All the settings in AMD, Intel, and Nvidia’s drivers you need to enable

PC gaming has never been easier, with out-of-the-box defaults for most hardware that works well. But to get the absolute best out of our graphics cards, a few things can be tweaked even further. Whether your graphics card comes from AMD, Intel, or Nvidia, they all have an assortment of software features that can be changed to make the graphics driver work better for your needs without having to overclock your GPU. Once you’ve figured out which PC games to play, it’s time to get those games running at their best.

4 Update your drivers regularly

You’re leaving performance on the table if not

Before we get to tweaking GPU driver settings, the most important thing is to keep your drivers up to date. Every new driver comes with specific fixes for general performance and for specific game issues, so with a few clicks of your mouse, you get a better experience. If you haven’t installed a specific driver package from AMD, Intel, or Nvidia, and are still using the drivers that came through Windows Update, go to the manufacturer’s website and find the drivers for your graphics card, then install them. That will give you access to more customizability and tools to improve your gaming experience.

To keep your graphics drivers updated once installed, it’s easiest to use the software the manufacturer installs:

• AMD: Open AMD Software Adrenalin Edition and click on Check for updates near the top right. Download and install any updates that show up.
• Intel: For Arc GPUs, open the Intel Arc Control app and click Check for updates in the bottom-right corner to check for new drivers. If you don’t have that app, go to the Intel driver download page, look for Intel Driver and Software Assistant (DSA), and download, install, and run it to check for new drivers.
• Nvidia: Open the Nvidia app, select the Drivers tab from the left, and install any new driver package that is shown.

Doing updates in this way also installs any updates to the software connected to the driver package, keeping everything running smoothly on your GPU.

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3 For AMD GPUs

Radeon GPUs have a wide range of software options to play with

AMD’s Radeon graphics cards are known for their value proposition for high performance at a lower cost. But you can get even more performance by tweaking a few of the many options inside the AMD Software Adrenalin Edition software that gets installed alongside the GPU drivers. There are a ton of options here, but we’re focusing on just a few that will bring benefits, no matter which games you play.

All these options are on the Gaming tab under the Graphics menu:

• Frame-Rate Target Control: This enables you to set a hard cap on FPS at a driver level, which is useful for older games that would normally go to super high FPS and run the risk of making an annoying coil whine from your GPU. It’s also recommended to use in conjunction with FreeSync, with FRTC set to one FPS below the maximum number in your gaming monitor’s FreeSync range. That way, you’ll never go over the FPS and enjoy buttery-smooth frames thanks to adaptive sync.
• Anti-Lag: This setting reduces input lag and can be used in any game, so there is no reason not to have it enabled at all times. It’s most useful for competitive games where latency could mean the difference between winning and losing, but it’s also good for single-player experiences.
• Chill: This setting dynamically lowers your GPU power consumption based on your engagement with the game you’re playing. It’s only supported in some games, but it’s worth enabling to reduce power usage when idling on menus.
• Enhanced Sync: If you don’t have a FreeSync monitor, this setting will reduce screen tearing, improving your gaming experience.
• Boost: This setting dynamically changes the resolution depending on the amount of movement in the game you’re playing. In theory, that should give you a better experience without reducing graphics settings. It only works in a few games, but more are being added, so there’s no downside to leaving it on.
• Radeon Image Sharpening: Do your games seem a little blurry? Enable this and play around with the settings to see if it improves things. A good number to start with is 10%, and see if you prefer it higher or lower.

The other thing you can enable is AMD’s Fluid Motion Frames, which is their version of DLSS Frame Generation. On supported hardware, it will improve frame rates by generating new frames with AI, but not every user likes the look it brings, so you can turn it back off if you prefer. Most of the rest of the settings on this tab are legacy features that don’t do anything on modern graphics cards, so you can safely leave them at the defaults.

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2 For Nvidia GPUs

Nvidia graphics card users have a wealth of options to choose from

Nvidia graphics card users have two places to check for settings to tweak, the Nvidia Control Panel and the new Nvidia app. The latter replaces GeForce Experience but has most of the same settings and functionality. With most of the big performance settings for Nvidia being in-game, like DLSS, there aren’t many global settings you can change for more performance.

That said, there are a few things that are helpful depending on your hardware configuration:

• Power management mode: Usually this is set to Normal or Adaptive, but you should change it to Prefer Maximum Performance so that your GPU is always ready for action.
• Global image slider: This is found on the Nvidia Control Panel, and the only thing you need to change is to fill in the bubble next to Use the advanced 3D image settings. The slider is a relic from previous GPU generations, and you want the longer list of advanced controls.
• Low latency mode: Enable this to get lower input latency for competitive games like Fortnite. Set it to Ultra, and leave it alone.
• G-Sync: If you have a G-Sync Ultimate or G-Sync Compatible monitor, enable this so you get matching frame rates when gaming for a smoother experience. Also, set the Max Frame Rate to one FPS lower than your monitor’s maximum refresh rate to ensure G-Sync is always active.
• Disable Game Filters and Photo Mode: Currently, there’s a bug that tanks your performance, but there is a simple fix. Open the Nvidia app and click on Settings from the left pane. Turn the toggle next to Game filters and Photo mode to off, and check the FPS of your games. If you still have lower-than-expected performance, go back to that page and toggle the Nvidia overlay to off until the company releases a fix.

The other things you can do are all in-game settings, like turning ray tracing off, or using DLSS and Frame Generation to reduce the overall strain on your GPU.

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1 For Intel Arc cards

Intel users have fewer options, but they have a bigger impact

Intel graphics users had a rough time until recently, as the integrated graphics on most Intel chips aren’t designed for gaming. That changed with the introduction of Arc discrete graphics cards and a viable third contender for desktop graphics cards. In their second generation, Arc GPUs have XeSS Frame Generation, Super Resolution, and Xe Low Latency, along with support for ray tracing. That’s feature parity with the bigger graphics card manufacturers, and at 1440p or below, Arc cards are an unbeatable value.

They also have some quirks that are different from AMD or Nvidia cards, so these four settings need to be enabled to get the best out of your Arc card:

• Enable ReBAR or SAM: Intel Arc GPUs are designed to work with this feature enabled, so head into your motherboard BIOS to do just that.
• HAGS:Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS) should be enabled for Windows 11 users no matter which GPU you use, but for Intel Arc users it’s a necessity to get the best performance.
• Native ASPM: Head into your computer’s BIOS and look for Native ASPM. Enable it and set it to use L1 substates for the best experience.
• PCIe Link State Power Management: Most GPUs are better with this setting set to disabled, as it can reduce its effectiveness at ramping back up when needed. Intel Arc cards are different in that you want Link State Power Management set to Maximum power savings​​​​​​.

That’s it for general settings to get your Intel Arc GPU running at its best. You can also play around with XeSS and similar settings in the games that support it, which is Intel’s super-sampling settings to render at a lower resolution and upscale using AI.

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With a few small tweaks, your graphics driver can be more performant

The optimized settings that graphics card drivers set on installation are pretty good nowadays, and you can generally get gaming straight from the install. But in some cases, you’ll want to tweak a few settings beforehand, especially if you have an Intel Arc GPU, as the settings you need to tweak are mostly inside your computer’s BIOS. Once enabled, you can enjoy the best performance out of your graphics card drivers.