Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings For High FPS (2023)

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Released earlier this month, Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most anticipated games of the year. The game has now been released officially, and apart from mixed thoughts on its gameplay, everybody seems to agree its Performance and optimization are mediocre at best. The game’s problem strictly lies in its fundamental features which aren’t straightforward and do not provide accurate results. Moreover, it manages to run on PC; from what others report, It’s nowhere playable on Consoles.

Key Highlights

  • The best possible and optimal graphics for your PC to grant you a high FPS in cyberpunk 2077 requires you to first of all have a PC that could be considered high-end with a graphics card and a good enough ram.
  • Players should, first of all, go to the graphics settings of the game and turn the quick preset to “custom” and make the texture quality into “medium”.
  • The next place players should visit is the basic section of settings and turn the field of view to 80.
  • Other than the field of view, players should also turn a few settings off, namely the film grain, chromatic aberration, lens flare, and motion blur.
  • Next is the advanced section, there are quite a lot of settings that can be altered here, the first is to turn off Contact Shadows, Improved Facial Lighting Geometry, and Screens Space Reflection Quality.
  • Next is to turn a few settings to “Low” in the advanced section, namely Local Shadow Mesh Quality, Local Shadow Quality, Cascaded Shadows Range, Distant Shadows Resolution, and Subsurface Scattering Quality.
  • Now you have to turn a few settings to “Medium” which would be Cascaded Shadows Resolution, Volumetric Fog Resolution, Volumetric Cloud Quality, Max Dynamic Decals, Ambient Occlusion, Mirror Quality, and Level of Detail.
  • The last bit of tweaking you can do in the advanced section is to set Anisotropy to a 4 and Color Precision to a high.
  • After the advanced section is done, the next players should go to ray tracing. They should turn off Ray tracing and use DLSS or FSR 2.0 in balanced mode
  • The last place to go to is the Display section. Here players should, first of all, turn off Vsync and maximum FPS.
  • The recommended settings we gave would be granting players an FPS ranging from 30 to 50.
Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings

Now, If you have also jumped on the Cyberpunk 2077 bandwagon and are baffled with the poor Graphics and Low FPS, this in-depth guide we prepared here at exputer will help you roll out reasonable improvements that will guarantee the following four things.

  1. High FPS and Stunning Visuals In Cyberpunk 2077.
  2. Most Balanced Graphics Settings For Cyberpunk 2077 on PC.
  3. Unleash Maximum Performance.
  4. Window Optimization for not only Cyberpunk but all games.

Our guide is mostly oriented towards PC Gamers, who are struggling to find the right balance and figure out why their CPU Usage and other hardware aren’t being utilized. Nonetheless, If you are on either Xbox One or PS4 and can make changes, make sure to give it a go.

The guide is divided into three segments; the first will straightforwardly accentuate the best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings. While the subsequent will be related to Nvidia and AMD Settings for the game, and the third’s all about necessary Windows 10 Optimizations. Now without any further wait, let’s jump directly into these straightforward tweaks. If you are into other games, also check out Far Cry 6 Settings Guide as well.

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Graphics Settings

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Cyberpunk 2077 Graphics Settings.

The Core Graphics of Cyberpunk 2077 aren’t that bad, the visuals are stunning, and although Night City feels inconsistent in many scenarios. Its visuals are still worth appreciating. The problem with Cyberpunk 2077 Graphics is that they aren’t correctly set up, and from our benchmarks here at exputer, we noticed that some settings like those of Rainbow Six Siege type, weren’t even making a difference, while others gave better FPS when turned high.

The key to finding the best Graphics that would ensure excellent visuals and performance isn’t done in one or two steps. Firstly, you will have to configure the presets shown below; afterward, make sure you are also giving it a slight touch of Nvidia Ansel or AMD FreeStyle.

We will also explain the science behind each setting and note their impact on hardware; this will help you understand and calibrate if needed.

Quick Preset – Custom

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Custom.

Setting Quick Preset to Custom will allow you to configure all the graphics settings to your choice.

Texture Quality – Medium

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Medium.

High squeezes a lot of power while showing little to no improvements compared to medium; low genuinely made the game look bad. Medium is most suitable for both visual quality and performance. Also, keep in mind this option is only available in the Graphics Section while you are in the main menu settings.

  • Optimum Impact on both CPU and GPU.

Field of View – 90

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
90.

