🧭 TL;DR – The 10-Minute FPS Tune (Bookmark This)

1. Display: Exclusive Fullscreen → V-Sync Off → Cap FPS to refresh rate minus 3 (e.g., 117 on 120 Hz) if you don’t have VRR. If you do have G-Sync/FreeSync, leave V-Sync Off and cap to your max refresh or a stability target.
2. Upscaling: Turn on FSR/XeSS/DLSS if available; set Quality (mid-range GPUs) or Balanced (lower GPUs).
3. Resolution Scale: If still under target FPS, drop 90% → 85% before nuking textures.
4. Texture Quality: Match to VRAM (2 GB = Low, 4 GB = Medium, 6 GB+ = High). Textures hit VRAM, not FPS—only lower if stuttering or swapping.
5. Shadow Quality: Medium (huge win vs High/Ultra).
6. Ambient Occlusion (SSAO/HBAO): Low/Medium (big cost on older GPUs).
7. Reflections/SSR/RT: Off/Low for competitive stability.
8. Volumetrics/Fog/Clouds: Low/Medium (stealth GPU tax).
9. Foliage/View Distance: Medium (helps CPU & GPU).
10. Post-FX: Motion Blur Off, Film Grain Off, Chromatic Aberration Off. TAA High or TAAU/FXAA+Sharpen if offered.

Finish: Verify stability in a busy area. If frametime spikes persist, see Stutter Fix and Storage sections below.

📊 Know Your Bottleneck – CPU vs GPU vs RAM vs Storage

Tools (pick any): MSI Afterburner + RivaTuner (overlay), CapFrameX, built-in performance graphs if available.

What to watch:

• GPU % ≥ 95% with low CPU % → GPU-bound (lower resolution/effects; enable upscaler).
• CPU thread pegged while GPU under 80% → CPU-bound (lower crowds/view distance/shadows; cap frames).
• VRAM maxed → texture thrash → stutter → drop Texture Quality or Resolution Scale a notch.
• Disk 100% spikes during loads → install on SSD and keep 10–20% free space; check background updaters.

Rule: Fix the bottleneck you actually have, not the one a random guide assumes.

🎮 Three Presets That Feel Great

Use these as starting points; nudge 1–2 settings at a time, test, and lock.

Preset A — Competitive Low/Older Laptop (iGPU / GTX 1050-ish)

• Resolution: 1080p (or native)
• Upscaler: FSR/XeSS Quality (Balanced if still low)
• Resolution Scale: 90%
• Textures: Low/Medium (VRAM-limited)
• Shadows: Medium
• AO: Low
• Reflections/SSR: Off
• Volumetrics/Fog/Clouds: Low
• Foliage/View Distance: Low/Medium
• Post-FX: Motion Blur/Film Grain/CA Off, TAA High
• Frame Cap: 60–90 FPS fixed

Why: Clean motion, minimal hitching, readable image via TAA/high-quality upscaling.

Preset B — Sweet-Spot Midrange (GTX 1660 / RTX 2060 / RX 5600+)

• Resolution: 1080p or 1440p (depending on monitor)
• Upscaler: Quality (Balanced at 1440p if needed)
• Resolution Scale: 100%
• Textures: High (6 GB VRAM+)
• Shadows: Medium/High (test both; Medium is safer)
• AO: Medium
• Reflections/SSR: Low
• Volumetrics/Fog/Clouds: Medium
• Foliage/View Distance: Medium/High
• Post-FX: Blur/Grain/CA Off, Sharpen small bump
• Frame Cap: 90–141 FPS (match your refresh tier)

Why: Balance clarity with consistency; stronger GPU headroom to keep textures high.

Preset C — High Refresh/Modern GPU (RTX 3060+/RX 6700+ or better)

• Resolution: 1440p (or 2160p w/ Quality upscaler)
• Upscaler: Quality (or Native + Frame Gen if offered and stable)
• Resolution Scale: 100%
• Textures: High/Ultra (8 GB+ VRAM)
• Shadows: High (skip Ultra)
• AO: High (dial back if CPU-bound)
• Reflections/SSR: Medium (RT off unless headroom is huge)
• Volumetrics/Fog/Clouds: High → Medium if dips
• Foliage/View Distance: High (reduce if CPU spikes)
• Post-FX: Blur/Grain/CA Off; TAA High
• Frame Cap: just below 165/175/240 depending on monitor

Why: Preserve visuals while remaining tear-free and low-latency.

