Best Settings for Arc Raiders: Graphics, Audio & FPS Optimization Guide

I've spent the last three weeks dying in Arc Raiders — not because I'm bad at extraction shooters (okay, maybe a little), but because my framerate kept tanking at the worst possible moments. You know that feeling when you've got a backpack full of loot, you're sprinting toward extraction, and suddenly your game stutters just as another squad rounds the corner? Yeah. I lost about 200,000 credits worth of gear before I finally sat down and figured out the optimal settings.

Here's the thing — Arc Raiders runs on Unreal Engine 5, and Embark Studios packed this game with gorgeous lighting, dense foliage, and ray-traced global illumination. But all that visual fidelity comes at a cost. According to Steam hardware surveys, roughly 60% of players are running mid-range GPUs that struggle to maintain stable framerates with default settings. So I tested every single option across three different rigs — a budget GTX 1660 Super build, my main RTX 4070 machine, and a friend's beastly RTX 4090 setup — to find the sweet spot between “this looks incredible” and “I can actually win gunfights.”

If I can squeeze 144+ stable FPS out of a mid-range PC, so can you. Let me show you exactly how.

Quick Reference: Copy These Settings Right Now

For Impatient Readers (I get it): Graphics:
Window Mode: Fullscreen | V-Sync: OFF | NVIDIA Reflex: ON | Frame Generation: ON (if 100+ base FPS) | Upscaling: DLSS Quality (NVIDIA) or FSR 3 Quality (AMD) | RTX Global Illumination: Static | Shadows: Medium | Foliage: Low | View Distance: High | Motion Blur: OFF Audio: Night Mode: ON | Output: Headphones | Proximity Chat: Push to Talk Accessibility: Crosshair Color: Cyan or Green | Mouse Smoothing: OFF

Windows & Driver Optimizations: The Foundation Most Guides Skip

Before you even touch the in-game settings, there's crucial work to do at the OS level. I'm genuinely surprised how many “best settings” guides skip this entirely — it's like tuning a race car without checking the tires first.

Windows Game Mode

Let's start simple. Hit Windows Key + G to open the Xbox Game Bar, then navigate to Settings > Gaming > Game Mode and make sure it's ON.

What does this actually do? Windows Game Mode prevents background updates, driver installations, and restart notifications while you're gaming. It also prioritizes your game's CPU and GPU resources. The FPS difference is maybe 2-5% — not huge — but more importantly, it prevents those random stutters when Windows decides to index your files mid-firefight.

Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS)

This one's controversial, but here's my take after extensive testing: Enable HAGS if you're using Frame Generation.

Go to Settings > System > Display > Graphics > Change default graphics settings and toggle on Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling.

Why the conditional recommendation? HAGS reduces CPU overhead by letting your GPU handle its own memory scheduling. On older systems, this can actually hurt performance. But Frame Generation specifically benefits from HAGS because it reduces the latency penalty that frame gen typically introduces. On my RTX 4070, enabling HAGS with Frame Generation dropped input latency by roughly 3ms compared to Frame Gen without HAGS.

If you're not using Frame Generation, test HAGS on and off — some systems see gains, others see losses. There's no universal answer here.

NVIDIA Control Panel Settings (For Team Green)

Right-click your desktop, open NVIDIA Control Panel, and navigate to Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings. Add Arc Raiders if it's not already there.

Here are the settings I use:

The shader cache setting is super important. Arc Raiders compiles shaders on the fly, which causes stuttering during your first few hours. A larger shader cache (10GB is the sweet spot) stores more compiled shaders, reducing those hitches over time. If you've got the SSD space, this is a free performance upgrade.

For G-Sync users: Keep G-Sync enabled in the NVIDIA Control Panel, but turn V-Sync OFF in-game. This gives you the smoothness of adaptive sync without the input lag penalty of traditional V-Sync.

AMD Adrenalin Settings (For Team Red)

AMD users, I haven't forgotten you — and honestly, you're underserved by most guides.