Anything above 90 is kind of unnecessary for an open world and shooter game. Moreover, there is also a slight impact on performance because with a higher field of view, you are generally seeing more pixels at a time.

Film Grain – Off

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Disabled.

Film Grain is an unnecessary feature that has nothing to do with actual gameplay. It only adds enhancement to cutscenes.

Chromatic Aberration and Lens Flare -Off

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Disable these three.

Another feature that adds no substantial value to the gameplay but impacts performance.

We enabled Film Grain, Chromatic Aberration, Depth of Field, and Lens Flare at high to check the difference. In all cases, nothing changed; we only saw a minor improvement in the cinematic sector.

Film Grain, Chromatic Aberration, Depth of Field, and Lens Flare Enabled.Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings

Film Grain, Chromatic Aberration, Depth of Field, and Lens Flare Disabled.Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings

Depth of Field – Off

Depth of Field ensures that distant objects are blurred, which is silly if you think about it. Sure, the graphics look a bit better, but it’s not worth it and looks terrible.

Motion Blur – Off

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Motion Blur: Off.

There is no point in enabling Motion Blur inside a first-person shooter and open-world game. The surroundings are blurred, combat becomes difficult, and most importantly, you will lose significant fps.

Contact Shadows – Off

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Contact Shadows: On.

Although the game says, It is “responsible for enhanced shadow rendering and adding detail that is not available in normal settings.” This ultimately means self-shadowing for characters. We at exputer didn’t notice any difference, both in terms of graphics and frames. If you want, you can also keep it enabled; the performance difference is nonexistent.

  • Contact Shadows Impact: GPU-related.

Improved Facial Light Geometry – Enable

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Enabled.

Since Cyberpunk 2077 relies a lot on its story and you are likely to encounter tons of people with numerous cut-scenes. Keeping this enabled will add further enhancement to facial animations. The impact on performance is zero to nothing.

  • Improved Facial Light Geometry Impact: Both CPU and GPU.

Anisotropy – 16x or 4x

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Anisotropy at 16x.

Anisotropy at 4x.

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Anisotropy at 4x.

Anisotropy or also known as Anisotropic Filtering, works around the texture quality, noticeably improving it. There’s always a bit of debate whether this should be low, but as I’ve always explained even in my previous guides, Anisotropic Filtering always makes a noticeable difference while its performance impact on modern GPU’s is negligible. If you have a low-end PC, you can also go with 4x; the difference isn’t that big. These are mostly utilized in games with simlarity to CS:GO Settings.

Local Shadow Mesh Quality – High

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
High.

Keeping this at high made a noticeable difference while performance impact was nominal. Local Shadow Mesh Quality differentiates from the standard Local Shadow because it works around the cast of shadows mesh.

  • Optimum Impact on both CPU and GPU.

Local Shadow Quality – High

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
High.

When keeping this low, Nigh City always looks bright with a sort of Artificial light coming all over the place. Enabling Local Shadow Quality and then keeping it at high brings a new level of realistic rays that make the visuals look stunning.

Cascaded Shadows Range – Medium

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Medium.

Although we are keeping other shadows high for the sake of better visuals, cascaded Shadows Range will be limited to medium because it does not add a lot of value and only works in instances where the shadow is directly being glanced by the sun.

  • Cascaded Shadow Range Impact: Highly CPU Intensive.

Distant Shadows Resolution – High

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
High.

This was another important feature that made a huge difference. Suppose you keep Distant Shadows Resolution at Low, which is the only option available. In that case, the shadow quality will drop dramatically, and most of the time, you will notice extremely sharp shadows, and in some instances, there won’t be one. We recommend keeping it at high for good quality shadows that blend properly in Night City.

High

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Look at the shadow quality and how it blends in the environment.

Low

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Shadows are incredibly sharp here.

Volumetric Fog Resolution – Low

Volumetric Fog Resolution: High.

Volumetric Fog Resolution job is to make the air particles in the surrounding atmosphere to be high quality. We tested this at various places, and there was no difference, while a 10% performance loss was noted.

Volumetric Fog Resolution: Low.

Max Dynamic Decals – High

Screen Space Reflections Quality – Medium

If you immensely want to enjoy Night City to its fullest, keeping Screen Space Reflections Quality at Pshyco is what one should dream. However, that comes with a huge performance impact, and at the end of the day, you are roughly looking at 30% FPS Drops. On the other hand, If you keep Screen Space Reflections at low, the game seems dull, and it’s not worth it. The best balance between all of these is Medium; we also noticed that on Ultra and Physcho, there was too much grain in the image quality, with extreme sharp pixels that gave us a headache.