🧩 Graphics Settings – What to Lower First (Impact Ranking)

Massive impact (start here):

• Upscaling (FSR/XeSS/DLSS) — Quality mode often looks great + big FPS boost.
• Resolution Scale — 100% → 90% → 85% can save your session.
• Shadows — Ultra → Medium = huge wins with minimal visual loss.
• Volumetrics/Fog/Clouds — High → Medium/Low = big gains in open zones.
• Reflections/SSR/RT — Cut aggressively for stability.

Moderate impact:

• Ambient Occlusion — Low/Medium is often enough.
• Foliage Density/View Distance — Helps both CPU & GPU (reduce in busy hubs).
• Anti-Aliasing — Prefer TAA High (soft + stable); if too soft, add small Sharpen.

Low impact:

• Textures — VRAM-dependent; FPS impact is small unless you’re swapping.
• Anisotropic Filtering — Keep it 8x–16x for clarity; minimal FPS cost.

Always off (competitive): Motion Blur, Film Grain, Chromatic Aberration, Depth of Field (if it blurs targets/UI).

🧠 Frametime > Framerate (Why “Smooth 60” Beats Spiky 100)

Spikes kill aim. Cap frames to what your rig can sustain.

• No VRR? Cap to refresh-3 (117 on 120 Hz) to reduce V-Sync input lag and prevent buffer oscillation.
• With VRR (G-Sync/FreeSync): V-Sync Off, cap to 1–2 below max refresh or to a stable target (e.g., 141 on 144 Hz).

Test in a busy hub, then in a stormy/open area. If you don’t see micro-stutter in either, you’ve nailed it.

🧵 VRAM, RAM & Storage – Killing Stutters

VRAM (GPU memory):

• 2 GB: Textures Low, Resolution Scale down if swapping.
• 4 GB: Textures Medium, avoid Ultra effects.
• 6–8 GB+: Textures High, keep upscaler at Quality.
• Symptom: random 0.3–1.0s hitches when turning or entering new zones → lower textures or scale.

System RAM:

• 8 GB: Close browsers/Discord overlays; reduce background apps.
• 16 GB: Comfortable; still keep 3–4 GB free.
• 32 GB: No problem; cache helps.

Storage:

• Install on SSD/NVMe (HDD = hitch city).
• Keep 10–20% free space.
• If streaming stutter persists, check that Windows Search and cloud sync apps aren’t hammering the drive mid-session.

🖧 Windows & Drivers – Quick Wins, No Snake Oil

• Game Mode: On.
• Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS): Try On for modern GPUs; if you see instability with capture tools, test Off.
• Power Plan: High Performance or AMD Ryzen Balanced/Intel High Perf.
• Background Apps: Disable auto updaters (launchers, RGB suites) during play.
• Overlays: Disable redundant ones (Steam/RTSS/Discord/GeForce Experience)—pick one.
• GPU Drivers: Update to a known-stable version; if a new driver hurts performance, roll back one version.
• Chipset/ME Firmware: Install vendor chipset drivers once; you can forget them until a major OS upgrade.

Don’t bother with: Registry “tweaks”, dubious optimizer apps, or permanent system services gutting. They rarely help, often harm.

🧊 Thermals, Laptops & Power Limits

Thermals throttle FPS—especially on laptops.

• Clean fans/vents, elevate rear, don’t game on soft surfaces.
• Use Performance/Turbo mode only if acoustics are OK.
• Cap FPS to 60/90/120 instead of chasing 144+ on thin-and-light laptops; the GPU runs cooler = less throttling = more consistent FPS.
• Consider setting a GPU power limit −10% in vendor tools; often eliminates long-session throttling with tiny FPS loss.
• Battery: Always plug in; many laptops lock clocks on battery even in “High Performance.”

🎯 Input Latency & Display Clarity

• Exclusive Fullscreen > Borderless (if you can).
• V-Sync Off + VRR (if available) + Frame Cap = best of both worlds.
• Mouse: 800–1200 DPI, in-game sens for 28–32 cm/360° (Archer 32–36 cm). Polling 1000 Hz (or 500 if unstable).
• Gamepad: Aim Slowdown On, Magnetism Off (helps burst precision). Right-stick DZ 0.08–0.10; left-stick 0.12–0.14.
• FOV: Default +10–15 (more info, less fisheye).
• Sharpen: Small bump if TAA looks soft (don’t over-sharpen—it adds shimmering).

