{"id":78708,"date":"2026-08-23T00:07:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T16:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=78708"},"modified":"2026-08-23T00:07:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T16:07:02","slug":"why-most-gamers-are-better-with-a-lower-graphics-preset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=78708","title":{"rendered":"Why Most Gamers Are Better With a Lower Graphics Preset"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I\u2019m a privileged gamer. As a hardware reviewer, over the years I\u2019ve been sent top-tier CPUs and graphics cards, letting me bounce from one flagship to the next. That\u2019s made me lazy at game settings. I often just set the game at whatever the maximum \u201cUltra\u201d setting is and get on with playing. But by doing so, I\u2019ve just been playing into the marketing hype \u2013 and leaving a lot of performance on the table, it turns out.<\/p>\n

Most games don\u2019t actually need to be played at Ultra settings to look good. They don\u2019t even need it to look great. The latest upscaling technologies are fantastically good at emulating higher resolutions, and often the difference between Ultra and High settings isn\u2019t something I even really notice if pushed to look. <\/p>\n

As an experiment, I turned down the settings in a bunch of great-looking games to see how much difference it really makes. Not only did I find it hard to spot any obvious visual difference in most of the games I tested, but performance went up dramatically and the smoother framerates were well worth the minimal sacrifice.<\/p>\n

The system<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve been able to ignore graphics settings for so long due to a mix of low-demand game selection and high-end hardware. As I said, my current system is powerful, but I also mostly play older sim games and lighter indies. <\/p>\n

With an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D and PowerColor Red Devil RX 7900 XTX, I have one of the fastest gaming CPUs on the market and the fastest graphics card AMD has ever made. It\u2019s not quite an RTX 5080 or RTX 5090, so it\u2019s not really designed with Ultra Path Tracing in mind, but it\u2019s not a million miles away either. It\u2019s more than capable of running almost any game at Ultra settings, at 4K, and sometimes even with ray tracing enabled.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially true once you throw in FSR upscaling and a little frame generation to smooth things out. <\/p>\n

My plan for this test is to run a bunch of games at their very highest settings that are functionally playable \u2013 at least 30 FPS \u2013 with upscaling at Quality or native, without frame generation, and grab a few example screenshots of it in action. Then do so again at maxed out settings but with Balanced upscaling, and then a final test with everything turned down just one notch. So High, if Ultra is the top option, Medium if High is the best, etc.<\/p>\n

Now for the games<\/h2>\n

Cyberpunk 2077<\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s jump in with what is arguably still one of the best looking games ever made, Cyberpunk 2077. If there\u2019s one game that is guaranteed to bring my 7900XTX to its knees, it\u2019s this one.<\/p>\n

And yeah, Raytracing Overdrive Settings, 4K resolution, Path Tracing enabled, FSR set to Quality mode, it was a clunky slideshow mess. 20 FPS at best. But of course it looks incredible:<\/p>\n

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Raytracing Overdrive setting, path tracing enabled, FSR quality<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Raytracing Overdrive setting, path tracing enabled, FSR quality<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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But you know what also looks incredible? Cyberpunk 2077 at those same settings with Balanced Upscaling. I just took these screenshots, and besides a few background details looking a little more lifelike and of-the-environment in the Quality screenshot, it\u2019s very difficult to tell any difference. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the performance difference meant it was actually playable.<\/p>\n

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Raytracing Overdrive setting, path tracing enabled, FSR performance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Raytracing Overdrive setting, path tracing enabled, FSR performance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Although Cyberpunk with ray tracing does look stunning, and its path tracing even more so in the right settings, I\u2019d even argue switching it down to a mere<\/em> Ultra settings without ray tracing looks almost as good.<\/p>\n

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Ultra settings, ray tracing disabled, FSR performance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Ultra settings, ray tracing disabled, FSR performance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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It\u2019s definitely more stylized than the real-time lighting effects of ray tracing, but CD Projekt Red did a fantastic job making Night City look real and alive, even with baked in lighting. I\u2019d very happily play the whole game like this.<\/p>\n

Alane Wake 2<\/h3>\n

Alan Wake 2 is far from the glitz and ray-traced glamour of Night City, but it\u2019s just as good looking in its own, dark, dirty way. It also eviscerated my system\u2019s performance with everything absolutely turned up the nines. We\u2019re talking 1-3 FPS. Unplayable. But gorgeous:<\/p>\n