  • SSR Impact: Both CPU and GPU.

Subsurface Scattering Quality – Medium

There is no noticeable impact on performance and slight improvement across scenarios where light is reflected on NPC’s and player skin.

Ambient Occlusion – Medium

The Ambient Occlusion setting holds a lot of importance in Cyberpunk 2077 Graphics Settings. It adds lots of natural shadows, creates a more ambient environment, and works around the sampling. Likewise, its impact on performance is high. We benchmarked the game when Ambient Occlusion was disabled, which looked horrible; on medium, it had a perfect balance between graphics and performance. Further at High, we saw a loss of 15 FPS while no significant fidelity improvement was there compared to Low.

Color Precisoin – Medium

Color Precision: Medium

The overall difference in color collaboration and gradient is barely noticeable. In fact, It took us a decent amount of time to really spot the difference. The impact on performance was also slight, but what matters here is that there was no graphical difference. Take a look at these photos that we captured in the most colorful environment.

Color Precision: High.

Volumetric Cloud Quality – Medium

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Low.

Volumetric Cloud Quality in Cyberpunk 2077 only tweaks the actual clouds and nothing else. If you keep it low, no clouds will appear, while on Medium and Ultra, the same number of clouds arise, and there is little to no quality difference. We tested the game on all three options and noted that performance was significantly lower in High while the clouds were precisely the same. Keep Volumetric Cloud Quality at medium for best visuals and performance.

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Medium.
  • Impact on CPU while increased usage was also seen on the GPU.

Mirror Quality – High

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
Keep it on either Medium or High.

Since Cyberpunk 2077 is a first-person game and features a ton of customizations like clothes. The only chance you are going to see yourself is through the mirror. If the mirror isn’t providing graphically good results, it takes one part of the entire gameplay away. Keeping Mirror Quality at high won’t impact performance because it only works when looking at mirrors. Similar games like Black Ops Cold War improvise on these with accurate reflections.

Gamma Correction – 1.36

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
This is subjective and also depends on the monitor you are using.

As I explained in the earlier segments of our guide. One of the core problems with Cyberpunk 2077 Graphics is extreme brightness. Night City looks completely blushed out during the day, and at night it’s no good either. To fix this problem, in particular, we are first going to increase Gamma Correction to 1.36 and then further enhance it through Nvidia Ansel.

Here is a picture of the normal collaborate of Gamma.

We Increased Gamma and further enhanced it through Nvidia Ansel (Configurations shared down below).

Level of Detail (LOD) – High

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
High.

I find Cyberpunk 2077 Graphics to be average for a 2020 title. Sure, there are some spaces in Night City that look fantastic, but the overall level of detailing and in-depth focus lacks clarity. If you are playing the game on 1080p like me, the level of detail should be kept at high. Our benchmarks here at exputer proved that the loss of performance was nominal while graphical improvement was incredible.

Crowd Density – Low

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
-Low.

Now that you are done with the graphics section hop over to the gameplay section on the left and lower the crowd density to low for two reasons.

Firstly, the impact on performance with more NPC’s is high. You can expect at least 40% performance loss, and that’s mainly because Night City becomes dense. Other than this, the NPC’s in Cyberpunk 2077 are not meaningful. They speak irrelevant things and literally provide zero to no value in the game. It’s better to keep it low.

The other settings in the gameplay tab are personal preference. They don’t have any impact whatsoever on performance.

VSync: Off

There aren’t lots in video settings; just keep using the primary monitor, disable V-Sync if you are using a G-Sync/Freesync monitor, and go for full-screen mode with maxed out resolution. HDR is bugged and not worth using right now. If you are on the console, there are plenty of guides to disable it.

Slow HDD Mode – Off

We analyzed Cyberpunk 2077’s performance on SSD, so this feature was unnecessary. Even If you have a slower Hard Drive, we don’t recommend enabling this because rendering, which is already a big issue in Cyberpunk 2077, becomes even worse.

All in all, these are how the graphics settings should rack up.

Best Cyberpunk 2077 Graphics Settings

Nvidia Optimization For Cyberpunk 2077

Nvidia Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
Nvidia Settings For Cyberpunk 2077.

