Best Warframe Settings for FPS (2026): Every Graphics Option and What It Costs
Last Updated on September 30, 2026
Six settings decide your frame rate: Shadow Quality, Volumetric Lighting, Geometry Quality, SSAO, SSGI and Particle System Quality. Everything else is cosmetic or cheap. Turn on DLSS 4 (RTX) or FSR 3.1 at Quality above 1080p, cap Max Framerate at your refresh rate, keep Vertical Sync off, and use the profile below that matches your PC.
Reviewed September 29, 2026, against the current Settings menu (Update 44) and the official support articles; this page is re-checked after every major patch.
| Setting | Low-end | Mid (GTX 1660 to RTX 3060) | High-end |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display Mode | Fullscreen | Fullscreen or Borderless | Borderless |
| Max Framerate | 60 Hz | Refresh rate | Refresh rate |
| Vertical Sync | Off | Off | Off (G-Sync or FreeSync in the driver) |
| Reduce Frame Latency | On | On | On |
| Upscaling | FSR 3.1 Balanced | DLSS 4 or FSR 3.1 Quality | DLSS 4 Quality or Off at 1440p |
| Geometry Quality | Low | High | Ludicrous |
| Shadow Quality | Low | Medium | High |
| Texture Memory | Medium | High | High |
| Particle System Quality | Low | Medium | High |
| GPU Particles | Disabled | Medium | High |
| Anti-Aliasing | greyed out with upscaling | greyed out with upscaling | TAA 8X if upscaling is off |
| Anisotropic Filtering | 4 | 8 | 8 |
| Dynamic Lighting | Off | On | On |
| Volumetric Lighting | Off | Off | On |
| Local Reflections | Off | On | On |
| SSAO Quality | Disabled | Medium | High |
| SSGI | Off | Off | On |
| Volumetric Fog Quality | Disabled | Low | High |
| Motion Blur, Depth of Field, Film Grain | Off | Off | Taste |
| Dynamic Resolution | Auto if no upscaling | Disabled | Disabled |
Table of Contents
The Display tab, in order
- Display Mode: Fullscreen gives exclusive control and the Refresh Rate option; Borderless is fine on DirectX 12 and with Optimized Flip-Model on DirectX 11.
- Max Framerate: match the monitor (60, 120, 144, 165, 240). No Limit wastes power and heats the GPU for nothing.
- Vertical Sync Off. Tearing is handled by G-Sync or FreeSync in the driver; Warframe's VSync adds input lag.
- Reduce Frame Latency On: DE's own note says it improves responsiveness and uses less VRAM.
- Field of View: higher costs a little; 70 to 80 is the usual pick.
- Show FPS On while you tune, then off.
Upscaling: which method
| Method | Cards | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| DLSS 4 | NVIDIA RTX | Any resolution above 1080p; Quality mode is nearly free image quality |
| FSR 3.1 | Any GPU, including AMD and Intel | The default for everyone without RTX |
| FSR 2.2 | Older GPUs | Only if 3.1 misbehaves |
| Off | Any | 1080p on a strong GPU, where upscaling only softens the image |
What each expensive setting does
- Shadow Quality: the single biggest cost; Medium looks the same in motion.
- Volumetric Lighting: light rays and lit fog, a simple on or off. Beautiful on Deimos, brutal on a weak GPU.
- Geometry Quality: Ludicrous adds detail you cannot see at speed.
- SSAO and SSGI: contact shading and bounced light; SSGI needs SSAO at Medium or higher and costs the most per frame of the Advanced tab.
- Particle System Quality and GPU Particles: the ability spam in a four-player Saryn squad lives here; Medium keeps the frame time flat.
- Texture Memory: only a VRAM question. High needs about 4 GB at 1440p.
CPUCores: Maximize Your FPS
If you’ve worked through the settings above and still get stutter, the bottleneck is often background processes stealing CPU time from the game. CPUCores isolates Windows and background tasks onto separate cores so your game gets the rest. It launches straight from Steam and detects your library automatically.
Tips that save runs
- Change one setting at a time with Show FPS on; the frame time number, not the FPS number, tells you what a setting costs.
- HDR Output needs Windows 10 or 11, Optimized Flip-Model, TAA 8X and Dynamic Resolution off; it is experimental and off by default for a reason.
- Sun Shadows, Character Shadows and Contact Shadows are separate toggles in Advanced; try those before dropping Shadow Quality to Low.
Mistakes that waste runs
- Stacking Dynamic Resolution and an upscaler; the menu prevents it, and people then turn both off.
- Using the Low preset when Custom with three changes looks twice as good for the same frames.