Open AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition and navigate to Gaming > Arc Raiders (add it if needed).

Anti-Lag is AMD's answer to NVIDIA Reflex — it reduces input latency by synchronizing CPU and GPU workloads. Definitely keep this on. Radeon Boost sounds appealing (dynamic resolution scaling), but it can cause visual inconsistency in competitive scenarios. I'd skip it.

For FSR 4 users on RX 9000 series cards: As of early 2026, Arc Raiders doesn't natively support FSR 4 yet. Stick with FSR 3 for now — it's still excellent.

Best Graphics Settings for Arc Raiders

Alright, let's get into the meat of this guide. I'm going to walk through every graphics option, explain what it actually does, and give you my recommended value with the reasoning behind it.

Display Settings

Fullscreen vs. Borderless is a real debate. Borderless is convenient — you can alt-tab instantly without the game minimizing. But Fullscreen gives you exclusive GPU access, which means lower input latency (typically 5-10ms difference) and more consistent frame times. For competitive play, Fullscreen wins.

V-Sync, Reflex, and Frame Rate Limit

Let me be blunt: never enable V-Sync in a competitive extraction shooter. The input lag it introduces will get you killed. Period.

NVIDIA Reflex is the opposite — it's essentially free latency reduction. On my system, Reflex drops input latency from ~35ms to ~22ms with zero FPS impact. If you have an NVIDIA GPU, turn this on immediately.

Frame Rate Limit is situational. If you have a G-Sync or FreeSync monitor, set your frame rate limit to 3 FPS below your monitor's refresh rate (so 141 FPS for a 144Hz monitor). This keeps you in the adaptive sync range and prevents tearing. If you don't have adaptive sync, either cap at your refresh rate or leave unlimited — your preference.

Upscaling: DLSS vs. FSR vs. XeSS

This is where things get interesting — and where I spent most of my testing time.

The best part? Modern upscalers are genuinely impressive. DLSS Quality mode at 1440p looks nearly identical to native resolution while giving you a 40-60% FPS boost. I did side-by-side comparisons, and I genuinely couldn't tell the difference in motion.

Here's the catch: Not all upscalers are created equal. In my testing:
– DLSS produces the sharpest image with the least artifacts
– FSR 3 is excellent and GPU-agnostic, but slightly softer
– XeSS is solid on Intel Arc, acceptable on NVIDIA/AMD
– TSR/TAAU are fallback options — use them only if nothing else works

Keep your Upscaled Resolution slider at 100%. This is confusing because it seems like you should lower it for more performance, but that's not how it works. The upscaler handles resolution reduction — the slider is for additional sharpening. Lowering it below 100% makes the image blurry without meaningful FPS gains.

CNN vs. Transformer: The DLSS Model Debate

If you're running an RTX 20/30 series card, you might've noticed a choice between “CNN” and “Transformer” DLSS models. Here's the deal:

Transformer is the newer model. It produces cleaner images with fewer artifacts, especially in motion. But it's more demanding — on RTX 30 series cards, I measured a 5-8% FPS penalty compared to CNN.

CNN is the legacy model. It's faster but can produce more ghosting and shimmer on fine details like foliage and hair.

My recommendation:
– RTX 40/50 series: Use Transformer (your card can handle it)
– RTX 30 series: Test both, but CNN is often the better FPS/quality tradeoff
– RTX 20 series: Stick with CNN

DLSS 4.5 Presets: The Secret Weapon

Okay, this is the advanced tip that almost no guide covers — and it's genuinely powerful.

NVIDIA's latest drivers include DLSS 4.5, which introduces new quality presets (Preset L, Preset M, Preset K) that you can force through the NVIDIA App. These presets offer different balances of sharpness, ghosting reduction, and performance.