If you are using an Nvidia Graphics Card for Cyberpunk 2077, there are additional options available. Firstly, make sure that you have adequately set up Ray Tracing and DLSS meta. Once done, you can further improve performance with a few tweaks that we will do in the Nvidia Control Panel. This will provide additional improvement across the visual sector and help stabilize performance.

  • Make sure that your System Requirements are on par or above the required ones.

Download Latest Game Ready Drivers For Cyberpunk 2077

Before we make changes, update the drivers to the newly released Cyberpunk 2077 Ready Graphics By Nvidia. You can do that through the GeForce Experience or manually download them through the Nvidia site.

  1. Open GeForce Experience > Click on Check For Updates > Make Sure Version 460.79 is installed.
    Nvidia Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Update Drivers.

Best Nvidia Graphics Settings For Cyberpunk 2077

  1. Afterward, open the Nvidia Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > Add cyberpunk2077.exe
    Nvidia Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Nvidia Control Panel Settings For Cyberpunk 2077.
  2. Make the following changes.
  3. Set Sharpen to 0.40, and Image film grain to 1.00 If (you are on 1080p resolution and aren’t using DLSS). Likewise, If you are playing Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p or with DLSS on at 1080p, altogether avoid this.
  4. Select Application Controlled Under Anisotropic Filtering.
  5. Turn on Antialiasing Gamma correction.
  6. Enable Low Latency Mode.
  7. Set Power Management Mode to Prefer Maximum Performance.
  8. Enable Shader Cache.
  9. Turn off Texture Filtering – Anisotropic Sample Optimization.
  10. Allow Texture Filtering – Negative LOD Bias.
  11. Set Texture Filtering Quality to High Performance.
  12. Enable Texture Filtering Trilinear Optimization.
  13. Select Auto Under Threaded Optimization.
  14. After you are done making these changes, head over to the Change Resolution Tab, and do the following.
    Nvidia Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Display Settings.
  15. Select native resolution and max refresh rate available.
  16. Under Desktop Color depth, checkmark “Use Nvidia Color Settings, and for configurations, change them as the photo above suggests.
  17. Afterward, proceed to Adjust Desktop Size and Position, make the following changes.
    Nvidia Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Adjusting Desktop Resolution Size.
  18. Scaling Mode: Aspect Ratio.
  19. Perform Scaling on Desktop.
  20. Resolution: Current.
  21. Refresh Rate: Highest.

Nvidia Ansel Settings For Cyberpunk 2077

Best Nvidia Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
Adding Reshade to Cyberpunk 2077.

In our benchmarks, we noticed that Cyberpunk 2077 Graphics were too blurred out, and although we did apply some Sharpen in the Nvidia Control Panel. You can also add further enhance it through the Nvidia Ansel.

Note that this section isn’t mandatory; we only recommend it to those who don’t feel like having the right colors and want better results.

  1. Enable Nvidia Ansel inside GeForce Experience > Settings > Photo Mode Game filter.
    Nvidia Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Enable Game Filter.
  2. Then Open Cyberpunk 2077 > Press ALT + Z to Open Nvidia Ansel and do the following.

Add Details

  1. Sharpen 10%.
  2. Clarity: 6%.
  3. HDR Toning: 0%.
  4. Bloom: 6%.

Add Color UPDATE

  1. Tint Color: 0%.
  2. Tint Intensity: 0%.
  3. Temperature: 0.
  4. Vibrance: 21.6.

These were all the Nvidia additional optimization settings that you can work on. If you have a G-Sync monitor, don’t forget to enable it from the control panel and Cyberpunk’s video graphics settings.

Optimized Cyberpunk 2077 Settings For AMD Ryzen and AMD Graphics Cards

Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077.
Ensure Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.12.1 is installed.

If you are struggling to get decent FPS on an AMD Ryzen CPU while playing Cyberpunk 2077, there are a fair amount of chances; Cyberpunk is not utilizing the logical cores of your CPU. According to a Reddit thread, this has been the case with many users, and it seems that this is more of a glitch than a problem. If you want to get at least 30% FPS Boost, we’ll have to configure the Cyberpunk.exe file through a hex editor. The steps are a bit long but completely worth it. I’ll break down the entire procedure step by step; follow it below.

