Escape from Tarkov Graphics Settings: A Practical Guide

Escape from Tarkov has a reputation for being hard to run, and Streets of Tarkov in particular can bring strong PCs to their knees. Battlestate Games' shooter is built on Unity and simulates a lot at once, so perfect performance isn't always possible. What you can do is stop wasting frames on settings that don't help and keep the ones that let you spot a scav in the shadows.

Game settings first

A couple of options in the Game tab have a direct effect on performance.

• Automatic RAM cleaner: Worth enabling on systems with 16 GB of RAM or less. It helps with memory buildup during long sessions.
• Only use physical cores: Results vary by CPU. Test with it on and off on the same map; on some systems it helps, on others it doesn't.

Graphics settings

Textures and distance

• Texture quality: High if you have enough VRAM. Textures rarely cost much FPS unless memory runs out.
• Object LOD quality: Around 2–2.5. Higher values keep more detail at distance at a real cost.
• Overall visibility: Around 1,000–1,500 on most maps. Very high values mostly add load without helping in most fights.

Shadows and lighting

• Shadow quality: Medium. You still get shadows that help you read depth, without the full cost.
• Shadow visibility: Lower values help performance.
• HBAO (ambient occlusion): Off or low. It darkens corners, which isn't what you want in a game where people hide in them.
• SSR (screen space reflections): Off.

Image clarity

• Anti-aliasing: TAA-based options with sharpening, or the AA that comes with your upscaler.
• Sharpness: A moderate value helps counter the softness from TAA and upscaling. Too much and edges get crunchy.
• Anisotropic filtering: Per texture or on. It's cheap and keeps the ground sharp at an angle.
• Chromatic aberrations, noise, grass shadows, z-blur: Off.

Upscaling

DLSS and FSR can make a big difference on heavy maps. Start at Quality. Tarkov relies on spotting small, distant shapes, so avoid the most aggressive presets if you can.

Post-FX

Tarkov's Post-FX panel lets you adjust brightness, saturation and colour. Many players raise brightness slightly and adjust colour so dark interiors aren't pitch black. Tune it on a map you know well, at a time of day you play often, and don't overdo it; washed-out images make it harder to judge distance.

PC tips for Tarkov specifically

1. Install on a fast SSD. Map loading and in-raid streaming both benefit.
2. More RAM genuinely helps in Tarkov. If you're on 16 GB and see stutter, closing background apps matters a lot.
3. Keep GPU drivers current.
4. Restart the game if performance slowly drops after many raids.

Recap

Enable the RAM cleaner, keep textures high and object LOD moderate, lower shadows and turn off HBAO and SSR, add a little sharpening, and use upscaling on Quality for the heaviest maps. If you also play Arena Breakout: Infinite or ARC Raiders, you'll recognise a lot of this. Find more on the PentaSharp blog.