Since its original release in 2015, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has remained a graphical benchmark in PC gaming. With the release of the Next-Gen Update, CD PROJEKT RED introduced enhanced visuals like ray tracing, better textures, and overall higher fidelity. But with these improvements come performance trade-offs and technical hiccups. This guide dives deep into each setting, helping you achieve the perfect blend of visuals and performance.

---

Initial Issues and Considerations

Before fine-tuning your settings, be aware that the update introduces a few technical problems:

• Increased CPU Load: Especially with DX12, which leads to lower GPU utilization.
• Stuttering: Frequent frame pacing issues, as seen in the frametime graph.
• DX11 vs DX12: DX11 currently performs better (~25% higher) in many scenes.

Because of this, avoid relying on ray tracing unless you have a top-tier PC.

---

Ray Tracing Settings – Visuals vs. Performance

Ray Tracing (RT) adds realism but can devastate frame rates:

• RT Global Illumination (RTGI): Gorgeous bounce lighting and realism but costs ~68% performance on an RTX 3060 Ti. Recommendation: OFF.
• RT Reflections: Adds realism to surfaces; only ~11% hit. Recommendation: Optional.
• RT Shadows: Improves foliage and dynamic shadows; ~5% hit. Recommendation: Optional.
• RT Ambient Occlusion: Enhanced shadowing; low impact (~5%). Recommendation: Optional.

RT features need RTGI active to work, so it’s all or nothing. Skip ray tracing unless you have an extremely powerful rig.

---

Anti-Aliasing and Upscaling

• TAAU (Temporal AA with Upscaling): Sharpens image nicely with ~5% performance cost.
• DLSS (NVIDIA): Best visual quality with the least shimmering.
• FSR 2 (AMD): Good image quality but a notch below DLSS.

Recommendation: Use DLSS (Quality Mode) if supported, otherwise FSR 2 or TAAU.

---

Other Graphics Settings

• Screen Space Ambient Occlusion: Minor shadowing improvement. Keep ON.
• Screen Space Reflection: Set to High; no noticeable performance hit.
• Depth of Field: Adds cinematic depth in cutscenes. Cost: ~5%.
• Light Shafts: Improves lighting effects. Keep ON.

---

NVIDIA HairWorks

Enhances hair and fur using tessellation, but very performance-heavy:

• OFF to Geralt only: ~9% loss.
• Full ON (all characters): Up to ~22% loss, worse on older GPUs.

Recommendation: OFF.

---

Population and World Detail

• Background Characters:
  • Medium: No cost.
  • High: ~3%.
  • Ultra: ~7%.
  • Ultra+: ~7.5%. Recommendation: High.
• Shadow Quality:
  • High: Good visual and performance balance (~4%).
  • Ultra+: ~10% hit. Recommendation: High.
• Terrain Quality: No visible difference; no performance hit. Set to Ultra.
• Water Quality:
  • Medium/Low: No waves.
  • High+: Includes wave simulation. Recommendation: High.

---

Foliage & Grass – Performance Killers

• Foliage Visibility Range:
  • Medium: ~5%.
  • High: ~10%.
  • Ultra+: ~16%. Recommendation: Medium or High.
• Grass Density:
  • Medium: ~6%.
  • High: ~12%.
  • Ultra+: ~25%. Recommendation: Medium or High.

---

VRAM and Texture Handling

• At 1440p Ultra+ (no RT): ~5.8GB VRAM.
• With RT: Up to 8GB usage.

Recommendation: 8GB GPU is sufficient at 1440p without ray tracing.

---

Detail Quality & Final Tweaks

• Detail Quality: No visual impact seen. Might affect decals and blood distance. Set to High.

---

Optimized Settings vs Ultra+ Performance

Setting	Optimized	Ultra+
Performance	~50% higher	Lower
Visuals	Very close	Slightly sharper

---

Verdict on Next-Gen Update

CDPR’s update is a mixed bag:

• Pros: Improved lighting, textures, quality-of-life features.
• Cons: Poor DX12 implementation, RT performance hit, stutters.

The update enriches The Witcher 3 visually, but optimization remains lacking. If you’re aiming for the best experience, sacrifice some flair for a smooth, stutter-free journey.

---

Recommended Optimized Graphics Settings:

• Ray Tracing: OFF
• DLSS/FSR: Quality
• HairWorks: OFF
• Foliage Range: Medium/High
• Grass Density: Medium/High
• Shadows: High
• Water Quality: High
• SSAO, SSR, DOF, Light Shafts: ON
• Texture/Terrain/Detail Quality: High or Ultra

By using these settings, you’ll preserve stunning visuals while nearly doubling your performance over Ultra+.

---

Stay tuned for more optimization guides, mod breakdowns, and gameplay overhauls. Until then, keep Geralt’s blade sharp—and your frame rate sharper.