AMD Ryzen CPU Settings

  1. Locate Cyberpunk 2077 Folder by Right Clicking the game > Properties > Local files > Browse Local Files.
    Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077.
    Finding Cyberpunk 2077 Directory.
  2. Go To Bin > 64 > And Copy the Path by clicking on the top address bar > Ctrl + C.
    Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077.
    Copy the path.
  3. Now go to hexed. It And Click on Open File.
    Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077.
    Edit the addresses.
  4. Paste the directory that we copied earlier and create a copy of Cyberpunk2077.exe; afterward, open it.
    Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Save to the original file.
  5. Once done, copy the code set from down below and paste it inside the “Search For” Bar, press enter.
  6. 75 30 33 C9 B8 01 00 00 00 0F A2 8B C8 C1 F9 08
  7. Replace the 75 by EB; the rest of the code is the same. Here is how it should look after you apply the change.
  8. EB 30 33 C9 B8 01 00 00 00 0F A2 8B C8 C1 F9 08
  9. Once you have changed the 75 to EB, Click on Save As, and this time replace the original, so we can override all changes.
    Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Replace Original.

From now on, all the cores on Ryzen will work flawlessly while playing Cyberpunk 2077. Moreover, you can also expect at least a 30% Performance Improvement.

Enable Static FidelityFX Cas

Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
-Test Around Static FidelityFX Cas.

It’s highly recommended for AMD users that static FidelityFX Cas is enabled inside Cyberpunk 2077 Graphics Settings. This ensures further smoothening and resolution scaling, which is quite necessary because it is blurry in many situations. Explaining Static FidelityFx Cas would probably require an article of its own, but there is a resolution scaling percentage to explain it in easy terms. Depending on whatever percentage you set, the native resolution is lowered to that percentage, and it renders pixels of newly created resolution, which ultimately gives you more FPS. Now you might be wondering, ok, great, I’d love those increased FPS, but I don’t want pixels from a less rendered resolution. Well, thankfully, Static FidelityFX Cas upscales those rendered pixels back to your native resolution. Ultimately, there is an unnoticeable loss of image quality, and you will always get increased FPS.

Now how do you go on about enabling this? Static FidelityFX Cas is all about testing. I would recommend starting from 100% to 75%, see in which you are getting most frames and better image quality. Make notes that whatever percentage you apply, reduce it from native to get an idea. Just don’t go too lower; else, the image quality will be awful. Moreover, also avoid Dynamic FidelityFX CAS because it is broken right now.

Note: This step is only recommended for AMD users. On Nvidia Graphics Cards, we saw infinite amounts of blurriness and slow rendering.

Turn on Image Sharpening

Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
Image Sharpening is subjective.

As I said previously, Cyberpunk 2077’s graphics are blurred out, and I suppose Static FidelityFX CAS isn’t working out for you. The alternate method is to enable image sharpening from the Radeon Control Panel and Set it to anything above 75%.

Allocating More Ram and Video Memory

Another problem with Cyberpunk 2077 is that it does not show you the amount of Memory and Graphics Card being used. Numerous users have now figured that the game wasn’t utilizing all the Memory and VRAM available; therefore, it crashed a lot, and frames were generally low. This can be easily fixed through a couple of steps; all we have to do is edit the memory_pool_budgets file in the Cyberpunk folder and replace the existing values with the newer ones. This will allow the game to utilize both ram and video memory to the fullest.

  1. Go to the D:\Games\steamapps\common\Cyberpunk 2077\engine\config (depending on wherever Cyberpunk 2077 is installed).
  2. Copy the memory_pool_budgets.csv file and save it as a backup elsewhere.
    Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Create a copy.
  3. Create a new copy and now edit it.
  4. Depending on how much memory you have available, after all, the necessary apps are open. Select 60% of its value. I’ve 16GB of total Ram, and checking it in Task Manager, there is 9.1 GB available, so I’ll use allocate 8 GB For Cyberpunk.
  5. Update 1: We retested this by just changing the PoolCPU and PoolGPU to 0, and it worked as a perfect alternate.
    Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Check the available memory.
  6. Next to PoolCPU, replace 1536MB, which translates to 1.53GB, write 8GB. Do the same for PoolGPU by checking the GPU usage in Task Manager. There is always more than Ram available because frequently, it’s not being utilized.
    Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Rewrite these.
  7. Once done, rename the copy file to memory_pool_budgets.csv
    Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Rename the file now.
  8. Afterward, right-click Cyberpunk2077.exe, which is located under Cyberpunk 2077 > bin > x64, and in the compatibility tab, checkmark “Run this program as an administrator.” Don’t forget to hit apply and ok.
    Best AMD Settings For Cyberpunk 2077
    Checkmark Run this program as an administrator.

