Best Graphics Settings For Arc Raiders On PC 2026

Arc Raiders is one of the most exciting extraction shooters to hit PC in recent years, and getting your graphics settings right can be the difference between a successful raid and losing all your gear to a stuttery firefight. Built on Unreal Engine 5 by Embark Studios, Arc Raiders is surprisingly well-optimized compared to most UE5 titles — but it still needs proper configuration to run at its absolute best. Whether you’re on a budget rig or a high-end gaming PC, this guide covers the best graphics settings for Arc Raiders on PC to maximize your FPS and keep gameplay smooth.

Why Graphics Settings Matter in Arc Raiders

In a fast-paced extraction shooter like Arc Raiders, performance directly affects how well you play. Frame drops during intense combat encounters with ARC machines can cost you your entire loadout. Inconsistent frame times make aiming feel floaty and unresponsive. Getting your settings dialed in means smoother gameplay, lower input lag, and a real competitive edge.

The good news is that Arc Raiders ditches several of UE5’s most performance-heavy features — including Virtual Shadow Maps, Lumen, and Nanite — in favor of NVIDIA’s RTXGI system for global illumination. This gives the game impressively stable frame times and modest VRAM usage, even at higher settings. That said, fine-tuning individual options can still yield significant FPS gains, especially in dense combat zones.

Arc Raiders System Requirements (Quick Reference)

Before diving into settings, make sure your PC meets at least the recommended specs:

• Minimum: Intel Core i5-8600K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GTX 1070 / AMD RX 5700
• Recommended: Intel Core i7-10700K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA RTX 3080 / AMD RX 6800 XT
• Storage: SSD strongly recommended to avoid texture pop-in and slow load times

Best Display Settings for Arc Raiders

Window Mode

Set this to Borderless Fullscreen. Exclusive fullscreen offers no performance benefit and can cause issues with alt-tabbing, while windowed mode adds unnecessary latency. Borderless is the default and best option for most players.

Display Resolution

Always use your monitor’s native resolution (1920×1080, 2560×1440, or 3840×2160). Dropping below native resolution creates blurry textures and hurts visual clarity, which is a real disadvantage in an extraction shooter where spotting enemies and loot matters. If you need extra performance, use AI upscaling rather than lowering your base resolution.

VSync

Turn VSync Off. VSync introduces input latency and artificially caps your frame rate to your monitor’s refresh rate. If screen tearing is a concern, use G-Sync or FreeSync through your monitor settings instead — these handle tearing without the added lag.

Frame Rate Limit

Set to Unlimited for maximum performance. If you are streaming or recording and notice system slowdowns, cap your FPS slightly below your average to free up resources for other apps.

NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency

If you have an NVIDIA GPU, set this to On + Boost. This feature significantly reduces input latency, making your mouse and keyboard feel far more responsive during combat. On very low-powered CPUs it may cost 2–3 FPS, in which case using “On” (without Boost) is a reasonable compromise. AMD users should enable Anti-Lag in AMD Software for a similar benefit.

FSR3 / DLSS Frame Generation

Keep Frame Generation Disabled. While it can add 50–100 extra frames, it introduces noticeable input latency that makes the game feel sluggish — a serious problem in a competitive shooter. Enable it only if you are playing with a controller and can tolerate the delayed response.

Best Graphics Quality Settings for Arc Raiders

These are the recommended settings for mid-to-high-end PCs, balancing strong performance with solid visual quality.

Upscaling Method

This is one of the most impactful settings in the game. Use DLSS if you have an NVIDIA GPU, or FSR if you are on AMD or Intel. Set the mode to Balanced for the best mix of performance and image quality. Performance mode gives extra frames but introduces noticeable blurriness, while Quality mode looks sharper but at a higher performance cost.

For DLSS users, the CNN preset runs 10–12% faster than the Transformer preset on RTX 40/50-series GPUs, with an even wider gap on older RTX 20/30-series cards. Unless you are specifically playing at a slow pace and prioritizing visuals over competitive performance, CNN is the recommended choice.