How to enable DLSS 4.5 presets:

Open the NVIDIA App (not GeForce Experience — the new app)
Navigate to Graphics > Arc Raiders
Under DLSS settings, you'll see preset options
Preset L is my recommendation — it prioritizes sharpness while minimizing ghosting

This is especially useful if you find the default DLSS implementation too soft or notice ghosting on moving objects. Preset L cleaned up a lot of the visual artifacts I was seeing on foliage and player models.

Frame Generation: The Double-Edged Sword

Frame Generation is the most controversial setting in modern PC gaming, and Arc Raiders is no exception.

What it does: Frame Generation uses AI to create interpolated frames between your real rendered frames. If your GPU renders 60 FPS, Frame Gen can display 120 FPS by generating the in-between frames.

The catch: Those interpolated frames add latency. The frame you're seeing isn't “real” — it's a prediction. In a fast-paced extraction shooter where milliseconds matter, this can feel like input lag.

My recommendation:

Here's the nuance most guides miss: Frame Generation's latency penalty is relative to your base framerate. At 60 base FPS, Frame Gen adds roughly 16ms of latency. At 120 base FPS, it adds only 8ms. If your system can already hit 100+ FPS without Frame Gen, enabling it gets you buttery-smooth 200+ FPS with an acceptable latency tradeoff.

I personally run Frame Generation enabled on my RTX 4070 because my base FPS sits around 110-130. The visual smoothness is worth the minimal latency cost. But if you're struggling to hit 60 FPS, Frame Gen will make your game feel sluggish — skip it.

Quality Settings: The Competitive Breakdown

Now let's go setting by setting. I've organized these by their competitive impact — some settings are purely visual, while others directly affect your ability to spot and eliminate enemies.

Field of View (FOV)

Recommended: 80 (maximum)

This is counterintuitive, but higher FOV can actually improve FPS in Arc Raiders. Why? The game uses Level of Detail (LOD) scaling based on object distance from camera. Higher FOV means objects appear smaller on screen, triggering lower LOD levels earlier, which reduces rendering load.

In my testing, going from 60 to 80 FOV improved FPS by 8-12% while also giving me better peripheral awareness. It's a win-win.

The only downside: targets appear smaller at distance. If you primarily snipe, you might prefer 70. For aggressive play, max it out.

RTX Global Illumination

Recommended: Static

This setting controls Arc Raiders' ray-traced lighting system. Your options are:
– Off: No ray tracing, maximum performance
– Static: Ray-traced lighting for stationary objects only
– Full: Complete ray tracing for all lighting

Static is the sweet spot. It gives you gorgeous, realistic lighting in environments without the massive performance hit of Full. In my testing:
– Off to Static: ~10% FPS loss
– Static to Full: ~35% FPS loss

Full RTX GI looks incredible, but losing 35% of your framerate isn't worth it in competitive play.

Shadows

Recommended: Medium (with an important caveat)

Here's something most guides get wrong: dropping Shadows below Medium removes interior light sources and player shadows.

Yes, you read that correctly. On Low shadows, you lose the ability to see enemy shadows around corners — a huge competitive disadvantage. You also lose some interior lighting, making dark buildings even darker.

Medium gives you functional shadows with good performance. High looks marginally better but costs 10-15% FPS. Unless you're running a 4090, stick with Medium.

View Distance

Recommended: High

View Distance affects how far you can see detailed objects and, critically, other players. On Low settings, enemies at distance can pop in late, giving you less reaction time.

High is the competitive standard. Epic looks slightly better at extreme distances but costs 5-8% FPS with minimal practical benefit.

Foliage

Recommended: Low

This is the most important competitive setting in Arc Raiders. Foliage controls grass and bush density, and on higher settings, enemies can literally hide in vegetation you can't see through.

On Low, bushes still exist (you can't make them disappear entirely — Embark patched that), but grass is thinner and visibility through vegetation improves significantly. Every competitive player I know runs Foliage on Low.

