10 64-bit and the supported hardware tiers. Bungie states that Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 support ended June 4, 2024. Laptops are not officially supported, though Bungie notes that qualifying laptops may be able to play. Requirements are a baseline, not a promise of a particular frame rate.
A safe order for tuning Destiny 2
- Record your current settings. Note resolution, refresh rate, frame-rate cap, and graphics options so you can undo a change that makes the game look or feel worse.
- Choose a sustainable frame-rate target. Begin with a cap your PC can hold in the activities you play, rather than a peak number seen briefly in an easy scene. If performance fluctuates, prioritize consistent frame times over a higher but unstable average.
- Set display resolution, then adjust Render Resolution. Keep the display at native resolution where possible. Lower Render Resolution if GPU load is limiting performance; raise it only if you have enough headroom and want a sharper image.
- Change expensive visual effects individually. Try shadows, foliage detail, ambient occlusion, or depth of field one at a time. Compare in a similar activity or location, and keep the change only if its performance benefit is worth the visual difference.
- Personalize Field of View and motion effects. Choose an FOV that feels comfortable and supports how you play. Adjust film or motion effects to taste after the core resolution and performance balance is stable.
- Recheck after major game or driver updates. Updates can change performance or how settings behave, so an old tuning choice may no longer be the best fit.
Which settings affect image quality and FPS?
Render Resolution
Render Resolution changes the size of the image the game renders internally. Increasing it can improve fine detail and reduce jagged edges, but increases rendering work. Lowering it can recover performance at the cost of sharpness. If the game looks soft after lowering it, restore the native render scale before reducing several other settings at once.
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Anti-aliasing
Anti-aliasing smooths jagged edges. NVIDIA’s 2017 Destiny 2 guide describes FXAA and SMAA, noting that FXAA softened some texture detail in its examples. It recommended SMAA with supersampling when the tested system had enough GPU headroom. That is a historical vendor recommendation, not a guaranteed best setting for today’s game build or hardware.
Shadows, foliage, ambient occlusion, and depth of field
These settings affect visual depth and detail, but can also add rendering work. If you need more performance, reduce them incrementally and compare the result rather than switching everything to Low. Shadows and foliage changes are readily visible; ambient occlusion changes how contact shading appears, while depth of field affects blur away from the focal plane.
NVIDIA’s October 17, 2017 guide reported setting-level FPS changes in its own test setup: nearly 4 FPS from reducing Depth of Field, 4.1 FPS from lowering foliage detail from High to Medium, 5.4 FPS when choosing HDAO ambient occlusion, and 4.1 FPS when reducing shadows from Highest to High. Its reported total of 20 FPS across five changes was specific to that test. These dated figures are not predictions for current PCs or current Destiny 2 builds.
Texture Quality
Texture Quality affects surface detail and memory use. NVIDIA’s 2017 explanation describes texture mipmap resolution scaling as a way to manage VRAM, and says a texture-quality change required restarting the game in the build it tested. Treat that restart behavior and its VRAM observations as historical; if the current game prompts you to restart after changing textures, follow the prompt. Lower texture quality is most useful as an experiment when memory constraints or performance symptoms point to it, not as an automatic FPS setting.
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Choose an FOV for visibility and comfort
A wider Field of View shows more of the scene at the edges, which can help you notice nearby activity. The trade-off is that objects near the center appear smaller. A narrower FOV makes central targets look larger but shows less peripheral space. Start with a value that feels comfortable during movement and aiming, then adjust in small steps.
FOV can affect performance, but the size of that effect depends on hardware and scene. NVIDIA’s 2017 test reported 2.4 FPS saved at 95° versus 105° in its comparison; a separate 55°-to-105° comparison spanned 11.7 FPS. Those are results from its specific test scene and hardware, not a universal reason to use a narrow FOV.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Use NVIDIA Reflex for latency, not image quality
NVIDIA Reflex targets click-to-display latency rather than visual detail or FPS. Bungie says it is available on compatible graphics cards and is enabled by default with supported cards and Game Ready drivers from September 19, 2020 onward. Bungie’s Reflex guide describes its value particularly when graphics performance is a bottleneck.
Bungie’s CVARS documentation identifies Reflex values as 0 (off), 1 (default), and 2 (Reflex with Boost). Boost can override GPU power-saving features, so it is not simply a graphics-quality option. Most players with supported hardware can leave the default behavior alone unless they are troubleshooting latency or power behavior.
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Why old Destiny 2 FPS benchmarks should not set your preset
NVIDIA’s October 2017 guide reported averages of 87.1 FPS on a GTX 1060 at 1920×1080 with Highest settings, 64.9 FPS on a GTX 1070 at 2560×1440, and 50.2 FPS on a GTX 1080 Ti at 3840×2160 with Highest settings. Those results describe NVIDIA’s then-current test setup. They should not be used to predict performance on modern hardware or a current game build. Bungie’s requirements page does not publish a target-FPS benchmark.
Reset settings if a graphics change causes problems
If graphics or other settings stop behaving correctly, Bungie recommends deleting the settings file as an initial troubleshooting step. Its CVARS troubleshooting guide says to close the game, delete %AppData%BungieDestinyPCprefsCVARS.xml, then relaunch. The game regenerates the file with defaults, so custom player settings are lost and must be configured again.
Bungie generally discourages manually editing CVARS.xml and says such edits are unsupported. Use the in-game settings for routine tuning; reserve the file reset for troubleshooting rather than trying to force a graphics preset through manual changes.
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