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Max settings, FSR quality<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Max settings, FSR quality<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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But it can very easily be both. Switching over to FSR Balanced, where it\u2019s basically cutting the 4K resolution in half, the performance jumped up to perfectly playable for this type of more sedate game play. I genuinely can\u2019t tell the difference, even when running around. It\u2019s really impressive how far upscaling has come over the years.<\/p>\n

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Max settings, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Max settings, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I\u2019d be tempted to leave it there, but there is additional performance to be had and not much in the way of a visual downgrade from trimming the fat even more. Switching everything to one notch down (High or Medium, depending on what the setting peaks at) and no ray tracing, gets you an almost-as-good-looking Alan Wake 2 experience.<\/p>\n

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High settings, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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High settings, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Performance jumped enormously here, and this is where you want to play if you value smoother animation over pristine visuals. Especially since I still had to look close to spot the real differences. During actual game play, though? With a darker game like this where concealment and shadow is the game\u2019s vibe, I don\u2019t think many would notice.<\/p>\n

Hogwarts Legacy<\/h3>\n

How about a getting-older but a goodie? Hogwarts Legacy isn\u2019t photo-realistic, but it is incredibly immersive. Making sure the game looks good is a huge part of the experience. Fortunately, you can get away with steering clear of ray tracing with this one. If you enable it, the experience is beautiful:<\/p>\n

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Ultra settings, ray tracing enabled, FSR quality<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Ultra settings, ray tracing enabled, FSR quality<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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But I\u2019d argue it\u2019s just as beautiful with Balanced upscaling \u2013 notching an extra 15% fps for my trouble, and nudging over a more-comfortable 40 FPS.<\/p>\n

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Ultra settings, ray tracing enabled, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Ultra settings, ray tracing enabled, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Switching to more modest settings and dropping the RT entirely looks amazing too. This game doesn\u2019t make enough use of the fancy-lighting technique to be worth it, I\u2019d argue. Despite its prevalence in the graphics menu, this game looks phenomenal on more modest settings. Don\u2019t fear dropping them down a notch or two.<\/p>\n

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High settings, ray tracing off, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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High settings, ray tracing off, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth<\/h3>\n

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is not as pretty as the other games, but it\u2019s one that uses an outsized quantity of VRAM. Fortunately, the 24GB on the 7900XTX had no trouble with it even pushed to the limit. But then, why would you bother?<\/p>\n

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Ultra settings, FSR quality<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Ultra settings, FSR quality<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Dropping to Balanced and cutting the rendering resolution by 40% didn\u2019t appear to make much of a difference to how the game looked. There isn\u2019t any more obvious aliasing on background elements, even the thinner pipes. Texture details remain.<\/p>\n

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Ultra settings, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Ultra settings, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Dropping everything to Medium\/High setting depending does make more of an impact, but even then it\u2019s something I had to actively look for, and when in motion it\u2019s even less apparent.<\/p>\n

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High settings, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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High settings, FSR balanced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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It\u2019s not nothing, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth it<\/h2>\n

If your hardware supports it, playing games at their prettiest is lovely. It\u2019s simple, it\u2019s easy, and it looks great. Especially in static screenshots, or in the ideal circumstances. But so do games with heavier-handed upscaling, and even lowering the settings a little doesn\u2019t strip them of their charm, or immersion. That also gives you extra performance and a smoother game, which I think is way more impactful than getting a few extra pixels, or slightly nicer lighting.<\/p>\n

The point I\u2019m trying to make with these comparisons isn\u2019t that there\u2019s no<\/em> benefit to turning all the settings up to their maximum, but that the performance loss really isn\u2019t worth it. Ultimately, it feels like those settings are a way to get better looking screenshots for the marketing campaign, and to give gamers something to aspire to. A dragon that we\u2019ll forever be chasing, until the next game comes along.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, if all you can game on is something lower than the maximum \u2013 which is almost all of us \u2013 then you really aren\u2019t missing out on much. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t look on in envy at the people spending $5,000 on a graphics card in 2026. They\u2019re getting a very-slightly-better looking gaming experience for the money. As prices continue to be ridiculous, I think lower settings are perfectly fine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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