Quick note: There was a period where Low Foliage gave a massive visibility advantage because bushes were nearly invisible. Embark fixed this in a patch — bushes now render at all settings. But Low still provides better visibility through grass and smaller plants.

Anti-Aliasing

Recommended: Handled by your upscaler

If you're using DLSS, FSR, or XeSS, they include built-in anti-aliasing. You don't need additional AA on top.

If you're running native resolution without an upscaler (rare these days), TAA is the best balance of quality and performance.

Post-Processing

Recommended: Low or Medium

Post-processing includes bloom, lens flares, depth of field, and other cinematic effects. In competitive play, these can obscure your vision — especially bloom, which makes bright light sources blinding.

Low removes most of these effects. Medium keeps subtle bloom that some players find visually pleasing. I run Low because I'd rather see clearly than have pretty lens flares.

Textures

Recommended: Based on your VRAM

| VRAM | Texture Setting |
|——|—————–|
| 4 GB | Low |
| 6 GB | Medium |
| 8 GB | High |
| 10+ GB | Epic |

Texture quality has minimal FPS impact — it's primarily a VRAM consideration. If you exceed your VRAM, you'll get stuttering as textures stream from system RAM. Stay within your budget.

Effects

Recommended: Medium

Effects controls explosion particles, muzzle flashes, and environmental effects. Low can make it harder to see where shots are coming from. High adds visual clutter. Medium is the balanced choice.

Reflections

Recommended: Low

Screen-space reflections are expensive and provide minimal competitive benefit. Unless you really care about seeing yourself in puddles, keep this Low.

Global Illumination Resolution

Recommended: Low or Medium

This controls the resolution of the global illumination calculations. Lower settings mean slightly blockier shadows in indirect lighting but significantly better performance. Most players won't notice the difference in the heat of combat.

Motion Blur

Recommended: Off

I genuinely don't understand why any competitive game ships with Motion Blur enabled by default. It smears your screen when you turn, making it harder to track targets. Turn it off immediately.

Complete Graphics Settings Table

Here's everything in one place for easy reference:

Best Audio Settings for Arc Raiders

Audio is criminally underrated in extraction shooters. Being able to hear footsteps, reloads, and ADS sounds can mean the difference between ambushing someone and getting ambushed.

Night Mode: The Most Important Audio Setting

Recommended: On

Night Mode compresses the dynamic range of audio — it makes quiet sounds louder and loud sounds quieter. In practice, this means:
– Footsteps are significantly easier to hear
– Gunshots won't blow out your eardrums
– Environmental audio cues become more prominent

The tradeoff is that audio sounds less “cinematic” — explosions don't have the same impact. But for competitive play, Night Mode is essential. Every top player I've watched uses it.

Audio Output Device

Recommended: Headphones

Arc Raiders has separate audio profiles for headphones and speakers. The headphone profile provides better spatial positioning, which is crucial for directional audio.

If you're using a headset, make sure you've selected “Headphones” in the audio settings, not “Speakers.”

Windows Loudness Equalization

Here's a tip that goes beyond the in-game settings: Windows has a built-in loudness equalizer that stacks with Night Mode.

Right-click the speaker icon in your taskbar
Select Sound settings > More sound settings
Right-click your output device > Properties
Go to the Enhancements tab
Enable Loudness Equalization

This further compresses dynamic range, making footsteps even more audible. Some players find it makes audio sound “flat,” but for competitive advantage, it's worth testing.

Spatial Audio / Dolby Atmos

If you have a Dolby Atmos-compatible headset or Windows Sonic enabled, these can improve directional audio accuracy. However, some players report that spatial audio processing adds subtle latency to audio cues.

My recommendation: Test both with and without. Some players swear by Dolby Atmos; others prefer the raw stereo mix. There's no universal best answer here.

Proximity Chat: Push to Talk

Recommended: Push to Talk

Open mic proximity chat is a tactical liability. You don't want enemies hearing your callouts, your keyboard clicks, or your roommate asking what you want for dinner.