Arc Raiders: Best Graphics Settings for Max FPS and Performance
Arc Raiders, the highly anticipated PvPvE extraction shooter from Embark Studios, is set to drop players into a hostile, retro-futuristic world where every decision counts. In this high-stakes environment, a smooth and stable frame rate isn't just a luxury—it's a critical component for survival. A sudden stutter or frame drop during a firefight with hostile automatons or a rival squad can be the difference between a successful extraction and losing your hard-earned gear.
To ensure your rig is ready for deployment from day one, we've prepared a comprehensive guide to the best graphics settings for Arc Raiders. This guide will help you dial in the perfect balance between visual fidelity and raw performance, giving you a clear competitive advantage and ensuring your focus remains on the mission, not on lag.
Understanding Arc Raiders PC System Requirements
Before diving into the in-game settings, it's essential to know the hardware baseline. While Embark Studios has yet to release the final, official system requirements, early playtests and community discussions have given us a solid idea of the hardware you'll need.
Speculated Minimum System Requirements:
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600
- RAM: 12 GB
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 or AMD Radeon RX 580 (8GB)
Speculated Recommended System Requirements:
- OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- RAM: 16 GB
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
These specifications suggest a game that is scalable but will benefit significantly from modern hardware, especially in its dense urban environments and particle-heavy combat sequences. Our settings guide is designed to help players across this spectrum achieve optimal performance.
Best Graphics Settings for High FPS in Arc Raiders
Our goal is to maximize frames per second (FPS) while preserving visual clarity, which is crucial for spotting enemies. We recommend starting with these settings and then adjusting them based on your specific hardware and performance.
Settings to Lower for a Major Performance Boost
These are the most demanding graphical options. Turning them down will yield the most significant FPS gains with minimal impact on your ability to compete.
- Shadow Quality: Set to Medium or Low. High-quality, dynamic shadows are one of the most resource-intensive settings in any modern game. Lowering this will provide a substantial performance uplift, especially in areas with complex lighting and numerous objects.
- Effects Quality: Set to Medium. This controls the fidelity of explosions, smoke, and other particle effects. During intense gunfights, high settings can cause severe frame drops. Medium provides a good balance without making combat a slideshow.
- Foliage Quality: Set to Medium. The world of Arc Raiders features dense vegetation in spots. Lowering this setting will simplify the complexity of grass and trees, freeing up GPU resources when you're moving through overgrown areas.
- Global Illumination: Set to Medium or Low. This technology creates more realistic and immersive lighting. However, it comes at a high performance cost. Unless you have a high-end rig, keeping this on a lower setting is advisable for competitive play.
- Post-Processing: Set to Medium. This bundles several screen effects like motion blur, bloom, and depth of field. While they can make the game look more cinematic, they can also obscure your vision and consume performance. We highly recommend turning Motion Blur completely Off.
Settings to Keep High for a Competitive Edge
Some settings are too important for situational awareness to turn down. Sacrificing a few frames here is worth the tactical advantage.
- View Distance: Set to High or Epic. In a shooter, seeing your enemy before they see you is paramount. A high view distance ensures that distant players and objects render correctly, preventing you from being caught off guard by enemies that pop into view.
- Texture Quality: Set to High (if VRAM allows). This setting has a minimal impact on FPS, provided your graphics card has enough VRAM (6GB or more). High-quality textures make environmental details and enemy character models sharper and easier to distinguish at a distance.
- Mesh Quality / LOD: Set to High. This setting controls the geometric detail of objects in the world. Keeping it high ensures that objects, cover, and character models don't lose their shape at a distance, which is vital for judging shots and movement.
Fine-Tuning Your Resolution and Upscaling
Your monitor's native resolution is almost always the best choice for clarity. However, if you're struggling to hit your target FPS, modern upscaling technologies are your best friend. Look for these settings in the display menu:
- NVIDIA DLSS: If you have an RTX series graphics card, set this to Quality or Balanced. DLSS uses AI to upscale a lower-resolution image, providing a massive performance boost with remarkably little loss in visual quality.
- AMD FSR: This is a great alternative that works on a wider range of graphics cards, including older NVIDIA and AMD models. The Quality setting is a fantastic starting point.
- Intel XeSS: A newer upscaler that also works on hardware from all major manufacturers, offering another excellent option to improve your frame rate.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Will my PC be able to run Arc Raiders?
A: Compare your PC's specifications (CPU, GPU, RAM) to the speculated minimum and recommended requirements listed above. If your hardware meets or exceeds the minimum specs, you should be able to run the game, but you will likely need to use our recommended low-to-medium settings for a smooth experience.
Q: Is it better to have higher graphics or higher FPS in Arc Raiders?
A: For a competitive extraction shooter like Arc Raiders, higher FPS is almost always better. A smoother, more responsive gameplay experience will give you a significant advantage in combat over a prettier-looking game that stutters or lags.
Q: Should I update my graphics drivers for Arc Raiders?
A: Absolutely. NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel regularly release "Game Ready" drivers for major new releases. Check for the latest drivers before the game launches to ensure optimal performance, stability, and compatibility from the very beginning.