Textures

Set textures to High. Arc Raiders uses VRAM efficiently — even at maximum texture settings, the game rarely exceeds 7GB of VRAM on a 12GB card. High textures look significantly better than Medium without a major performance cost on most modern GPUs. Drop to Medium only if you are on an older card with 6GB or less of VRAM.

Shadows

Keep shadows at High or Epic. Shadows are critically important in Arc Raiders because they affect enemy visibility and help you detect movement at range. Lowering shadows can cause noticeable pop-in and flickering, which is more distracting than the performance gain is worth. Only lower this setting if you are on a genuinely low-end GPU.

View Distance

Set to High. View distance affects how far terrain details, objects, and enemies render at range. Lowering it causes aggressive pop-in and can actually hurt your competitive awareness. The performance cost of keeping this high is relatively small compared to the clarity benefit.

Effects Quality

Set Effects to Medium or Low. This setting controls weapon particles, explosion visuals, dust clouds, and similar effects. Dropping it from High to Medium or Low gives a 9–10% FPS uplift with minimal visible difference during actual gameplay — most of these effects happen so fast in combat that you will barely notice the reduction.

Global Illumination (GI)

Use Low or Medium. Global Illumination can be demanding, especially indoors, with limited visual benefit at higher settings. Keeping it at Low or Medium saves meaningful GPU time without noticeably darkening the game’s look in most outdoor environments.

RTXGI

Keep RTXGI at High. This is Arc Raiders’ core lighting system, and the difference between Low and High is very noticeable in how light bounces and fills interior spaces. Importantly, the performance difference between Low and High RTXGI is smaller than you might expect, making High the clear winner for quality-to-performance ratio.

Post Processing

Set to Low or Medium. Post Processing at Low disables ambient occlusion and bloom effects, which can make the image look slightly flatter. However, doing so can provide up to a 10% FPS improvement. If you are targeting maximum competitive performance, Low is the right call. If you want a more cinematic look without too much cost, use Medium.

Motion Blur

Turn Motion Blur Off. Motion blur makes it harder to track enemies during fast movements and adds visual clutter. There is no competitive reason to keep it on, and removing it is a free clarity upgrade.

Depth of Field

Disable Depth of Field. Like motion blur, this is a cinematic effect that actively hinders gameplay by blurring parts of your screen.

Foliage Quality

Set to Low or Medium. Foliage is one of the biggest performance killers in Arc Raiders, significantly affecting both GPU and CPU. Lowering foliage quality from High to Low can add 10–30 FPS depending on the area, with minimal impact on competitive play.

Extra Performance Tips Beyond In-Game Settings

Getting the most out of Arc Raiders is not just about in-game options. A few system-level tweaks can add meaningful FPS on top of your settings changes.

Update your GPU drivers. NVIDIA and AMD both release Arc Raiders-optimized drivers. Installing the latest version typically provides 5–10 extra frames in demanding scenes.

Set Windows power plan to High Performance. This prevents your CPU from throttling during heavy combat, keeping performance consistent when you need it most.

Close background applications. Browser tabs, Discord overlays, and recording software all consume CPU and RAM. Closing them before launching Arc Raiders frees up resources and can add 5–12 FPS.

Install Arc Raiders on an SSD. This dramatically reduces load times and prevents texture pop-in during raids, which can be both visually distracting and a gameplay disadvantage.

Settings Summary Table

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Final Thoughts

Arc Raiders is a rare example of a UE5 game that actually runs well, but there is still plenty of room to squeeze out extra performance with the right configuration. The settings above are tested and proven to deliver high, consistent frame rates while keeping the game looking sharp enough to spot threats at range. Start with these as your baseline, load into a raid, and make small adjustments based on how your specific hardware responds. With the right setup, you will spend less time watching your frame counter and more time making successful extractions.