Before you blame your graphics card, change the settings. Here is where 13 GeForce and Radeon GPUs make the most sense—and why chasing Ultra can spoil a beautiful game.
You launch a beautiful new game, push every slider to the right and watch your expensive PC struggle. Suddenly the upgrade you were happy with yesterday feels inadequate.
The Blood of Dawnwalker is the sort of game that can trigger that reaction. But the useful question for players is where to spend their graphics budget: on sharper resolution, richer scenery or smoother movement.
This guide separates published benchmark results from our suggested settings. The aim is to help you get more enjoyment from the card you already own.
The benchmark reality check
The table shows average FPS from GameGPU’s 31 August 2026 test: native resolution, Ultra settings, no upscaling or frame generation, with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D selected. These are launch-era results, not a fresh test of every subsequent patch. Source: GameGPU’s interactive benchmark.
| Graphics card | 1080p | 1440p | 4K |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 5090 | 93 | 78 | 56 |
| RTX 4090 | 77 | 65 | 42 |
| RTX 5080 | 73 | 58 | 36 |
| RX 7900 XTX | 73 | 54 | 35 |
| RTX 4080 | 71 | 55 | 33 |
| RX 9070 XT | 71 | 51 | 32 |
| RTX 5070 Ti | 64 | 51 | 31 |
| RX 7900 XT | 64 | 47 | 29 |
| RX 9070 | 62 | 44 | 28 |
| RTX 5070 | 53 | 41 | 24 |
| RX 7800 XT | 51 | 37 | 23 |
| RTX 5060 Ti 16GB | 41 | 31 | 18 |
| RX 9060 XT 16GB | 42 | 28 | 17 |
Even the RTX 5090 falls below a 60 FPS average at native 4K Ultra. At 1440p, the RX 9070 XT and RTX 5070 Ti finish level. This is a demanding workload, not a universal ranking of graphics cards. GameGPU.
The sweet spot for each card
The resolution below is the display output. DLSS or FSR renders internally at a lower resolution and reconstructs the image. Start with Quality mode; move to Balanced only if the extra performance matters more to you than the change in clarity.
| Card | Suggested starting point | How we would tune it |
|---|---|---|
| RTX 5090 | 4K · Ultra · DLSS Quality | Keep the sharp output; lower shadows first if demanding scenes still dip too far. |
| RTX 4090 | 4K · High · DLSS Quality | Try this before increasing individual settings. Choose 1440p if responsiveness matters more than 4K detail. |
| RTX 5080 | 1440p · High · DLSS Quality | Raise selected details towards Ultra after testing. Treat 4K High with upscaling as a separate compromise to explore. |
| RX 7900 XTX | 1440p · High · FSR Quality | Preserve image clarity and raise detail selectively. Avoid assuming a flagship label makes every 4K setting practical. |
| RTX 4080 | 1440p · High · DLSS Quality | Use any spare performance for cleaner shadows or detail, one setting at a time. |
| RX 9070 XT | 1440p · High · FSR Quality | Try Medium lighting and foliage if busy woodland areas interrupt the flow. |
| RTX 5070 Ti | 1440p · High · DLSS Quality | Reduce shadows before abandoning Quality upscaling. Check combat as well as quiet exploration. |
| RX 7900 XT | 1440p · Custom High · FSR Quality | Use the reduced-shadow and Medium-detail recipe below; consider Balanced if needed. |
| RX 9070 | 1440p · Custom High · FSR Quality | Start with the custom recipe. Compare Balanced against Quality while moving the camera. |
| RTX 5070 | 1440p · Custom High · DLSS Balanced | Try Quality if performance permits. A 1080p output is an alternative when responsiveness takes priority. |
| RX 7800 XT | 1080p · Custom High · FSR Quality | Compare native High for clarity. On a 1440p monitor, also test custom settings with Balanced before reducing output resolution. |
| RTX 5060 Ti 16GB | 1080p · Custom High · DLSS Quality | Spend performance on stable motion first. Lower costly settings further before chasing 1440p. |
| RX 9060 XT 16GB | 1080p · Custom High · FSR Quality | Begin with the custom recipe; inspect foliage clarity and reduce settings further when necessary. |
At 1080p, upscaling has fewer source pixels to work with, so inspect fine branches, hair and moving edges. If you dislike the image, try native resolution with lower settings instead. The best balance is the one that looks and feels right on your display.
Four settings worth adjusting before buying new hardware
PC Gamer tested an RTX 4060 at 1440p with DLSS Balanced. Moving from High to a custom configuration improved its average from 50 to 62 FPS, while the 1% low rose from 35 to 46 FPS. That second number describes the slower end of the frame-rate experience. PC Gamer’s settings test.
Its custom recipe used:
- Shadows: Low
- Lighting: Medium
- Foliage: Medium
- Detail: Medium
- Other settings: High
The result supports trying selective cuts before dropping everything to Low. It does not establish the same improvement for every GPU: PC Gamer used a different scene and system from GameGPU, and its more demanding nighttime fight still averaged 53 FPS with the custom configuration. PC Gamer.
Keep frame generation out of your first tuning pass
A larger FPS counter can be satisfying, but establish whether movement and combat feel responsive before switching on frame generation.
Frame generation inserts additional images between rendered frames. It can improve apparent smoothness, but it does not make the game respond like a system rendering every displayed frame itself. PC Gamer measured both smoother output and additional latency in its Dawnwalker test. Frame-generation testing.
Our preference is to get close to a comfortable 60 FPS base first, where possible, then decide whether the extra smoothness is worth any visual artefacts or change in response. That is a tuning preference, not a mandatory threshold. Players happy with a slower-paced 40–50 FPS experience may make a different choice.
Give your current card a fair chance
Use a repeatable route with dense vegetation, quick camera turns and combat. Make one change, repeat the route, and judge both the image and the movement. A quiet room is a poor place to decide that a setting is stable.
Also distinguish an occasional hitch from a consistently low frame rate. Turning every option down is not a reliable diagnosis of the cause of a sudden pause.
The approach we favour is simple: select a sensible output resolution, start at High, trim the expensive settings, and compare upscaling modes in motion. Save Ultra for the details you actually notice.
Your turn: Share your GPU, resolution, settings, upscaling mode and whether frame generation is enabled in the comments. Include the area you tested—an FPS number is much more useful when other players can understand how you reached it.
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