Since the God of War series was exclusive only to the Play Station, fans have been highly anticipating the series to finally hit PC. Now that it is available on Steam, you must be wondering how to set your system and graphics to optimize gameplay. In this guide, we will see how to fix stuttering and FPS drop, as well as boost FPS and performance for God of War on PC.
God of War: Stuttering and FPS Drop – Optimize FPS and Performance on PC
You will need to check your system requirements before you start playing God of War for PC. Checking the requirements will give you an insight into whether the game will play without FPS drops or hamper your gameplay in any way.
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PC requirements
The minimum and required spec needed on your PC to run God of War smoothly:
System Spec | Minimum | Recommended | |||
Avg. Performance | 720p, 30 FPS | 1080p, 30 FPS | |||
Graphics Settings | Low | Original | |||
GPU | NVIDIA GTX 960 (4GB) / AMD: R9 290X (4GB) | NVIDIA GTX 1060 (6GB) / AMD RX 570 (4GB) | |||
CPU | Intel i5-2500k (4 core 3.3 GHz) / AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (4 core 3.1 GHz) | Intel i5-6600k (4 core 3.5 GHz) / AMD Ryzen 5 2400 G (4 core 3.6 GHz) | |||
RAM | 8 GB DDR | 8 GB DDR | |||
OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit | |||
Storage | 70 GB SSD | 70 GB SSD |
Update your Graphics Card
If this meets your PC requirements, you are ready to move on to the next part, which is checking your Graphics Card. You will need to update your graphics card if you haven’t already, by visiting your graphic card’s official website, for either NVIDIA or AMD, to download the latest driver. You can also try the following:
- Nvidia
Press the Windows key> type down GeForce Experience in the search option> go to drivers section> select the option Check for Drivers> download and install if available.
- AMD
Press the Windows key> type down AMD Radeon Software in the search option> go to the driver section> select Check for Drivers> download and install if available.
Modify Graphics Card Settings
You will have to note the GPU settings of your Graphics Card to make sure your gameplay works at its optimum. You can check these in your respective Graphics Card control panel.
- Nvidia
Go to NVIDIA Control Panel> 3D Settings > manage 3D settings > Program Settings> Add button
Select God of War > Add Selected Program
Power management mode: Prefer maximum performance
Texture filtering: Quality to High performance
Click Apply Settings
- AMD
Open Radeon software > Gaming tab >Select God of War
Radeon Anti-Lag: Enable
Radeon Chill: Disable
Enhanced Sync: Disable
Wait for Vertical Refresh: off
Advanced >Texture Filtering Quality: Performance
Update your game
There can be regular patch fixes available for God of War, so you will have to check in with your game launcher, either Steam or Epic Games, to check if the game is up to date. If not, install all the patch updates and then run the game.
Turn On Game Bar
Turning on the Game Bar has been linked to improved performance.
- Windows 10
Windows key > search Game Mode Settings > Game Mode: on > XBOX Game Bar: off
- Windows 11
Settings > click on Gaming > Xbox Game Bar: off > Game Mode: on
Hardware Acceleration
Hardware acceleration can help enhance the PC performance and in some ways fixes FPS and stuttering.
- Windows 10
Press Windows Key > type Graphics Settings > Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling: On
- Windows 11
Windows Key > type Graphics Settings > Default Settings > change default graphics settings >Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling: On
Find the God of War on the list, click on options, and set performance to high.
Verify the Integrity of Game File
Corrupt or missing game files can hamper gameplay. You will have to verify the game files before you can start the game.
To do this go to Steam >Library > Right click on the game > Properties > Local Files > Verify Integrity
Optimize in-game graphics settings
Your PC will determine if you can play God of War without any FPS drops. A low-end PC would require the in-game settings to be at a minimum, while a high-end PC can mess around with the settings to see what works. Below are some in-game settings that seem to work to play the gameplay experience more smooth.
- Display Mode: Borderless
- Output Resolution: 1920×1080
- Aspect Ratio: Auto
- Vsync: Off
- FPS Limit: Off
- Motion Blur: 0
- Film Grain: 0
- NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency: Off
- Latency Markers: Off
- Latency Flash: Off
- DLSS: Off
- FidelityFX Super Resolution: Off
- Render Scale: 100%
- Preset: Custom
- Texture quality: Low/Original
- Model quality: Original/High
- Anisotropic Filter: Minimum
- Shadows: Original
- Atmospherics: Low
- Reflections: Ultra
- Ambient Occlusion: Disable for low-end PC, High for high-end PC
- Film Grain: 0 if necessary
- DLSS: Balanced
- FidelityFX Super Resolution: Quality
- Quality Preset: Original/ Low
Override DPI/ Disable All Full-Screen Optimization
This seems to help out some players, so apply this fix if you still experience stuttering.
- Launch Steam > Settings > Library
- Low Bandwidth Mode: Enable
- Low-Performance Mode: Enable
- Click on OK, then go to Library and find God of War.
- Right-click > manage > browse local files > Find .exe file >Right click > Properties
- Compatibility > full-screen optimization: Disable > Override high DPI scaling: Enable
Apply these settings then play the game again to see if it helps.
Some other tips that can help you play God of War without FPS Drops or Stuttering:
- Close Background Applications: Open up your Windows Task Manager to check which application is taking up the most CPU usage, then close it down.
- Disable all Overlays: Disable any background recordings and Xbox Game Bar in the Windows settings tab, under Gaming.
- Run the game in DirectX 11 Mode: You can do this by going to Steam > right click on the game > properties> General > type in -dx11 to the Launch Options.
- Power Plan: Fix the Power Plan option to high or extreme. This will enable the PC to pass on more power to GPU and CPU, and in turn, enhance performance.
Some of these tips might work for some, but not for all, so you will have to check around your PC spec and change your in-game settings to figure out what works best for your system.