Ultra vs. High Settings: Why Most Players Are Higher With a Decrease Graphics Preset

I’m a privileged gamer. As a {hardware} reviewer, through the years I’ve been despatched top-tier CPUs and graphics playing cards, letting me bounce from one flagship to the following. That’s made me lazy at sport settings. I typically simply set the sport at regardless of the most “Ultra” setting is and get on with enjoying. But by doing so, I’ve simply been enjoying into the advertising hype – and leaving a number of efficiency on the desk, it seems.

Most video games don’t really must be performed at Ultra settings to look good. They don’t even want it to look nice. The newest upscaling applied sciences are fantastically good at emulating increased resolutions, and sometimes the distinction between Ultra and High settings isn’t one thing I even actually discover if pushed to look.

As an experiment, I turned down the settings in a bunch of great-looking video games to see how a lot distinction it actually makes. Not solely did I discover it onerous to identify any apparent visible distinction in a lot of the video games I examined, however efficiency went up dramatically and the smoother framerates had been nicely well worth the minimal sacrifice.

The system

I’ve been capable of ignore graphics settings for therefore lengthy on account of a mixture of low-demand sport choice and high-end {hardware}. As I stated, my present system is highly effective, however I additionally principally play older sim video games and lighter indies.

With an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D and PowerColor Red Devil RX 7900 XTX, I’ve one of many quickest gaming CPUs in the marketplace and the quickest graphics card AMD has ever made. It’s not fairly an RTX 5080 or RTX 5090, so it’s probably not designed with Ultra Path Tracing in thoughts, but it surely’s not 1,000,000 miles away both. It’s greater than able to operating nearly any sport at Ultra settings, at 4K, and generally even with ray tracing enabled.

That’s very true when you throw in FSR upscaling and just a little body technology to easy issues out.

My plan for this take a look at is to run a bunch of video games at their very highest settings which can be functionally playable – a minimum of 30 FPS – with upscaling at Quality or native, with out body technology, and seize a couple of instance screenshots of it in motion. Then achieve this once more at maxed out settings however with Balanced upscaling, after which a ultimate take a look at with the whole lot turned down only one notch. So High, if Ultra is the highest possibility, Medium if High is the very best, and so forth.

Now for the video games

Cyberpunk 2077

Let’s bounce in with what’s arguably nonetheless among the finest wanting video games ever made, Cyberpunk 2077. If there’s one sport that’s assured to carry my 7900XTX to its knees, it’s this one.

And yeah, Raytracing Overdrive Settings, 4K decision, Path Tracing enabled, FSR set to Quality mode, it was a clunky slideshow mess. 20 FPS at finest. But in fact it appears to be like unbelievable:

But you recognize what additionally appears to be like unbelievable? Cyberpunk 2077 at those self same settings with Balanced Upscaling. I simply took these screenshots, and in addition to a couple of background particulars wanting just a little extra lifelike and of-the-environment within the Quality screenshot, it’s very tough to inform any distinction.

Meanwhile, the efficiency distinction meant it was really playable.

Although Cyberpunk with ray tracing does look gorgeous, and its path tracing much more so in the suitable settings, I’d even argue switching it right down to a mere Ultra settings with out ray tracing appears to be like nearly nearly as good.

It’s undoubtedly extra stylized than the real-time lighting results of ray tracing, however CD Projekt Red did a unbelievable job making Night City look actual and alive, even with baked in lighting. I’d very fortunately play the entire sport like this.

Alane Wake 2

Alan Wake 2 is much from the glitz and ray-traced glamour of Night City, but it surely’s simply nearly as good wanting in its personal, darkish, soiled approach. It additionally eviscerated my system’s efficiency with the whole lot completely turned up the nines. We’re speaking 1-3 FPS. Unplayable. But beautiful:

But it might probably very simply be each. Switching over to FSR Balanced, the place it’s principally slicing the 4K decision in half, the efficiency jumped as much as completely playable for any such extra sedate sport play. I genuinely can’t inform the distinction, even when operating round. It’s actually spectacular how far upscaling has come through the years.

I’d be tempted to depart it there, however there may be extra efficiency available and never a lot in the best way of a visible downgrade from trimming the fats much more. Switching the whole lot to at least one notch down (High or Medium, relying on what the setting peaks at) and no ray tracing, will get you an almost-as-good-looking Alan Wake 2 expertise.

Performance jumped enormously right here, and that is the place you wish to play for those who worth smoother animation over pristine visuals. Especially since I nonetheless needed to look shut to identify the true variations. During precise sport play, although? With a darker sport like this the place concealment and shadow is the sport’s vibe, I don’t suppose many would discover.

Hogwarts Legacy

How a few getting-older however a goodie? Hogwarts Legacy isn’t photo-realistic, however it’s extremely immersive. Making certain the sport appears to be like good is a big a part of the expertise. Fortunately, you may get away with steering away from ray tracing with this one. If you allow it, the expertise is gorgeous:

But I’d argue it’s simply as stunning with Balanced upscaling – notching an additional 15% fps for my bother, and nudging over a more-comfortable 40 FPS.

Switching to extra modest settings and dropping the RT completely appears to be like superb too. This sport doesn’t make sufficient use of the fancy-lighting approach to be value it, I’d argue. Despite its prevalence within the graphics menu, this sport appears to be like phenomenal on extra modest settings. Don’t concern dropping them down a notch or two.

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is just not as fairly as the opposite video games, but it surely’s one which makes use of an outsized amount of VRAM. Fortunately, the 24GB on the 7900XTX had no bother with it even pushed to the restrict. But then, why would you trouble?

Dropping to Balanced and slicing the rendering decision by 40% didn’t seem to make a lot of a distinction to how the sport appeared. There isn’t any extra apparent aliasing on background parts, even the thinner pipes. Texture particulars stay.

Dropping the whole lot to Medium/High setting relying does make extra of an affect, however even then it’s one thing I needed to actively search for, and when in movement it’s even much less obvious.

It’s not nothing, however I don’t suppose it’s value it

If your {hardware} helps it, enjoying video games at their prettiest is gorgeous. It’s easy, it’s simple, and it appears to be like nice. Especially in static screenshots, or within the excellent circumstances. But so do video games with heavier-handed upscaling, and even decreasing the settings just a little doesn’t strip them of their allure, or immersion. That additionally provides you additional efficiency and a smoother sport, which I feel is far more impactful than getting a couple of additional pixels, or barely nicer lighting.

The level I’m attempting to make with these comparisons isn’t that there’s no profit to turning all of the settings as much as their most, however that the efficiency loss actually isn’t value it. Ultimately, it seems like these settings are a approach to get higher wanting screenshots for the advertising marketing campaign, and to offer avid gamers one thing to aspire to. A dragon that we’ll without end be chasing, till the following sport comes alongside.

Ultimately, if all you may sport on is one thing decrease than the utmost – which is nearly all of us – then you definately actually aren’t lacking out on a lot.

Don’t look on in envy on the individuals spending $5,000 on a graphics card in 2026. They’re getting a very-slightly-better wanting gaming expertise for the cash. As costs proceed to be ridiculous, I feel decrease settings are completely superb.