Windows 10 Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077

All the optimizations shown above should already dramatically increase your FPS in Cyberpunk 2077. Those were the core settings and the most important ones. However, If you are running Cyberpunk on a low-end PC that has something below GTX 1060 and Ryzen 1700, these Windows 10 Optimizations will help you get an additional 15-20% FPS Boost. The settings aren’t going to impact your Windows or anything; they will only speed it up and optimize it for gaming. The majority of settings that we are going to optimize are strictly irrelevant and unnecessary so that you won’t be missing anything.

Enable Ultimate Performance

By default, Windows 10 runs at a very balanced power plan with several thresholds regarding power limit. You can change that by switching from Balanced Power Plan to Ultimate Performance Plan. This will make sure 100% CPU is being utilized, and supposedly, your CPU will run at High Frequency. The difference in speed and performance is incredible; follow the steps below.

  1. Open Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell With Administrator Privileges and paste the code given below.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Ultimate Performance Code.
  2. powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02 -d5df -448d-aa00 -03f14749eb61
  3. Once done, you will be able to see the Ultimate Performance mentioned in the code. Afterward, go to start > Edit Power Plan > Power Options.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Power Options.
  4. Then checkmark Ultimate Performance, and you are done.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Checkmark Ultimate Performance.

Maximize GPU Usage On Cyberpunk 2077

Similar to the Ultimate Performance, there is also the Graphics Settings menu in Windows 10 that will allow you to add a specific game and set its GPU Priority at High. This also results in an incredible FPS Boost and also ensures that all Video Memory is available for the game to use.

  1. Under Start Type And Open Graphics Settings.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Open Graphics Settings.
  2. Afterward, click on Browse and add Cyberpunk2077.exe > then set its graphics preference to High.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Add Cyberpunk2077.exe.
  3. Click on save once you are done.

Clear Temp Folder

Often you uninstall or delete untrusty applications thinking they are completely gone, which is not valid. Sometimes, the leftover virus-infected files are stored in the temp folder, which requires manual cleaning. Doing this ensures there isn’t any harmful file or application running in the background. The performance increase varies, but this step is still useful for maintaining a virus-free pc and clearing disk space.

  1. Under Start > Type Run > write and enter %temp%.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Run – Temp folder.
  2. Press CTRL + A on keyboard > right-click any file > delete. As you can see in my case, 600 leftover files might contain potential viruses.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Delete.

Disable Hardware Acceleration And Enhance Pointer Precision

Another Incredible method that will help you get a performance boost in Cyberpunk 2077 is by disabling Hardware Acceleration. Although this does sound like a technical term, I can assure you it’s not. All it does it that it makes the application run in a different meta, which ultimately helps it unload resources through a much-complicated method. The purpose of doing this is to make the application run more efficiently, but it comes with CPU and Memory Usage cost.

Hardware Acceleration itself isn’t a windows feature; it’s mostly within tons of common third-party applications. Besides, disabling this won’t change applications’ core purpose and will only help you save resources. The Enhance Pointer precision is a similar feature, but unlike Hardware Acceleration, which is mostly featured within third-party applications, this is a Windows 10 feature that requires disabling.

  1. Open Google Chrome > Settings > Advanced > System > Disable “Use Hardware Acceleration When Available.”
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Disable Hardware Acceleration.
  2. Under Discord Settings > User Settings > Appearance > Scroll Down and Uncheck Hardware Acceleration.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Discord Settings.
  3. Search for Mouse Settings > Additional Mouse Options > Pointer Options > Uncheck Enhance Pointer Precision.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Uncheck “Enhance Pointer Precision.”

 

Get Rid Of Unnecessary Background Applications and Services

Another common reason why many people don’t get High FPS In Cyberpunk 2077 is that they always have applications like Chrome and Firefox running in the background, squeezing 40% of your entire memory. The rest is then adjusted by game, and but at the same time, CPU is also being utilized in both places. To get rid of these background applications and get high performance in Cyberpunk, firstly make sure that you are always closing unnecessary browsers and software. Besides, often there are applications like CCleaner and Discord that start without permission and need to be manually disabled.

