Optimal settings in a game are very important when you're getting into a competitive mindset and start playing the game differently. Optimal settings obviously depend on the specs of your PC, but there is more to it than just that. For example, you'll gain more vision when you turn some graphical options off. This is what we'll be discussing in this guide and how you can make your experience much better when it comes to spotting enemies or letting the game run smoothly.

How Many FPS Is Enough?

The short and simple answer is that you should always aim for as many FPS as possible, but this isn't entirely true. While shooters do benefit from running at a higher framerate, you don't have to get unrealistic frames-per-second. In my opinion, sitting at 30 FPS above the refresh rate of your monitor (measured in Hz) is fine. You have a chance of screen tearing, but this should be taken into account when you're trying to up the performance beyond your monitors refresh rate.

V-Sync is also a perfectly fine option, but it can result in some machines not handling hectic situations like four squads fighting at the same time. There's a chance it'll lag on lower-end rigs. For me, V-Sync has always been great, but when I clashed with other squads there were some frame drops at higher settings, so just keep this in mind.

Basic Settings

We'll be going through all of the graphical settings that are available to tweak in Apex Legends, we'll tell you what's best and explain why. First off, we have the "Basic" graphical settings:

Display Mode (Options: Full Screen, Windowed or Borderless Windowed)

First off, you should never use Windowed mode so let's get that out of the way. The differences between Full Screen and Borderless Windowed in Apex Legends are quite noticeable. Full Screen mode will make your FPS significantly more stable, at the cost of switching tabs on your PC with ease. Lower-end PCs will definitely benefit from using Full Screen since your system will fully invest its resources into the game.

Borderless Windowed in my experience was less stable. It made life easier when it came to switching tabs, but when you're committed to a game you should be focusing on it anyway.

Resolution

Lowering your resolution is always an option, I would personally stick with the native resolution of your monitor except if you're using a 1440p/4K screen with system specifications that can't handle these games.

The major benefit of utilizing a higher resolution is the sharpness around edges of terrain and/or enemy players, you'll definitely be able to see them when you're using the standard 1920 x 1080 resolution. Don't forget your Anti-Aliasing though!

Aspect Ratio and Field of View

Aspect Ratio is a setting that you probably shouldn't ever touch. It won't improve your FPS at all and will only make the game uglier, stay away from this setting.

Field of View is quite important and could help you win games, but it sadly doesn't do much to your framerate. I would recommend keeping your Field of View on 110 at all times.

Advanced Settings

Now onto the more interesting settings. These go a little more in-depth and we'll distinguish which setting has a high framerate impact, a medium framerate impact, or a low impact to your FPS.

V-Sync (Options: Disabled, Double Buffered, Triple Buffered, Adaptive or Adaptive 1/2 Rate)

You can find the V-Sync setting in almost every game nowadays. This setting is used to limit your framerate to 60 frames-per-second or your monitor's refresh rate. I currently use Double Buffered because I don't like screen tearing, as it can create scenarios where it's harder to fight an enemy. The reason for using Double Buffered is because it almost doesn't have any impact on my input lag, this setting doesn't have to do with improving your frames at all but it'll definitely regulate them.

I would recommend using the Adaptive option when you're using a monitor with a refresh rate greater then 60hz.

Adaptive Resolution FPS Target/Adaptive Supersampling

Basically, this setting allows you to trade performance for a prettier picture or the exact opposite. Don't touch this setting because it'll definitely throw you off your game for just those few frames more in a hectic scenario.

If you really want to use this setting, I would recommend putting it around 25 to 30 but, otherwise, just stay away from these settings. Your resolution should always just be a fixed setting.

Anti-Aliasing (Options: Off or TSAA)

Anti-Aliasing makes the edges of all textures in-game smoother. This is extremely important when you're scouting for enemies or trying to find where they're shooting from. Your FPS will significantly increase when you're turning this setting off, but it isn't worth it. Compared to the other settings, your Anti-Aliasing is more important and should remain untouched at TSAA.

Texture Streaming Budget (Options: None, Very Low, Low, Medium, High, Very High, Insane)

This setting is a no-brainer, if you know what type of GPU you have (Nvidia or AMD) you'll probably also know how much VRAM it has. VRAM stands for Video Random-Access Memory and allows you to render more objects/textures into the game at once and utilizes more power from your GPU. Be careful that you don't put too much pressure onto your GPU, because the game also uses around 4 Gigabytes of normal RAM.

Options include:

• None (Worst framerate, you'll have to select this option when you're playing on integrated graphics which isn't something anyone would recommend)
• Very Low (2 Gigabytes of VRAM)
• Low (2 to 3 Gigabytes of VRAM)
• Medium (3 Gigabytes of VRAM)
• High (4 Gigabytes of VRAM)
• Very High (6 Gigabytes of VRAM)
• Insane (8 Gigabytes of VRAM)

The game will warn you when you're over your GPU's budget so you won't have to worry if you try to read the red warning message next to the header. My recommendation would be to utilize as much VRAM as possible if you're not using too many programs in the background. Spikes in your frames could occur. The more VRAM you use, the more FPS you'll have in-game.

Ambient Occlusion Quality (Options: Disabled, Low, Medium, High)

When it comes to FPS, this setting doesn't do that much. Graphically, this setting doesn't do much either. If you don't care about lighting on different characters and play with shadows off, you won't have to pay any attention to this setting.

I personally put it at Low but it almost makes no difference, you'll probably gain around one to two frames extra.

Sun Shadow Coverage/Sun Shadow Detail (Options: Low, High)

These settings are pretty self-explanatory, turn these down to gain more FPS. Shadows aren't important in this game and will only hinder your vision, so it's important to utilize the frames that you get from turning off these settings.

Spot Shadow Detail (Options: Disabled, Low, Medium, High)

To be clear, I would turn off all the shadow settings since they hog up a lot of your performance. If you like the way shadows look or you can stand having no lighting effects, turn this setting to Low. You'll be able to gain around 5 to 7 FPS by just turning off your Shadows.

Model Detail (Options: Low, Medium, High)

This setting has a minor impact on your FPS but can make it more easy to distinguish which character is which, for example, Caustic and Gibraltar. These two characters have similar hitboxes, so if you've spotted an enemy that just went around a corner you will have a higher chance of knowing who it was. This can be beneficial for counterplay so you won't step into Caustic's Gas Traps or Gibraltar's Ultimate. Regarding performance, keep this setting on Medium or High.

Effects Detail (Options: Low, Medium, High)

This is the setting that'll make you lag when you just got bombarded by 8 grenades, a Gibraltar Ultimate, and/or a Bangalore Ultimate. I would recommend turning this setting to Low since explosions can make you lag in fighting situations.

If your PC isn't that powerful, this is probably one of the most important settings to turn down. Too many explosions at the same time can cause your game to crash, freeze, or spike multiple times.

Impact Marks (Options: Disabled, Low, High)

When it comes to Impact Marks, it's all about personal preference.

Do you like to see how much damage you've done to an enemy right after you've hit them with a bullet? Turn this on.

It won't affect your performance at all and only influences your CPU load a tiny amount.

Ragdolls (Options: Low, Medium, High)

Ragdolls won't influence your framerate at all except if they bug out and clip through terrain. Luckily this doesn't happen in Apex Legends so you can leave this setting on High if you so desire.

Conclusion

When it comes to your FPS, these are the most important to keep in mind:

• Display Mode
• Texture Streaming Budget
• Resolution
• Shadows

That's all we know on how to improve your FPS in Apex Legends. If you like this content be sure to follow us for more great guides, interviews, and other informative articles.

Like our content? Support us by getting our merchandise in our shop