Setting up Elden Ring graphics for a weak PC

 How to get a stable 60 FPS in the new game from the creators of Dark Souls

The highly anticipated Elden Ring was released last week. George Martin himself, the author of the fantasy cycle A Song of Ice and Fire, helped to breathe life into her world. The result is a very distinctive Action-RPG in a large open world and, as most reviews state, "the best game from From Software".

Unfortunately, the greatly increased scale has led to high system requirements, although the graphics in Elden Ring look a little dated (but everything is redeemed by the luxurious visual design). In this guide, we will first determine what hardware is needed for a comfortable game at different resolutions, and then we will derive the optimal graphics settings for increasing FPS without noticeably worsening the picture.

What kind of computer is needed for Elden Ring (system requirements)?

We studied the tests of the game on different hardware at different resolutions and came to the conclusion that the official system requirements are not far from the truth. The game can load up to 12 processor threads but effectively uses no more than 8. At the same time, high performance per core is required. Therefore, the minimum processor requirement for Elden Ring can be considered modern Intel Core i5 or old Core i7, as well as AMD Ryzen 5 of any generation. In addition, a stable 60 FPS at high settings at 1080p requires a GeForce GTX 1070 or Radeon RX 590 graphics card.

Unfortunately, the official system requirements only target 1080p (1920x1080). Therefore, below we have compiled recommendations for the remaining resolutions, based on the tests studied.

IMPORTANT: Elden Ring has a hard cap of 60 FPS. It can be removed with a custom fix, however, game stability when the framerate is not fixed is not guaranteed.

For playing at 1080p @ 30 FPS, high. preset (according to tests):

• Operating system: Windows 10/11 (64-bit only!).
• Processor: Intel Core i5-6600K / AMD Ryzen 5 1600.
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 580.
• RAM: 8 gigabytes.

For playing at 1080p @ 60 FPS, high. preset (according to tests):

• Operating system: Windows 10/11 x64.
• Processor: Intel Core i7-7700K / AMD Ryzen 7 2700X.
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 1070 / AMD Radeon RX 590.
• RAM: 16 gigabytes.

For playing at 1440p @ 30 FPS, high. preset (according to tests):

• Operating system: Windows 10/11 x64.
• Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 7 3500X.
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 / AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT.
• RAM: 16 gigabytes.

For gameplay at 1440p @ 60 FPS, high. preset (according to tests):

• Operating system: Windows 10/11 x64.
• Processor: Intel Core i5-8600K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600X.
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 / AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT.
• RAM: 16 gigabytes.

For playing in 4K @ 30 FPS, high. preset (according to tests):

• Operating system: Windows 10/11 x64.
• Processor: Intel Core i5-9600K / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X.
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 / AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT.
• RAM: 16 gigabytes.

For playing in 4K @ 60 FPS, high. preset (according to tests):

• Operating system: Windows 10/11 x64.
• Processor: Intel Core i5-10400 / AMD Ryzen 7 5600X.
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 / AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT.
• RAM: 16 gigabytes.

Adjusting graphics in Elden Ring / how to increase FPS (frame rate) in the game

Most of the parameters in the game "eat off" the performance little by little. But there are more resource-intensive ones than the rest: Antialiasing Quality, SSAO, Shadow Quality, Volume Effects Quality, and Grass Quality. If you don’t want to figure it out for a long time, then you can lower all of the above to medium (or low) quality, except for “Shadow Quality”. The last parameter consumes not so little, but it is better to leave its quality level at least high to avoid flickering shadows on the trees.

Next, we will analyze in detail all the Elden Ring graphic settings. Where applicable, the impact of the option on the current performance as a percentage from minimum to maximum quality is shown in parentheses. Testing was conducted on the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.