Apart from applications, countless unnecessary services also run in the background squeezing a chunk of power. These can also be disabled through the steps I’m about to show you below.

  1. Type run in search and then enter MSConfig.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    MSConfig.
  2. Afterward, head over to the Services Tab > Checkmark “Hide all Microsoft services” and then uncheck all unnecessary services from the new list. Once you do that, click on apply and move to the startup tab.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Checkmark “Hide all Microsoft Services.”
  3. In the startup tab, disable all applications with high startup impact; apart from improved performance, this will also guarantee faster boot times.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Disable Applications with high startup impact.

More Unnecessary Animations

Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you are trying to open File Explorer or something else, it takes a while because of the animations, and sadly, sometimes it gets stuck? Don’t worry. We will fix this through Windows Advanced System Settings to speed up the process and save us a chunk of performance.

  1. Under Start > Type View Advanced System Settings.
    View Advanced System Settings.
  2. Head over to the Advanced tab > Settings > Checmark Custom and only select the following. Once done, don’t forget to hit apply and ok.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Uncheck these.

Xbox Game Bar

The last and most important Windows 10 optimization is related to Xbox Game Bar and other notifications that pile up in your background. Have you ever noticed that there are random notifications and game pop-ups that are annoying while playing any game? Well, apart from being annoying, these features aren’t beneficial as well. For example, when enabled, the Xbox Game Bar is always running in the background, and sometimes it automatically starts recording because of some keybind you accidentally press. Moreover, the notifications pile up in the task center, which slightly impacts your performance. Don’t worry, though; I’ll teach you how to disable them and save performance for Cyberpunk 2077.

  1. Open Xbox Live Settings > Disable everything in the Game Bar Tab > Captures Tab > and Game Mode Section.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Disable everything in these three tabs.
  2. Afterward, open Focus Assist Settings and Disable them accordingly.
    High FPS Optimizations For Cyberpunk 2077
    Set them according to your preference.

Final Benchmarks On Optimized Settings

Best Cyberpunk 2077 PC Settings
The wilderness and beauty outside of Night City.

After applying all the optimized settings for Cyberpunk 2077 shown above. We ran a final test to see the visuals and check on the performance. The game was running super smooth, and we went with a higher variety of options to push the limits. These settings are undoubtedly giving the best visuals; that is to say, we tested this game for an entire week, and the results now are satisfactory. Suppose you have better hardware and can push the limits further. I’d recommend tuning these settings for further astounding fidelity.

  • Screen Space Reflections Quality – Change it to High, If you feel like the medium is too noisy.
  • Cascaded Shadows Resolution – High
  • Anisotropy – Although we recommend keeping it at 4x, you can also go with 16x for much better visuals.
  • Texture Quality – Suppose you have the top of the line RTX Card, change Texture Quality from Medium to High. This completely takes the graphics to the next level.
  • Ray Tracing: Right now, Ray Tracing is a complete mess. However, If you have an RTX 3070 or 3080 with a decent CPU, I’d highly recommend giving DLSS and Ray Tracing a slight touch.

The final benchmarks were done on the following specifications.

  • AMD Ryzen 5 3600X.
  • 16.0GB Dual-Channel Corsair 3600 Mhz RGB Pro Ram.
  • MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX.
  • GEFORCE GTX 1080 TI GAMING X 11G.
  • Cyberpunk 2077 was Installed on HDD.

Here is ten-minute compressed video gameplay on the optimized settings to show the difference between our Optimized and Game’s Ultra Settings.

(embed)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ46F9Ty2pI(/embed)

Bonus Tips to Make Cyberpunk 2077 Run Better 

In addition to using the best settings above, we’ve listed some bonus tips for you. These tips can help increase Cyberpunk 2077 performance and give it an extra push. Let’s check them out.

Install the Game on an SSD

This tip is not limited to Cyberpunk 2077 or to gaming in general. SSDs are the future and have a dramatic impact on your PC’s performance, especially in games. Faster loading times, eliminating texture pop-ins, and other performance issues completely go away simply by switching to SSD

Disable FPS Counters

We all like to keep track of how much FPS we’re getting in games. Especially in a game like Cyberpunk 2077 where we spend fine-tuning each graphics setting to get the best performance. However, in pursuit of higher FPS, we often forget one thing, Cyberpunk 2077 is a story game. It’s not a competitive shooter that we have to chase those higher frames. 