🧰 Streaming & Recording Without Tanking FPS

• Encoder: NVENC/AMF/Intel QSV > x264 on gaming CPUs.
• Bitrate: 8–12 Mbps 1080p60, CQ/CBR hybrid if available.
• Game Capture > Display Capture (hooks are lighter).
• Browser Hardware Accel: Off in your streaming browser if it conflicts with the game.
• One overlay only (RTSS or platform overlay).
• Cap FPS to leave 10–15% GPU headroom while streaming.

🧪 Troubleshooting – Fix It Fast

Micro-stutter with high FPS

• Cap frames just below refresh; turn off extra overlays; lower Reflections/Volumetrics. Check SSD space.

Sudden 10–20 FPS drops in storms/hubs

• Lower Shadows and Foliage/View Distance; reduce AO; ensure VRR is active or cap frames to a stable tier.

Texture pop-in / muddy armor

• Raise Textures to match VRAM; increase Anisotropic Filtering to 8x–16x; avoid Resolution Scale <85%.

Input feels laggy

• V-Sync Off, Exclusive Fullscreen, frame cap near refresh or a stable lower target; turn off Motion Blur; check mouse polling and disable unnecessary overlays.

CPU pegged, GPU loafing

• Lower crowds/NPC density, view distance, shadows; cap frames to reduce CPU overhead; close browser tabs & launchers.

Laptop throttling after 20–30 minutes

• Cap FPS to 60/90; set GPU power −10%; raise fan profile; cool surface; plug in.

🧭 The Repeatable 10/30/60 Plan

10 Minutes (new patch or new PC):

1. Exclusive Fullscreen, V-Sync Off, cap frames.
2. Upscaler Quality (Balanced if needed).
3. Shadows Medium, AO Low/Med, Post-FX off.
4. Quick hub test → adjust Resolution Scale to hit target.

30 Minutes (deep clean):

1. Texture vs VRAM pass; check stutters while rotating camera.
2. Volumetrics/Reflections set per your headroom.
3. Foliage/View Distance sanity check; busy hub test.
4. Windows: Game Mode On, overlays trimmed, power plan set.

60 Minutes (dial-in for competitive):

1. Mouse/gamepad fine-tuning; deadzones & sens.
2. Frame cap polish based on worst-case area.
3. Stream profile set; headroom verified.
4. Save a Profile preset: “Solo/Quest,” “Dungeon/Raid,” “Stream.”

🛡️ Why Choose BoostRoom For the Fast Lane

Want a done-for-you FPS pass? We’ll audit your rig and ship tailored graphics profiles (solo, group, and stream), plus input tuning for Guardian/Archer/Battle Mage. You get clean frametimes, stable caps, and a 15-minute warm-up routine so every session starts smooth.

• Custom performance plan per hardware & monitor
• Low-latency input mapping (K/M and controller)
• Stream-safe settings with GPU headroom baked in
• Clear checklist to re-apply after patches

When you’re ready to focus on playing—not tweaking—BoostRoom has your back.

❓ FAQs

Should I use DLSS/FSR/XeSS or native? - Use the Quality upscaler for a free FPS bump with minimal blur. Drop to Balanced only if you need more.

My FPS is high but it feels choppy—why? - Your frametime is unstable. Cap frames to a sustainable target; reduce Shadows/Volumetrics; verify VRR or V-Sync status.

Does Texture Quality change FPS a lot? - Not usually. It hits VRAM more than FPS. Lower only if you’re stuttering due to swapping.

Is V-Sync always bad? - It adds latency if used alone. With VRR, keep V-Sync Off and use a frame cap. Without VRR, cap to refresh-3 to reduce V-Sync lag.

What about Windows “Game Bar” and overlays? - Use one overlay (max). Extra overlays fight for hooks and cause stutter.

Laptop user—Turbo or Balanced? - If thermals are fine, Turbo. If it throttles later, cap FPS and consider −10% GPU power for stable clocks.

🏁 Conclusion

Great performance is a system, not a single slider. Lock display & frame cap, use a Quality upscaler, set Shadows/Volumetrics to sensible levels, align Textures to VRAM, and keep frametimes flat. Add a tiny sharpen, fix your input latency, and enjoy a game that feels fast—not just reads a big number.

When you want a pro to dial it in for your exact PC and playstyle, BoostRoom delivers plug-and-play profiles and warm-ups that keep fights smooth—even on patch day.

Learn more: when we publish, we’ll link the best active Fellowship wiki for settings references (official or community—whichever is most up to date and complete).