• "Screen mode". Full-screen mode is best suited for maximum stability and performance. But if you're streaming or for some reason using a second display while playing, you can use borderless windowed mode.
• "Permission". This item in all games must match the native resolution of your screen so that the picture is as clear as possible.
• "Machine. visualization settings. In theory, it should automatically reduce the quality of graphics in order to keep the FPS always above 60. At the time of this writing, the option does not seem to work. Therefore, it is better to turn it off and adjust the graphics yourself.
• "Texture quality" (video memory consumption up to 4 GB). Adjusts the resolution of textures, which gives increased clarity to the surfaces of objects. To set the maximum quality, you will need a video card with at least 4 gigabytes of video memory, otherwise, the frame rate stability will noticeably decrease. If you have only 3 gigabytes, then set the quality of textures to high, and if 2 or even less - medium.
• "Quality smoothing" (up to 5%). Low-quality anti-aliasing does not do well with long shots, tree branches, and architecture. Therefore, it is still better to put high quality here, although anti-aliasing is in second place in terms of resource consumption in Elden Ring.
• SSAO (up to 3%). Additional shading at the joints and in the recesses of the surfaces. Without SSAO, the picture looks overexposed and unnatural, and objects appear suspended in the air. Fortunately, you can choose medium quality, which will be sufficient when you lack FPS or you have an outdated video card that does not cope well with shadows.
• "Depth of field" (up to 1%). A cinematic effect that blurs the background in cutscenes and distant shots during normal gameplay. The latter helps to hide the reduced detail of distant objects. It is better to turn it on so that the game looks better in an artistic sense. Fortunately, this will have little effect on performance.
• "Motion blur" (up to 2%). Motion smoothing for animations, as well as blurring the background during camera turns to create a speed effect. Helps to make unstable framerate not so noticeable, but at the same time, too high a value can be redundant. Set the quality to medium, or increase it to your taste - it will have almost no effect on performance.
• "Shadow Quality" (up to 5%). The quality of most of the shading in the game. Unfortunately, shadows start to flicker at medium quality, so it's better to set at least high quality. The maximum makes the shadows even sharper and fixes the remaining artifacts.
• "Lighting quality" (up to 1%). We were unable to detect any significant performance impact of this parameter, both indoors and outdoors. However, on older video cards, the lighting resource intensity can be noticeably higher (GeForce 900 series and below, as well as Radeon 300 series and below).
• "Effects quality" (up to 2%). Mainly adjusts the quality of magical effects and other particle effects. There is no particular difference in performance, and it is difficult to notice the difference between the average and maximum in terms of quality. It may be worth lowering to medium if you have an outdated video card or a weak processor in order to avoid lag and frame drops during especially dynamic fights using magic.
• "Quality volume. effects” (up to 5%). Responsible for fog, haze, and similar effects. You can downgrade to medium quality if you are desperate for FPS.
• "Quality of reflections" (up to 1%). Reflective surfaces are very rare in the game, and the difference between matte and glossy materials is barely noticeable. The latter may mean that Elden Ring does not use PBR (Physically Based Rendering). Apparently, therefore, the high quality of reflections practically does not eat away performance.
• "Water surface quality" (up to 2%). You can set the quality of the water surface to low or high. As always, complex effects, surfaces, and materials are quickly processed by modern video cards, but older ones can have problems. While on our GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, high quality only reduced performance near water by a couple of percents.
• "Shader quality" (up to 1%). Shaders is another parameter that gets processed faster the newer your graphics card is. However, at least on the GTX 1060, there should be no problems and high quality will not take more than 1-2 frames.
• “Global Illumination Quality” (up to 1%). Global Illumination is an easier graphical aspect to calculate than Directional Illumination from the previous similar setting. Therefore, performance problems should not be on most video cards - set high quality.
• Grass quality (up to 10%). The most resource-intensive parameter in the game. It strains not only the video card but also the processor. For this reason, for most weak PCs, it is better to choose no higher than average quality.

The final optimal Elden Ring settings for a weak (and not only) PC

IMPORTANT: All recommendations below are for 1920x1080 resolution.

Optimal settings for a weak PC (GTX 1050 Ti / RX 560):

• Screen mode: full screen.
• Machine. visualization setting: disable.
• Texture quality: high.
• Smoothing quality: low.
• SSAO: average.
• Depth of field: medium.
• Motion blur: to your taste.
• Shadow quality: high.
• Lighting quality: high.
• Effect quality: medium.
• Volumetric quality. effects: average.
• Reflection quality: high.
• Water surface quality: poor.
• Shader quality: high.
• Quality of global illumination: high.
• Grass quality: average.

Optimal settings for an entry-level gaming PC (GTX 1660 / RX 590):

• Screen mode: full screen.
• Machine. visualization setting: disable.
• Texture quality: maximum.
• Smoothing quality: high.
• SSAO: high.
• Depth of field: high.
• Motion blur: to your taste.
• Shadow Quality: Max.
• Lighting quality: high.
• Effects quality: high.
• Volumetric quality. effects: high.
• Reflection quality: high.
• Water surface quality: high.
• Shader quality: high.
• Quality of global illumination: high.
• Grass quality: high.

Optimal settings for a mid-range PC (RTX 2070 / RX 5700 XT):

• Screen mode: full screen.
• Machine. visualization setting: disable.
• Texture quality: maximum.
• Smoothing quality: high.
• SSAO: high.
• Depth of field: high.
• Motion blur: to your taste.
• Shadow Quality: Max.
• Lighting quality: high.
• Effects quality: high.
• Volumetric quality. effects: high.
• Reflection quality: high.
• Water surface quality: high.
• Shader quality: high.
• Quality of global illumination: high.
• Grass quality: high.

Optimal settings for a pre-top PC (RTX 3070 / RX 6700 XT):

• Screen mode: full screen.
• Machine. visualization setting: disable.
• Texture quality: maximum.
• Smoothing quality: high.
• SSAO: maximum.
• Depth of field: maximum.
• Motion blur: to your taste.
• Shadow Quality: Max.
• Lighting quality: maximum.
• Effect quality: maximum.
• Volumetric quality. effects: maximum.
• Reflection quality: maximum.
• Water surface quality: high.
• Shader quality: high.
• Quality of global illumination: high.
• Grass quality: max.