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Starfield is one of the most anticipated games of 2023, developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a sci-fi role-playing game set in a vast open world that lets you explore the mysteries of space. However, Starfield is also a very demanding game for PC performance, requiring high-end hardware and optimized settings to run smoothly and look stunning.
In this article, we will show you how to optimize your Nvidia settings for Starfield, covering topics such as updating drivers, tweaking game and GPU settings and using DLSS.
Update Your Nvidia Drivers
One of the first things you should do before playing Starfield is to update your Nvidia drivers. Drivers are software that communicate with your hardware and ensure compatibility and performance with games and applications. Updating your drivers will ensure that your GPU can run Starfield with the best performance and stability.

To update your Nvidia drivers, you can visit Nvidia’s website and download the latest drivers for your GPU model. Alternatively, you can use the Nvidia GeForce Experience app to automatically detect and install the latest drivers for your GPU. To install the drivers, follow the instructions on the screen and restart your PC when prompted.
Optimize Your Starfield Game Settings
Another way to optimize your Nvidia settings for Starfield is to adjust the in-game settings. These are the settings that you can access from the game’s menu and change according to your preference. However, some of these settings can have a significant impact on your performance and graphics quality, so you need to balance them carefully.

Some of the general settings that you can lower or disable to improve your FPS are:
- Render Resolution Scale: This is the resolution at which the game renders the graphics before scaling them to your monitor’s resolution. Lowering this setting will reduce the load on your GPU, but also make the graphics look blurry or pixelated.
- Shadow quality: This is the quality of the shadows cast by objects and characters in the game. Lowering this setting will reduce the detail and smoothness of the shadows, but also improve your FPS.
- Reflections: This is a technique that simulates realistic lighting and shading effects by adding shadows to corners and crevices. Lowering or disabling this setting will make the graphics look flatter and less realistic, but also boost your FPS.
- Motion blur: This is an effect that blurs the image when there is fast movement on the screen. Disabling this setting will make the graphics look sharper and clearer, but also reduce the sense of speed and motion.
Here is a table with some recommended settings for different levels of performance, based on your GPU model and monitor resolution:
Performance | GPU Model | Monitor Resolution | Render Resolution | Shadow Quality | Ambient Occlusion | Motion Blur |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low | GTX 960 | 1080p | 50% | Low | Off | Off |
Medium | GTX 1060 | 1080p | 75% | Medium | Low | Off |
High | GTX 1660 | 1440p | 100% | High | Medium | On |
Ultra | RTX 2060 | 4K | 100% | Ultra | High | On |
Tweak Your Nvidia Control Panel Settings
Another way to optimize your Nvidia settings for Starfield is to tweak some settings in the Nvidia Control Panel. This is a tool that allows you to customize various aspects of your GPU’s performance and features. To access it, right-click on your desktop and select Nvidia Control Panel.
Some of the settings that you can change in the Nvidia Control Panel to optimize Starfield’s performance are:
- Power management mode: This setting determines how much power your GPU uses when running games and applications. Setting it to Prefer maximum performance will ensure that your GPU runs at its full potential, but also consume more energy and generate more heat.
- Texture filtering quality: This setting determines how sharp or blurry textures look in games. Setting it to High performance will reduce the quality of textures, but also improve your FPS.
- Threaded optimization: This setting enables or disables multithreading for games that support it. Multithreading allows your CPU to run multiple tasks simultaneously, which can improve performance in some games. Setting it to On will enable multithreading for Starfield, which may boost your FPS.
- Vertical sync: This setting synchronizes your FPS with your monitor’s refresh rate, which can prevent screen tearing and stuttering. However, it can also introduce input lag and reduce your FPS. Setting it to Off will disable vertical sync for Starfield, which may improve your responsiveness and FPS.

Here is a list of steps on how to modify these settings in the Nvidia Control Panel:
- Open the Nvidia Control Panel by right-clicking on your desktop and selecting it from the menu.
- Click on Manage 3D settings in the left pane.
- Click on the Program Settings tab in the right pane.
- Select Starfield from the drop-down menu or click on Add and browse for the game’s executable file.
- Scroll down the list of settings and change the ones mentioned above according to your preference.
- Click on Apply and close the Nvidia Control Panel.
Use Nvidia DLSS Mode in Starfield
One of the best ways to optimize your Nvidia settings for Starfield is to use Nvidia DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). This is a feature that uses artificial intelligence to upscale lower-resolution images to higher-resolution ones, while maintaining or improving the graphics quality and FPS. This means that you can play Starfield at higher resolutions and settings without sacrificing performance.

However, to use DLSS, you will need an RTX GPU and a monitor that supports ray tracing. Ray tracing is a feature that enhances lighting, shadows, reflections, and other effects in games by simulating how light behaves in real life. To enable ray tracing in Starfield, you will also need to update your drivers and Windows 10/11 to the latest version.
To enable DLSS in Starfield, follow these steps:
- Go to the in-game display settings and enable FSR 2.0 first if not already enabled.
- Press the END button on your keyboard to reveal a menu and a slider that controls the DLSS upscaling in the game.
- Select DLSS under Upscaling Type and choose your preferred preset.
The DLSS presets work pretty much like any other game. For your convenience, the exact description of the presets are as follows:
- DLAA: 100% Render Resolution Scale
- DLSS Quality: 67% Render Resolution Scale
- DLSS Balanced: 58% Render Resolution Scale
- DLSS Performace: 50% Render Resolution Scale
- DLSS Ultra Performace: 33% Render Resolution Scale

Conclusion
In this article, we have shown you how to optimize your Nvidia settings for Starfield by updating drivers, tweaking game and GPU settings and using DLSS. By following these tips, you can boost your FPS and enhance your graphics quality in Starfield without compromising on performance or stability.
We hope you found this article helpful and informative. If you have any feedback, questions, or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment below. Thank you for reading and happy gaming!