While testing your new configurations or settings in Cyberpunk 2077, sure you can enable your FPS counters. The best way to tune your game’s performance is by not going by the numbers, but by your experience. If the game feels fine to play even running at 40 FPS, simply go for it. Your experience matters with the game, not the FPS count. 

Additionally, features like Nvidia G-SYNC and AMD FreeSync further smoothen the game. So, even at an under 60 FPS, if the game feels fine to play, just play it and don’t go reducing graphics settings. 

Reduce your Field of View

Everyone loves a higher field of view while playing FPS games on PC. However, in most games, especially Cyberpunk 2077, higher FOV can lead to reduced performance. How’s that possible? Allow me to explain. 

CD Projekt Red has implemented a 3D vertical/horizontal Streaming feature in Cyberpunk. It helps reduce memory strain by only loading parts of night city that fall within your FOV. So higher the FOV, the more game data is loaded hence the lower performance. 

So if you have a Vram constructed card that’s struggling with Cyberpunk 2077, lowering FOV can result in better performance. Now the degree of performance can vary from system to system. So try out lower FOV and see how it impacts your gameplay and performance. 

Add Cyberpunk 2077 to Exploit Protection)

Windows 10 and 11 have a feature called Exploit Protection that helps protect your PC from any malware attacks or exploits. You can apply this system-wide or on a particular application. But what’s Exploit Protection got to do with Cyberpunk 2077 you might ask?

Apparently, you can reduce stuttering, crashes and FPS drops in Cyberpunk 2077 by adding it to Exploit Protection in Windows. Here’s how you can do it:

  1. Type “Exploit Protection” in Windows Search and Click on the first search result.
  2. Click on the Program Settings and click on “Add Programs to Customise.
  3. Here, go the install directly of Cyberpunk 2077 and choose the main executable i.e. Cyberpunk 2077.exe (Located in Cyberpunk2077 -> Bin -> X64)
  4. Once added, open its program settings and scroll down to Control Flow Guard (CFG). 
  5. Once you’ve found CFG, click on override settings and select off then apply.
  6. If the game’s already running, restart it.

And there you go, if you’re having any stuttering or FPS drops even after Cyberpunk 2077 1.5 Patch, this will hopefully fix it

Cyberpunk 2077 Optimization Takeaways

Our lengthy benchmarks here at exputer prove that Cyberpunk 2077’s main problem isn’t optimization itself. Instead, it’s graphics settings that are too outdated and do not provide a benchmark system like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla or GTA V does. More importantly, some of its settings aren’t executed well; they do not make any difference, while others seem to be faulty and do not perform their role. The game was just released last week, and it’s still early to pass any comments, but hopefully, there will be more optimization on the way.

If you plan on buying the game, make sure your hardware is decent, and you can run the game at the resolution you want. Also, make sure that you aren’t considering the system requirements written on the Cyberpunk website. They are incorrect, and I’d rather suggest checking your desired hardware benchmarks on YouTube.

If you have any questions related to Cyberpunk 2077 Settings or this guide, in particular, let us know in the comments below.

Update 1: The Hotfix 1.05 has now removed the memory_pool_budgets.csv file. According to CD Projekt, this was a leftover development file and had nothing to do with the game. This is strange since we have gotten lots of feedback that it resulted in a tremendous performance boost.

Other than the memory pool file, few optimizations related to Ryzen Processors and Ray Tracing have also been made.

Update 2: Hotfix 1.06 hasn’t addressed much, and save file issues have now been fixed. Performance hasn’t gotten any buffs.

Update 3: May 2022 – We revised the settings based on the patch, and added more tips.

How is Cyberpunk 2077 Optimization after Patch 1.5? 

We wrote this best Cyberpunk 2077 settings guide when the game first came out and received a few updates. However, the game was in an awful condition; filled with bugs, glitches, crashes, and black screens. You name an error and chances are, Cyberpunk 2077 had it when it first came out. 

However, CD Projekt Red reacted to the criticism by fans and pulled out all the stops on fixing the game. Amidst smaller updates, the game has received major patches like 1.5 that came with huge AI changes, bug fixes, and content updates.

Cyberpunk 2077 has significantly fewer game-breaking bugs and glitches. The performance across different system configurations has also been improved. Since the game’s performing better now, players can properly enjoy ray-tracing features at decent FPS.

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