Start with your game’s Low preset, test a repeatable section, and reduce demanding visual effects before lowering resolution. Then raise settings one at a time until you find a balance of smooth controls, clear visibility, and acceptable image quality. There is no universal best setup: the cost of each setting depends on the game and your PC.
Set up a fair test before changing anything
Choose a repeatable section of the game—a saved checkpoint, training area, or route you can replay—and note the current display resolution, render scale, graphics preset, and how smooth the game feels. A built-in FPS counter can help you compare runs, but a consistent gameplay situation matters more than a single number: crowded scenes and effects can behave differently from quiet ones.
Reset to default settings if you do not know what has already been changed, then select the Low preset. Change only a few options in each pass, replay the same section, and note whether responsiveness or visibility improved. Riot Games Support recommends lowering settings, testing, and gradually restoring individual options to find a preferred balance (Optimize Graphics Settings for Better FPS – Windows & Mac).
Lower demanding effects before resolution
Start with settings that add complex lighting, reflections, or extra visual processing. Names and costs vary by game, so use this as a priority list to test—not a guarantee that every option will improve performance on your PC.
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- Shadows: Lower shadow quality or disable extra shadow effects. Different shadow methods can put different demands on the CPU or GPU.
- Reflections and lighting: Reduce reflection quality, volumetric lighting, or other detailed lighting effects. Reflections can require the game to render the scene again.
- Ambient occlusion and post-processing: Try lowering ambient occlusion, bloom, motion blur, depth of field, and similar effects if the game offers them. The visual impact varies; keep effects that matter to you.
- Effects and detail: Reduce particle or effects quality if busy fights or explosions coincide with slowdowns. Check that lower effects do not hide important gameplay cues.
These options are common tuning targets in guidance from Intel and Riot Games Support. Their actual performance effect must be checked in the game you play.
Adjust antialiasing and texture detail thoughtfully
Antialiasing
Antialiasing smooths jagged edges, but some methods cost more performance than others. Lower its quality or turn off the current method if you still need more responsiveness; if the game offers a less demanding alternative, test that too. Edges may look rougher, so compare during normal gameplay rather than judging only from a menu. The available methods and driver controls vary by game, GPU, and graphics API (AMD’s Radeon settings guidance).
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Textures and materials
Try lowering texture or material quality after more costly effects if you still need improvement. Texture detail affects how surfaces look, and the result can be more noticeable at close range. Riot lists textures, detail, and material quality among settings to tune; there is no rule that textures should always be kept high, because the best choice depends on the game and PC.
Use render scale or resolution if effects are not enough
Render scale controls the resolution at which the game draws its image before displaying it. Lowering it reduces rendering work but makes the image less sharp. If the game has a render-scale slider, lower it in small steps and replay your test section. Otherwise, try a lower display resolution. AMD’s examples of changing render scale from 120% to 100% or resolution from 2560×1440 to 1920×1080 illustrate possible adjustments, not recommended targets or measured performance gains (AMD Game Advisor guidance).
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When comparing settings, consider more than apparent speed: note how much image clarity you lose and whether important objects remain easy to see. If a small reduction in resolution makes text or distant targets hard to read, restore some clarity and look for a different setting to reduce.
Treat VSync as a display option, not an FPS boost
VSync synchronizes frame output with a display to reduce screen tearing. It is not a universal switch for increasing rendered frames, and its behavior depends on the game, graphics API, and display. If you see tearing or uneven presentation, test VSync on and off in the same section and keep the option that feels better. The available control may be in the game or graphics software (AMD’s Radeon settings guidance).
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Check Windows 11 graphics preferences on a multi-GPU PC
If your Windows 11 PC has both integrated and discrete graphics, Windows can set a per-game graphics preference. This can help ensure the game uses the intended GPU, but it does not replace in-game tuning.
- Open Settings > System > Display > Graphics.
- Select the game. If it is not listed, use the option to add or browse for a desktop app.
- Open the game’s options, choose the graphics preference you want, and save.
- Restart the game for the preference to take effect.
Windows 11’s optimizations for windowed games apply only to compatible DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 games running windowed or borderless; they do not apply to every game or fullscreen mode. See Microsoft’s Windows 11 guidance for the supported scope and settings.
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Make a final pass and recognize when settings are not the cause
Once the broad changes are tested, adjust one setting at a time. Keep the combination that feels responsive while preserving the clarity and visibility you need. If performance remains poor, graphics settings may not be the limiting factor: CPU capacity, memory, a game-specific issue, or driver and software problems can also be involved. Reducing visual quality cannot guarantee a fix for those causes.
For supported Radeon hardware, AMD’s Game Advisor can collect a performance report and suggest in-game changes. Its cited guidance lists hardware and software compatibility conditions, so check the current utility’s requirements before relying on it; it is optional, not a prerequisite for tuning settings (AMD Game Advisor guidance).
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