Cyberpunk 2077 is the heaviest game in our database: 16GB of RAM and 8GB of VRAM, with ray tracing able to halve your frame rate. Here is how to tame it in order of impact.
What to expect on your hardware
Check the Cyberpunk 2077 estimates across five PC tiers first so you know whether your numbers are normal. A mid-range PC lands around 85 FPS at 1080p High — if you are far below that, something else is wrong (see our low-FPS checklist).
Step 1: Upscaling on, always
Cyberpunk supports both DLSS and FSR. Quality mode is worth 15-20% more frames and the game was practically designed around it. This single toggle outweighs every other setting combined.
Step 2: Ray tracing off (unless 40-series+)
Path tracing is a luxury for top-tier cards only. Turning ray tracing off is routinely worth 40% more frames — the difference between 35 and 60 FPS on mid-range hardware.
Step 3: Volumetrics and shadows down
Volumetric fog and cloud quality plus shadow resolution are the two raster settings that cost the most in Night City's neon streets. Drop volumetrics to medium and shadows to high before touching textures — texture quality barely affects FPS if your VRAM covers it.
Step 4: Match settings to your tier
Run your exact GPU and CPU through the FPS calculator with Cyberpunk preselected to see your numbers at every preset, or tell the optimizer your target FPS and it will walk the whole order for you.
Rule of thumb: upscaling quality plus no ray tracing plus medium volumetrics gets almost any 8GB card to a locked 60 at 1080p.