Best Fortnite PC settings: How to boost FPS, performance & visibility

Now that Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 3 is out, you’ll need to reevaluate your graphics settings, as they can greatly affect gameplay. To boost FPS, performance, and visibility, here are the best Fortnite PC settings.

A new Fortnite season means that you’ll have to restart your competitive progress and level up the Battle Pass from scratch. If you play on PC, double-checking all your settings and optimizing them to get the best performance might help make the grind easier.

Here are the best Fortnite PC settings for low-end as well as high-end hardware in Chapter 5 Season 3.

• Fortnite system requirements
• How to update graphics drivers
• How to use NVIDIA DLSS in Fortnite
• Best Fortnite graphics settings for low-end hardware
• Best Fortnite graphics settings for high-end hardware
• Is 60 FPS good for Fortnite?
• Recommended Fortnite FPS
• Why is Fortnite so laggy on PC?
• How to use Fortnite performance mode

Fortnite system requirements

Thanks to Epic Games, we know which PCs can run Fortnite optimally.

Although the minimum requirements are quite lenient, you likely won’t get great visuals or be able to hit high FPS. Still, it should run well enough for you to enjoy the game. However, if you have a high-end PC with a beefy graphics card, feel free to run the game at its maximum settings.

Minimum System Requirements

• Video Card: Intel HD 4000 on PC; AMD Radeon Vega 8
• Processor: Core i3-3225 3.3 GHz
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• OS: Windows 10 64-bit or Mac OS Mojave 10.14.6

Recommended System Requirements

• Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 960, AMD R9 280, or equivalent DX11 GPU
• Video Memory: 2 GB VRAM
• Processor: Core i5-7300U 3.5 GHz, AMD Ryzen 3 3300U, or equivalent
• Memory: 16 GB RAM or higher
• OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit

Epic Quality Presets Specifications

• Video Card: Nvidia RTX 3070, AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, or equivalent GPU
• Video Memory: 8 GB VRAM or higher
• Processor: Intel Core i7-8700, AMD Ryzen 7 3700x, or equivalent
• Memory: 16 GB RAM or higher
• Hard Drive: NVMe Solid State Drive
• OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit

How to update graphics drivers for Fortnite

To get the optimal performance from your system and make sure Fortnite runs as smoothly as possible, you need to make sure your graphics drivers are up-to-date.

Here’s how to update your graphics drivers on NVIDIA and AMD GPUs.

How to update NVIDIA graphics driver

If you have an NVIDIA graphics card, the GeForce experience app will handle this for you.

1. Download GeForce Experience through NVIDIA.com.
2. Open GeForce Experience.
3. Select the ‘Drivers’ tab.
4. Click ‘Check for updates’ in the upper right corner.
5. If an update is available, follow the steps.

How to update AMD graphics driver

If you have an AMD GPU, you can use the Radeon Settings to update your drivers.

1. Right-click on your desktop.
2. Select AMD Radeon Settings.
3. Click on the Home icon.
4. Click ‘New Updates’ on the bottom left.
5. Select ‘check for update.’
6. If an update is available, follow the steps.

How to use NVIDIA DLSS for Fortnite

What is NVIDIA DLSS?

NVIDA DLSS (or Deep Learning Super Sampling) is a clever technology that allows you with an NVIDIA RTX Series graphics card to run Fortnite at high resolution while still maintaining a solid frame rate.

DLSS sets your game to a lower resolution, giving a higher frame rate, but uses the technology to give the appearance of high resolution. It’s the perfect mid-point for those who need both visuals and performance.

How to turn on NVIDIA DLSS in Fortnite

You can find the DLSS settings in the Advanced Graphics section of the Video tab, right at the very bottom.

From here, you can set DLSS as either Performance, Balanced, or Quality. You’d only need Performance if playing at 4K, otherwise Balanced or Quality would suit a 1440p resolution.

Best Fortnite graphics settings for low-end hardware

On a low-end system, you want to shoot for 60 FPS in Fortnite. This will give you smooth and stable performance, but you can take it higher by changing certain settings.

We’ve picked out the settings that will have the biggest impact on Fortnite’s performance, and given you the optimal options to select for high FPS.

