Elden Ring Performance Settings: Boost FPS & Visuals

To improve Elden Ring’s frame rate and visuals, start by setting the graphics preset to High, disabling ray tracing, and ensuring your GPU drivers are up to date. If you still experience stuttering, cap the frame rate to 60 FPS and adjust the advanced settings like anti-aliasing and motion blur. This guide covers the key settings, their impact, and common fixes to help you get the smoothest experience possible.

Background: Why Elden Ring Performance Varies

Elden Ring, released in February 2022, uses FromSoftware’s proprietary engine, which is known for its distinctive art style but also for performance quirks on PC. The game’s open world is massive, streaming assets continuously as you traverse the Lands Between. This can cause hitches on systems with slower storage or insufficient VRAM. Additionally, the game launched with a frame rate cap of 60 FPS, which remains in place; uncapping it can lead to physics glitches and faster enemy attacks, so it’s generally not recommended. Understanding these constraints helps you set realistic expectations when tweaking settings.

How to Improve Frame Rate: Key Settings

Here are the most impactful settings to adjust for a higher frame rate, listed from most to least impactful:

• Ray Tracing: Disable it. This is the single biggest performance drain. Ray tracing in Elden Ring is subtle and not worth the massive FPS hit on most GPUs.
• Shadow Quality: Lower from Ultra to High or Medium. Shadows are rendered across the entire world and have a significant cost.
• Volumetric Quality: Set to Medium. This affects fog, mist, and light shafts. The difference between Medium and High is barely noticeable during gameplay.
• Motion Blur: Turn it off. This not only improves clarity but also removes a small performance cost and can make the game feel more responsive.
• Anti-Aliasing (AA): Choose TAA (Temporal Anti-Aliasing) if available, or set to Low. High-end AA like MSAA is expensive and not needed at higher resolutions.
• Texture Quality: Keep this high if you have a GPU with 6GB or more VRAM. If you have less, lower it to Medium to avoid stuttering from texture loading.

For a quick boost, the “Quality” preset at High with ray tracing off is a good starting point. You can then fine-tune the settings above.

How to Improve Visuals Without Losing FPS

Improving visuals isn’t just about cranking everything to maximum. Some settings give you a big visual payoff for a small performance cost:

• Resolution: If you have a 1440p or 4K monitor, consider using a lower resolution like 1080p with a sharpening filter (e.g., in your GPU control panel) to regain sharpness. This is often better than running at native resolution with low internal rendering.
• Depth of Field: This effect is used in cutscenes and when focusing on items. Setting it to Medium or High has a minor performance impact but improves the cinematic feel.
• Grass Quality: On High, the world looks lush. On Medium, it can look sparse. The performance cost is moderate, so test this setting to see if you can keep it on High.
• Shader Quality: Keep this on High. It affects lighting and material appearance, and the performance difference between High and Low is often small on modern GPUs.

Remember, the game’s art direction is strong even at lower settings. The most noticeable visual improvements come from resolution and texture quality, not from subtle shadow or volumetric effects.

Common Performance Problems and Fixes

Players frequently encounter specific issues. Here’s how to address them:

• Stuttering in the open world: This is often due to shader compilation or asset streaming. Updating to the latest game patch helps. Also, ensure the game is installed on an SSD (Solid State Drive) rather than an HDD (Hard Disk Drive).
• Frame rate drops in specific areas: The Lake of Rot and the Capital are known to be heavy. Lowering shadow and volumetric quality can help in these zones.
• Game feels slow or enemies move fast: This is a symptom of playing above 60 FPS. The game’s logic is tied to the frame rate. Use a frame limiter (like the one in your GPU driver) to cap at 60 FPS.
• Black screen on launch: This is often a driver issue. Use a clean installation of the latest drivers, or try disabling fullscreen optimizations in the game’s properties (right-click the game in Steam, select Properties, then Compatibility).
• Low GPU usage: If your GPU usage is below 90%, you may be CPU-bound. Lowering settings that affect the CPU, like grass quality and draw distance, can help.

Choosing the Right Settings for Your Hardware

Here’s a rough guide based on your GPU tier (assuming a 1080p resolution):

• GTX 1060 / RX 580 (older mid-range): Use the Low preset, then manually raise Texture Quality to High and Anti-Aliasing to TAA. Disable ray tracing (it’s not supported anyway). Expect 40-50 FPS.
• RTX 2060 / RX 5600 XT (entry-level ray tracing): Use the Medium preset, disable ray tracing, and set Shadows to High. Expect a stable 60 FPS in most areas.
• RTX 3060 Ti / RX 6700 XT (current mid-range): Use the High preset, disable ray tracing, and keep Volumetric Quality on Medium. Expect a solid 60 FPS.
• RTX 3080 / RX 6800 XT (high-end): Use the High preset with ray tracing on Quality mode. You may need to lower Shadow Quality to High to maintain 60 FPS at 1440p.

Remember that these are starting points. Use the in-game benchmark (if available) or test in a busy area to see the actual performance.

Comparison: Elden Ring Settings vs. Other FromSoftware Games

Compared to Dark Souls III (2016) and Sekiro (2019), Elden Ring is significantly more demanding. The open world requires more VRAM and CPU power. The settings are similar in name, but Elden Ring’s shadow and volumetric settings have a larger impact on performance than in previous titles. Also, Elden Ring is the first FromSoftware game to include ray tracing, which, as noted, is best left off unless you have a high-end GPU. The frame rate cap of 60 FPS is consistent with their previous PC releases, but the performance required to hit that cap is much higher.

Common Misconceptions and Additional Tips

A common misconception is that lowering all settings to Low will give the best performance. This is not true. Some low settings can actually increase CPU load (e.g., low grass quality can cause more pop-in, which the CPU has to manage). It’s better to keep a balanced profile. Another tip is to close background applications like web browsers and overlays (Discord, etc.) that can consume RAM and CPU cycles. Finally, consider using a frame rate limiter like RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS) to cap your FPS to a value your system can consistently achieve (e.g., 50 FPS) to reduce frame time variance and make the game feel smoother than an uncapped 40-60 FPS fluctuation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Elden Ring have a benchmark tool?

No, Elden Ring does not include a built-in benchmark. You can test performance by running around a specific area, like the starting area or the Church of Elleh, and monitoring your FPS with an overlay tool like MSI Afterburner or the Steam FPS counter.

Is it better to play on a controller or keyboard and mouse?

This is a matter of personal preference. The game is fully playable with both. However, some players find the camera control easier with a mouse, while others prefer the analog movement of a controller. There is no inherent performance difference.

Why does my game stutter when I enter a new area?

This is usually due to asset loading. The game streams in textures and models as you move. If you’re on an HDD or have low VRAM, this can cause hitches. Installing the game on an SSD and lowering texture quality can reduce this.

Can I unlock the frame rate to get more than 60 FPS?

Technically yes, but it’s not recommended. The game’s physics and enemy attack speed are tied to the frame rate. Playing above 60 FPS can cause the game to run at an accelerated speed, making it unfair and potentially buggy.

Does ray tracing matter in Elden Ring?

Ray tracing in Elden Ring adds reflections and shadows, but the effect is subtle due to the art style. The performance cost is very high, often halving your frame rate. Most players prefer to leave it off for a smoother experience.

What is the best setting for a low-end PC?

For a low-end PC, set everything to Low, disable ray tracing, and lower the resolution to 720p if necessary. Also, set Texture Quality to Low if you have 4GB or less VRAM. This will give you a playable experience, though it won’t look as pretty.

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