Elden Ring optimization guide: Best settings for optimal performance

Elden Ring is popular again thanks to the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. However, despite the multitude of title updates and hotfixes, the PC port of FromSoftware's open-world magnum opus is still in rough shape, especially for mid-range users. While yes, the game has improved a lot since its launch, it's still far from what PC players would consider ideal.

The biggest issue plaguing Elden Ring's PC port since release is stutters, which still seem to be persistent on some levels. Fortunately, with a little tweaking around with the graphics settings and making intelligent changes, you can get the game running at a smooth 60fps with little to no hitching or stuttering.

Here's a comprehensive optimization guide for Elden Ring, including settings that you should use for the best performance on a range of mid- to entry-level PCs.

Best optimized settings for Elden Ring on PC

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree looks fantastic on PCs (Image via PlayStation)

First things first, Elden Ring's graphics settings are basically identical to Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, with the only exception being the ray-tracing toggle. The options that have the biggest performance impact in the game are Texture Quality, Shadows Quality, Global Illumination, Ambient Occlusion, and Lighting Quality.

I tested the game on an AMD RX 6600 XT GPU paired with a Ryzen 5 5600 CPU and 16GB of DDR4 RAM. Additionally, the title was installed on a Gen4 NVMe drive.

The game is locked to 60 FPS on PC. Although I wouldn't say performance optimization is the best, the game runs quite well on most modern graphics hardware. The following settings worked best for a smooth and stable 60 FPS experience:

Texture Quality: High
Antialiasing Quality: High
SSAO: Medium
Depth of Field: On (Personal preference)
Motion Blur: On (Personal preference)
Shadow Quality: Medium
Lighting Quality: High
Effects Quality: High
Volumetric Quality: Medium (or High, if you have 8GB or more VRAM)
Reflection Quality: High
Water Surface Quality: High
Shader Quality: High
Global Illumination Quality: Medium
Grass Quality: High

As for ray tracing, unless you're using a high-end Nvidia RTX card, akin to something like RTX 3070, RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 4070 and above, or AMD's latest RX 7800XT and above, stick to keeping it disabled. Given there are no RT reflections, with the effect being relegated to global illumination and shadows only, you won't be losing out on much.

Elden Ring essentially runs on a modified version of FromSoftware's proprietary game engine, which the studio has been using for almost every single title since Bloodborne. However, with Elden Ring and later Armored Core 6 Fires of Rubicon, the studio switched to a DirectX 12 base for the engine, which helped enable support for features like ray tracing.

However, using DirectX 12 also came with the cost of the game relying on shader pre-compilation for every new texture and alpha effect. Since it doesn't have a dedicated shader pre-compilation, letting the game do it while it streams textures in real time, introduced stuttering.

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Fortunately, FromSoftware did address most of these issues in their latest title, Armored Core 6, which is essentially the best PC port that has come from the studio after Dark Souls 2 Scholars of the First Sin, obviously. Elden Ring did get most of the stuttering and shader compilation issues rectified via the numerous title updates.

However, there's still a bit more work that's left to be done, especially with the highly anticipated DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree on the horizon.

Elden Ring system requirements

Elden Ring could be quite a demanding game, especially when it comes to RAM. Even after the release of Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, the system requirements remain the same as the original. So, let's take a look at what are the minimum and recommended PC specs to enjoy this 2022 action RPG.

Elden Ring minimum PC specs requirements

OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 3 3300X
Memory: 12GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB / AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB
Storage: 60GB

Elden Ring recommended PC specs requirements

OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
Memory: 16GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8GB / AMD Radeon RX VEGA 56 8GB
Storage: 60GB

FAQs about Elden Ring optimal performance and system requirements

How good of a PC do you need to run Elden Ring?

You would need a PC with an Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X processor paired with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8GB or AMD Radeon RX VEGA 56 8GB to run Elden Ring. Not to forget, the PC would need at least 12GB RAM and 60GB of available storage space.

Can 8GB RAM run Elden Ring?

Many Elden Ring players have reported playing Elden Ring on a system with 8GB RAM without encountering any issues. However, we would advise everyone to follow the minimum requirement of 12GB RAM to avoid any future inconvenience.