Due to common updates over the previous few years, together with the main next-gen graphical replace, The Witcher 3 has by no means seemed higher on PC, however getting the very best out of it is going to nonetheless require somewhat messing round within the settings menus. Fortunately, we have already examined the finest Witcher 3 settings for PC and Steam Deck and have detailed them under.
It will not take the very best graphics card to get most fps out of The Witcher 3, however refining your graphics settings to maximise the efficiency of your {hardware} is essential. If you wish to be sure your {hardware} is not too old-fashioned, make sure to try the Witcher 3 system necessities.
The most effective Witcher 3 graphics settings for PC
- V-sync: On
- Framerate restrict: Limitless
- Show mode: Fullscreen
- Background characters: Excessive
- Shadow high quality: Extremely
- Water high quality: Extremely
- Foliage visibility: Excessive
- Grass density: Extremely
- Texture high quality: Extremely
- Element degree: Extremely
- Movement blur: On
- Bloom: On
- Depth of area: On
- Chromatic Aberration: On
- Vignetting: On
- Mild shafts: On
- Digital camera lens results: Off
Lighting
The Witcher 3’s lighting choices are unimaginable, and you will not be dissatisfied enjoying the sport with Excessive or Extremely settings enabled. Scaling issues again to Medium additionally will not disappoint, however we would counsel wanting elsewhere for a body fee increase. In case your rig is preventing efficiency demons, you might change bloom settings off, because it’ll give you a modest 4% fps bump.
Extremely+ lighting settings take The Witcher 3 to the following degree, however they’re undoubtedly a luxurious. Once more, CDPR most likely hasn’t given us a devoted preset for a motive, and it is most likely finest to contemplate the elevated choices after you have carried out a balanced vary of modifications.
Ray Tracing
As you’d count on, ray tracing takes a toll on The Witcher 3 body charges, and CDPR makes steep graphics card suggestions for utilizing the settings. In the end, except you are utilizing an RTX 4000 like us, you may discover that you might have to commerce away Extremely and Excessive choices to realize 60fps and over.
Choosing Extremely+ choices will place you in a good larger efficiency predicament, particularly in the event you’re not utilizing a shiny new GPU. Fortunately, with our present testing rigs, we’re in a position to obtain a stable 60fps at 1440p with Nvidia DLSS set to High quality.
In case you really feel like you may’t stay with out ray tracing illuminating Geralt’s path, you are going to should pay the efficiency worth or throw away constancy. As a final resort, you might bump issues all the way down to 1080p, however we reckon that’ll compromise the expertise a bit an excessive amount of.
Decision
Talking of decision, in the event you’re fortunate sufficient to personal the very best gaming monitor round with 4K superpowers, it is best to preserve issues native. Dipping issues all the way down to 1440p most likely will not offend your eyeballs an excessive amount of, however we would steer properly away from 1080p and decrease (except you occur to be enjoying on a Steam Deck).
Shadow high quality
Similar to lighting, we expect Extremely shadow settings are price enabling in The Witcher 3. Turning on Extremely+ will give results an edge, nevertheless it’d go to the chopping block earlier than different settings, like textures and foliage. In different phrases, take the identical method as talked about earlier than with lighting, significantly in the event you’re struggling to seek out your body fee footing within the first place.
Textures
Textures are most of the time the very first thing your eyes will discover when enjoying the very best PC video games. In a method, they’re the material of the world you may understand as you meander by way of mesmerizing locales. The identical applies to The Witcher 3, and we would advocate holding your settings as excessive as potential.
You do not have to allow Extremely+ settings to should good time, however it is going to remodel the RPG right into a next-gen outing. CDPR’s world is chock-full of fantasy visuals, from medieval structure to sprawling valleys, and ramping issues up will solely add extra immersive realism into the combo.
Grass and foliage
The Witcher 3 is a really outdoorsy recreation, and there are many locations to the touch grass on the Continent. As such, cranking grass and foliage settings to Extremely will give all that vegetation a practical vibe, and the next-gen replace really options improved textures in comparison with the unique launch.
Switching on Extremely+ grass and foliage goes to make a distinction, and it is a setting price prioritizing. That is maybe a subjective assertion on condition that some gamers will not cease for lengthy to understand any of their environment, not to mention an in depth leaf. Nonetheless, it is one we would goal for, offered your GPU can deal with the additional work.
Greatest Witcher 3 settings for Steam Deck
Throughout the graphics menu in The Witcher 3 lies a Steam Deck-specific preset. We advise that that is what you utilize to run the sport, no matter which mannequin Deck you personal.
Similar to with Cyberpunk 2077, this settings profile is optimized for the Steam Deck, and the one modifications it is best to make are to lock the Steam Deck to 90Hz/45fps for essentially the most secure efficiency.
The Witcher 3 graphics Presets
Favor a laid-back method to settings? Don’t fret, The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt has a bunch of presets that’ll prevent from tinkering round in menus. The normal low, medium, excessive, and extremely choices are all current, but when your system is armed with top-of-the-line graphics card contenders, there’s an ‘Extremely ray tracing’ tab tagged on the finish.
Weirdly, CDPR would not embrace Extremely+ inside its vary of Witcher 3 presets, as you may have to toggle every graphics choice your self. It will maybe be a nuisance for gamers who’re assured their RTX 4090 can deal with the ramped-up settings. Nevertheless, in the event you’re seeking to rigorously dial issues up and increase fps on an older GPU, a preset most likely would not assist anyway.
As all the time, we would advise utilizing presets as a efficiency baseline earlier than messing round, and The Witcher 3 system necessities will preemptively defend you from body fee complications. Positive, a few of you will crank every little thing up max straight away only for the hell of it, however taking the time to get issues proper beforehand will provide help to soar into Geralt’s sneakers (or bathtub) with no hitch.
How we check The Witcher 3
At , we use devoted gaming rigs to check the very best settings for efficiency and gameplay within the newest releases. The check rig used for The Witcher 3 contains the next elements; Intel Core i7 11700F, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 12GB, 32GB of DDR4 3200MHz RAM, MSI B560 motherboard. We additionally check utilizing Widows 11 64-bit.
We all the time run our testing first at 1,920 x 1,080 to establish the very best settings, then once more at 2,560 x 1,440 utilizing the identical setup to gauge the distinction in efficiency. We use CapFrameX to seize body information and evaluate testing classes.
Tips on how to monitor efficiency in The Witcher 3
If you wish to keep watch over efficiency in The Witcher 3, we’ve a straightforward technique that works whether or not you are utilizing an Nvidia or AMD graphics card.
For Nvidia playing cards, guarantee you could have GeForce Expertise or the Nvidia App put in and the in-game overlay enabled. Then hit Alt + R in-game to convey up your efficiency monitor. With AMD playing cards, you may allow efficiency monitoring through the Radeon overlay utilizing the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + O.
Alternatively, you may obtain free software program akin to CapFrameX or Nvidia FrameView, to get a cleaner, extra simplified benchmarking instrument that works with any graphics card.
If you have to improve your {hardware} to start out enjoying The Witcher 3, comply with our useful information on easy methods to construct a gaming PC, which takes you thru the method step-by-step from begin to end.
