how can i get my machine to run witcher 3 at 1080p 60fps?

mstone89

Reputable
May 21, 2015
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4,510
Hi,

I'm playing the Witcher 3 on my new machine, and I can't figure out how to run the game at 60fps.
I've changed a bunch of settings in and out of the game to remedy this, but I still only reach ~30fps in-game.
I've read online that others with a single GTX 980 card have gotten the game to run at high/ultra settings @60fps, so I'm wondering what I'm not optimizing properly.
I have not overclocked my CPU or GPU. I would like to OC the GPU if I can get a better performance from the game, but I'm wary of doing so as I've never overclocked before, and I'd be practicing on an expensive piece of hardware. However, if anyone has any advice on the risk-reward of OC-ing, I'd love to hear it.

I'm very new at gaming in the computer world, and I'm not familiar with optimizing games for computers, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

My build:

MOBO: ASRock Z97 Extreme6 LGA 1150 Intel Z97
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB 256-Bit Classified ACX 2.0
RAM: 16BG
OS: Win 8.1
Display: Acer CB280HK 4K 28"


Current in-game settings for the Witcher 3:

Graphics Menu:

VSYNC: on
Max FPS: 60
Resolution: 3840x2160
Display Mode: Full Screen
NVIDIA Hairworks: Off
Number of Background Characters: High
Shadow Quality: High
Terrain Quality: Ultra
Water Quality: Ultra
Grass Density: Ultra
Texture Quality: Ultra
Foliage Quality: High
Detail Level: Ultra
Hardware Cursor: On

Post-Processing Menu: High Settings


Current Settings in NVIDIA Control Panel

Anisotropic Filtering: 2x
AA-FXAA: Off
AA-Gamma Correction: Off
AA-Mode: Off
AA-Setting: None
AA-Transparency: Off
CUDA-GPUs: Use global settings (all)
Max pre-rendered frames: Use global settings
MFAA: Off
Multi-display/mixed GPU acceleration: Use global settings
Power management mode: Prefer maximum performance
Shader Cache: Use gobal settings (On)
Texture Filtering-Anisotropic: On
Texture Filtering-Negative LOD bias: Clamp
Texture Filtering-quality: High performance
Texture Filtering-Trilinear optimization: On
Threaded Optimization: On
Triple Buffering: Off
Vertical Sync: Off
Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames: Use global setting (1)

Lastly, I've been seeing lowered performance in cutscenes/conversations, so I changed the visuals.ini file in Witcher 3\bin\config\base folder.

Current settings in visuals.ini file:

Gamma=1
MovieFramerate=60.0
MovieUbersampling=false
 
Solution
Looks about right for the resolution:

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--6msAG2Zb--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/yi4yzxm909jxwahygnx6.png

Ranges from 12 to 24 FPS, high preset, 3840x2160. Turning Hairworks off is probably boosting you to the 20-30 range.

Simply put: No single GPU can run above 1080p resolution without dropping every other settings to Medium, or even low. Witcher 3 CRUSHES GPUs in a way no game has since Crysis released. Hell, I'd say Witcher 3 crushes more then Crysis ever did.
You mentioned that you want to play at 1080p which is 1920 x 1080 resolution. The resolution you listed from your game settings is 3840 x 2160. That higher resolution takes a lot of resources.

Change the resolution to 1920 x 1080 and you should see a nice increase in fps.
 
Looks about right for the resolution:

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--6msAG2Zb--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/yi4yzxm909jxwahygnx6.png

Ranges from 12 to 24 FPS, high preset, 3840x2160. Turning Hairworks off is probably boosting you to the 20-30 range.

Simply put: No single GPU can run above 1080p resolution without dropping every other settings to Medium, or even low. Witcher 3 CRUSHES GPUs in a way no game has since Crysis released. Hell, I'd say Witcher 3 crushes more then Crysis ever did.
 
Solution