Best ARC Raiders PC Settings for More FPS and Better Visibility

ARC Raiders looks great, and that's partly the problem. Embark Studios built it on Unreal Engine 5, and the default settings lean towards "look at this sunset" rather than "spot the Raider crouched in the tall grass 80 metres away". If your frame rate dips every time a Rocketeer lights up the sky, or you keep losing people in foliage, this guide is for you.

Below is the setup we keep coming back to on PC. It's a starting point rather than a magic preset: every rig is a little different, so change one thing at a time and play a couple of raids before judging it.

The short version

If you just want the list, here it is. The reasoning for each setting follows further down.

Setting	Recommended	Why
Display mode	Fullscreen (or Borderless if you alt-tab a lot)	Lowest input lag, most stable frame pacing
V-Sync	Off	Adds input delay; use a frame cap instead
Frame rate limit	Refresh rate + a few FPS	The default cap is 60, which wastes a high-refresh monitor
NVIDIA Reflex	On + Boost	Noticeably snappier aim on NVIDIA cards
Upscaling	DLSS / FSR 3 / XeSS on Quality or Balanced	Biggest single FPS gain with little visual loss
View distance	High or Epic	Distant players and ARC stay visible
Anti-aliasing	High or Epic	Cheap on most GPUs, cleaner edges at range
Textures	Match your VRAM (see below)	Textures eat memory, not raw GPU power
Shadows	Low	Heavy on the GPU and darkens hiding spots
Foliage	Low	Less grass between you and the target
Effects	Low to Medium	Explosions and weather cost frames when it matters most
Post-processing	Low	Less bloom and haze over the image
Reflections	Low	Pretty, but no gameplay benefit
Global illumination resolution	Low (Medium if you have headroom)	Big performance cost for subtle lighting
Ray tracing	Static	Dynamic RT is expensive in busy fights
Motion blur	Off	Smears the screen exactly when you're turning
Field of view	As high as it goes	More peripheral awareness

First, can your PC actually run it?

ARC Raiders is fairly forgiving for a UE5 game. The published requirements ask for Windows 10 or later, and at the low end an Intel Core i5-6600K or Ryzen 5 1600 with a GTX 1050 Ti or RX 580. The recommended tier moves up to an i5-9600K or Ryzen 5 3600 with an RTX 2070 or RX 5700 XT.

In practice, the minimum spec will get you into raids, but you'll be leaning hard on upscaling and low settings. If you're somewhere between the two tiers, the settings above are exactly where you'll feel the biggest difference.

Two quick checks before you touch anything in-game:

• Install the game on an SSD. Streaming assets from a hard drive is one of the most common causes of hitching when you drop into a new area.
• Update your GPU driver. NVIDIA, AMD and Intel have all shipped driver updates with fixes for popular new releases, and it's a free win.

Display settings: get these right first

Fullscreen, V-Sync off, sensible frame cap

Exclusive fullscreen still gives the most consistent frame pacing on most setups. Borderless is fine if you constantly alt-tab to Discord or a map, just be aware it can add a touch of latency depending on your system.

Turn V-Sync off and set the in-game frame limit instead. The game ships with a 60 FPS cap, which is easy to miss. If you're on a 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitor, set the limit to your refresh rate or a few frames above it. If you use G-Sync or FreeSync, capping a few frames below refresh keeps you inside the variable refresh window and avoids tearing.

Reflex and upscaling

On an NVIDIA card, set Reflex to On + Boost. It trims system latency, and in a game where fights are often decided by who reacts first around a corner, it's worth having.

Upscaling is where most people find their missing frames. ARC Raiders supports NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR 3 and Intel XeSS. Start with the Quality preset at 1440p, or Balanced at 1080p if you still need more. DLSS generally holds up best in motion if you have an RTX card; FSR 3 is the go-to on AMD and older NVIDIA hardware.

Frame generation can make the counter look impressive, but it doesn't reduce input lag, and it can feel floaty if your base frame rate is low. Treat it as a smoothness option for when you're already above roughly 60 FPS, not a fix for a struggling PC.

Graphics settings, one by one

Keep: view distance, anti-aliasing, textures

View distance decides how far out players and machines are drawn in full detail. Dropping it can make a distant Raider harder to read, so leave it on High or Epic unless you're truly desperate.

Anti-aliasing is surprisingly cheap on most modern GPUs, and higher settings help thin shapes (antennas, railings, rifles) stay stable at distance.

Textures depend on video memory more than GPU speed. A simple rule: under 6 GB of VRAM use Low, around 6 GB use Medium, and 8 GB or more can handle High or Epic. If you notice stutter when turning quickly into a new area, textures are the first thing to lower.

Lower: shadows, foliage, effects, post-processing

Shadows are one of the most expensive settings in the game, and higher shadow quality also makes dark corners darker. Low is the sweet spot for both performance and visibility.

Foliage on Low thins out grass and bushes. That's a frame rate win and it simply gives you more clear sightlines across open ground.

Effects cover explosions, smoke and weather. These spike exactly when a big ARC fight kicks off, which is the worst possible moment for a frame drop. Low or Medium keeps things steady.

Post-processing adds bloom, lens flare and haze. Setting it to Low gives a slightly flatter but noticeably clearer picture.

Cut: reflections, global illumination, dynamic ray tracing

Reflections and global illumination resolution are the "make it pretty" settings. Both cost a lot for almost no gameplay value. Set reflections to Low, and GI resolution to Low unless you've got frames to spare.

For ray tracing, the Static option is the practical choice. Fully dynamic lighting looks lovely in screenshots, but it's heavy in busy scenes.

Turn off: motion blur. Turn up: field of view

Motion blur smears the image as you turn, which is exactly when you need to see clearly. Switch it off. Then push field of view as high as it goes; seeing more of the edges of your screen helps you catch movement you'd otherwise miss.

Don't skip the audio tab

Sound is half of situational awareness in an extraction shooter. A few changes make a real difference:

• Turn on Night Mode. It evens out loud and quiet sounds, so footsteps and reloads don't get buried under gunfire.
• Lower or mute music while raiding. You'll hear approaching players earlier.
• Use headphones and enable Windows Spatial Sound (Windows Sonic works fine) for better left/right and front/back positioning.

Still stuttering? Try this checklist

1. Let the first launch after a patch finish preparing shaders before joining a raid. The first match after an update often hitches more than the rest.
2. Close browser tabs with video, overlays you don't use and anything recording in the background.
3. In Windows, set the power plan to High performance or Balanced (not Power saver) and make sure Game Mode is on.
4. Check that the game is using your dedicated GPU, not integrated graphics. This is a common problem on laptops.
5. Lower textures one step. If the hitching disappears, you were running out of VRAM.
6. Verify the game files through your launcher. It takes a few minutes and fixes more issues than you'd expect.

Final thoughts

The best ARC Raiders settings are the ones that give you a steady frame rate first and a clear image second. Stable FPS, Reflex on, sensible upscaling, and low shadows, foliage and effects will do more for your raids than any single "ultra" toggle. Once you're happy with performance, raise one setting at a time until you find the point where it starts to cost more than it gives.

Patches change performance, so we'll revisit this guide when something big shifts. If you've got a question about your own setup, drop into our Discord and ask. For more guides like this, have a look at the rest of the PentaSharp blog.