Display

• Window Mode: Fullscreen
• Resolution: Set according to your monitor’s native resolution
• Frame Rate Limit: Unlimited

Graphics Quality

• 3D Resolution: 100%
• View Distance: Epic
• Shadows: Off
• Anti-Aliasing: Off
• Textures: Low
• Effects: Low
• Post-processing: Low

The only setting you want to have on High or Epic is View Distance. Seeing players, builds, and loot in the distance is vital and worth losing a few frames for.

If your PC is struggling with View Distance set to Epic, experiment with lowering it.

Advanced Graphics

• V-Sync: Off
• Motion Blur: Off
• Rendering Mode: DIRECTX11
• Nvidia Reflex Low Latency: On + Boost
• Ray Tracing: Off

Ray Tracing can be found at the very bottom of the Settings tab, but you want to have it all turned off. It will make your game look great, but will absolutely tank your performance.

Best Fortnite graphics settings for high-end hardware

High-end systems can take advantage of a combination of stunning graphics and high FPS in Fortnite. We’ve got the best Fortnite PC settings to take advantage of your high-end gaming rig.

Display

• Window Mode: Fullscreen
• Resolution: Set according to your monitor’s native resolution
• Frame Rate Limit: Shouldn’t be much higher than your monitor’s refresh rate as this can cause screen tearing

Graphics Quality

• 3D Resolution: 100%
• View Distance: Epic
• Shadows: Off
• Anti-Aliasing: High
• Textures: Medium
• Effects: High
• Post-processing: High

We’ve recommended medium settings for high-end hardware, but feel free to experiment if you think your system can handle it.

Advanced Graphics

• V-Sync: Off
• Motion Blur: Off
• Rendering Mode: DIRECTX11
• Nvidia Reflex Low Latency: On + Boost
• Ray Tracing: On

Ray Tracing can be found at the very bottom of the Settings tab, but it’s unnecessary. Even if your rig can handle it, it’s not worth sacrificing frames in multiplayer games like Fortnite.

Is 60 FPS good for Fortnite?

A good Fortnite FPS number is hard to define, as it depends on the hardware you are using. Generally, 60 FPS would be considered on the lower end of the FPS scale, with 120 FPS and up considered high.

Recommended Fortnite FPS

The recommended Fortnite FPS is a tricky question to answer and is based on your existing monitor and its refresh rate. The refresh rate is how many frames your monitor can show per second, and is measured in Hertz, or Hz.

If you have a monitor that has a 60Hz refresh rate, there’s no point running your game at 120 FPS, as you’re wasting your PC’s performance on frames your monitor can’t show.

If you know your refresh rate, we recommend going 10 FPS over that number, which should give you optimal performance without wasting too much processing power.

Why is Fortnite so laggy on PC?

There are several reasons your Fortnite game might be laggy on PC, from slow internet connection to bad graphics settings. Here is a full list of possible causes:

• Your FPS could be too high, so lower your FPS to see if it stops the stuttering.
• Check your internet connection, and restart your router if it’s slower than usual.
• Check your ping and make sure you are on the right matchmaking server.

If your game continues to lag, try restarting the client, or performing a full reinstall if nothing seems to fix it. If you are on Wi-Fi, try using a wired connection from your router to your PC to ensure satisfactory ping during matches.

How to use Fortnite Performance Mode

If you’re playing on an outdated PC or want to squeeze every last frame out of your system, perhaps performance mode is for you.

This offers “significant performance gains” by reducing the visual quality of the game. This will lighten the load on your GPU and CPU, making Fortnite run at much higher frames. Fortnite won’t look as pretty, but you’ll see a massive boost in FPS.

To set Fortnite to Performance Mode:

1. Open Settings in Fortnite.
2. Scroll down to ‘Rendering Mode.’
3. Select Performance (Alpha).
4. Restart Fortnite.

Try out these settings on Fortnite Battle Royale for PC, and you will see a noticeable improvement in the game’s performance.

Now that you’ve optimized your PC settings, you can also check how to get Nitro in Chapter 5 Season 3, how to get the Magneto X-Men skin, or everything we know about a new Fortnite x Jujutsu Kaisen collab.