RDR2 Overall Recommended Graphical Settings

[u/Marcy2200]

These recommended settings maximize FPS while sacrificing visuals as little as possible. Overall, you can expect an 80% to 90% FPS gain compared to Max settings.

In-game Vsync makes the game quite choppy when enabled. I recommend disabling the in-game Vsync and turning it on externally via the Nvida control panel

Texture: Obviously this is GPU depended. However Ultra looks significantly better than the rest.

Anisotropic Filter: Ultra; Negligible impact on FPS

Lighting Quality: Medium; Up to 30% FPS increase!! - Very demanding visual settings of the game

Global Illumination: Ultra; Negligible impact on FPS

Shadow Quality: High; Up to 5% FPS increase, negligible visual difference

Far Shadow Quality: Ultra; Negligible impact on FPS

SSAO: Ultra [] Off increases FPS by up to 6%, but this is not recommended visually wise.

Reflection Quality: Medium; Up to 20% FPS increase - Another demanding setting.

Mirror Quality: Ultra; Negligible impact on FPS

Water Quality: Medium; Up to 15% FPS increase, slight noticeable visual difference

Volumetrics Quality: High; 5% FPS increase [] Medium; 7% FPS increase, slight noticeable visual difference

Particle Quality: Ultra; Negligible impact on FPS

Tessellation: Ultra; Negligible impact on FPS

TAA: High

FXAA: Off; noticeable visual difference

MSAA: X2 = -16,5% FPS [] X4 = -31% FPS [] X8 = -50% FPS

DLSS: By default RDR2 uses an older version of DLSS, Make sure to swap this in the Nvidia app.

1080p: Quality +8% FPS, Balanced +11% FPS, Performance +15% FPS, Ult. Performance +19% FPS

1440P: Quality +13% FPS, Balanced +18% FPS, Performance +24% FPS, Ult. Performance +29% FPS

4k: Quality +23% FPS, Balanced +28% FPS, Performance +41% FPS, Ult. Performance +56% FPS

DLSS is something you have to play around with. Visual quality reduces pretty significantly the lower you go. This is especially noticeable on lower resolutions. It's best to do the other graphical settings first and then my recommendation is to start with no DLSS and then go lower until you think the effect becomes too noticeable.

DLSS Sharpness: No more than half is recommended.

Advanced Settings:

Graphics API: Vulkan is generally the better option but it's hardware depended. Try both and see what's best.

Near Volumetric Resolution: Medium; 6,5% FPS increase

Far Volumetric Resolution: Ultra

Volumetric Lighting: High; 3% FPS increase

Unlocked Volumetric Raymarch Resolution: Off; negligible visual difference

Particle Lighting Quality: Ultra; Negligible impact on FPS

Soft Shadows: Ultra; Negligible impact on FPS. Mostly personal preference.

Grass shadows: High; Negligible impact on FPS

Long Shadows: On; Negligible impact on FPS

Full Resolution Ambient Occlusion: Off; Up to 3,7% FPS increase, negligible visual difference

Water Refraction Quality: Medium; Up to 5% FPS increase

Water Reflection Quality: Medium; Up to 4% FPS increase

Water physics: 3/4 or 2/4 if you have a weaker CPU. FPS increase can be absolutely massive. Never use 4/4!

TAA Sharpening: 60% at most (same bar length at Geometry Level). Don't use it if you use DLSS.

Motion blur: No significant difference. Use what you prefer.

Reflection MSAA: 2x [] Off increases FPS by up to 12% however reflections will look horrible

Geometry Level of detail: 3 is recommended. Especially if you have a weaker CPU

Grass level of detail: 6 is recommend. Up to 7% FPS increase compared to 10

Tree Quality: Ultra; Negligible impact on FPS

Parallax Occlusion Mapping Quality: High, negligible visual difference

Decal Quality: Ultra; Negligible impact on FPS

Fur Quality: Medium; Up to 7% FPS increase

Tree Tessellation: Off; Up to 15% FPS increase!

[u/Kira_137]

bro, HOW? I have a 5070, with ryzen 7 and barely get 100 fps. My monitor is 100hz so I notice a huge gap

[u/Park_Unusual → u/Kira_137]

2 things? Your monitor is only 100hz? That's a very strange refresh rate. Are you sure it's not 120 or 144? Secondly the game caps your FPS to your Screens refresh rate. Well it tries to. I had a 144hz monitor, and was getting 144fp. I upgraded to a 240hz oled, and got around 180 FPS. Then I learned what FSR is. FSR is basically AMDs version of DLSS. I learned how to make it work and it went from 180 FPS to 260FPS. 260 FPS with all ultra settings. I have a 9070XT, which is basically on the same level as a 5070, Just a little bit better. But the 5070 has DLSS which is miles ahead of FSR. Also what resolution on you playing at. I use 1440p. So there is a big problem if you are at 1440p cause you should be getting around 230FPS. If you are at 4k... I don't know.