The Finals has no destruction-quality slider, so any advice to “turn destruction down” points at a menu option that doesn’t exist. What you can lower on a budget PC is the Overall Quality preset: in Notebookcheck’s benchmark database, the Low preset ran 2.2–2.3x faster than Epic on every entry-level GPU in the table below, including 142 vs. 61 FPS on a GTX 1650 Super.
This guide gives you the settings in order of payoff, measured numbers for six budget GPUs, and what to do when your graphics card isn’t the problem. I haven’t benchmarked these on my own hardware, so every FPS figure comes from a named source with its test conditions. Everything is checked against Embark’s official notes through Update 11.12.0 (October 1, 2026). For driver and Windows tuning that applies to every game, see our guide to optimizing PC game settings for better FPS.
Quick Start: The Low-End Settings to Change First
- Update to 11.12.0 or later. Update 11.9.0 fixed textures using more memory than intended and a CPU regression in rendering work; Update 11.7.0 fixed an AMD FSR3 slowdown.
- Set Overall Quality to Low. Raise Textures to Medium only if the game stays above 60 FPS afterward.
- Set Ray Tracing to Static, not Dynamic.
- Turn Motion Blur, Lens Distortion and VSync off.
- Turn NVIDIA Reflex on if you have a GeForce card. NVIDIA says it cuts system latency by up to 57% and works on GPUs back to the GTX 900 series.
- Leave Frame Generation off. Reasons are in the upscaling section.
- Add FSR, XeSS or (on RTX cards) DLSS only if you still sit under 60 FPS after steps 1–4.
There Is No Destruction Slider — Here’s What Your PC Controls
Destruction in The Finals is simulated on Embark’s servers, not on your PC. GGRecon’s preview reports that Embark handles it server-side, so every player sees the same collapse in real time. That is press reporting rather than an Embark engineering statement, but it matches the menu: the Quality section in GGRecon’s settings breakdown lists view distance, anti-aliasing, shadows, post-processing, textures, effects, foliage and global illumination resolution, and the Gfinity guide (updated February 2026) lists a near-identical set. None of them is destruction.
What your PC does pay for is the aftermath. NVIDIA’s launch write-up says it directly: “As buildings are blown open, and walls come crashing down, the world’s lighting needs to react realistically as light is occluded or disoccluded.” NVIDIA’s closed-beta post names the mode responsible: RTXGI’s Dynamic mode is the one that lets light bounce “reacting to destruction.” In the menu that is the Ray Tracing setting (Gfinity lists it as “Nvidia RTX Global Illumination”). Gfinity tells low-end players to pick Static because Dynamic is the real-time ray-traced mode, which it says “comes at a heavy performance cost.”
So the closest things to a destruction-cost setting are Ray Tracing, Effects and Shadows (my inference from how NVIDIA describes the lighting work, not something any source benchmarked on a budget card). Those three go to Static and Low first.
What Budget GPUs Actually Get: Measured Results by Preset
On six budget and entry-level GPUs, the Low preset ran 2.2–2.3x faster than Epic at 1080p, and Medium kept 70–75% of Low’s frame rate. The table shows average FPS from Notebookcheck’s database (higher is better).
| GPU (1080p, FPS) | Low | Medium | High | Epic | Low vs. Epic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GTX 1660 (desktop) | 153.7 | 109.7 | 95.8 | 70.1 | 2.2x |
| GTX 1650 Super (desktop) | 142.1 | 98.9 | 85.9 | 61.3 | 2.3x |
| Radeon RX 5500 XT (desktop) | 135.1 | 99.7 | 82.6 | 62.6 | 2.2x |
| Radeon RX 6500 XT | 107.8 | 75.2 | 65.8 | 48.6 | 2.2x |
| GTX 1650 (mobile) | 100.2 | 70.4 | 60.4 | 43.3 | 2.3x |
| Radeon 780M (integrated) | 73.2 | 55.1 | 49.6 | 33.8 | 2.2x |
The preset ladder is lumpy, which is original math on the same data. On the GTX 1650 Super, Low to Medium costs 30% of the frames, Medium to High costs another 13%, and High to Epic costs another 29%. If you have headroom, Medium to High is the cheapest step up in visual quality.
Read these numbers as a best case. Notebookcheck measured in the Practice Range and wants at least 60 FPS there as a buffer, because explosion-heavy moments in real matches drop below it. A modeled calculator disagrees on the low end: CheckFPS estimates a GTX 1650 at 64 FPS on Low at 1080p and labels its figures as estimates. The review dates from December 2023, and the game has since moved to Unreal Engine 5.7, so absolute numbers will differ today. I trust the ratios more than the totals, but that is an inference, not something these sources tested.
The Settings Table: What to Change and What to Skip
Set Ray Tracing to Static and Shadows, Effects, Post-Processing, Foliage and Anti-Aliasing to Low; keep Textures at Medium, because it is the cheapest listed setting in FPS terms. The gain column comes from CheckFPS, which says its percentages combine public benchmarks with its own FPS model, so use them as a ranking rather than a promise. “Both guides” below means GGRecon and Gfinity.
| Setting | Low-end value | Modeled FPS gain | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ray Tracing | Static | Not measured | Dynamic is the mode that reacts to destruction; guides call it a heavy cost |
| Global Illumination Resolution | Low | +18% | Biggest modeled gain; GGRecon’s competitive profile uses Medium |
| Shadows | Low | +12% | GGRecon says Medium, Gfinity says Low; Low is the budget pick |
| Effects | Low | +9% | Covers explosion and particle visuals (my reading of the name); both guides use Low |
| Post-Processing | Low | +8% | Both guides use Low |
| Anti-Aliasing | Low | +7% | Both guides use Low |
| View Distance | Medium | +7% | Guides split: GGRecon says Medium, Gfinity says High |
| Textures | Medium | +4% | Cheap on FPS but uses VRAM; GGRecon says Medium, Gfinity says Low, so drop to Low if a 4 GB card stutters |
| Foliage | Low | Not listed | Both guides use Low |
| Motion Blur, Lens Distortion | Off | Not listed | Both guides turn them off |
The View Distance split is a real disagreement between two guides, and I found no measured data to settle it. My default is Medium; try High if your GPU sits at 100% usage while your frame rate is fine.
Upscaling on Entry-Level GPUs: DLSS, FSR, XeSS and Frame Generation
If you’re on the Low preset and still under 60 FPS, add an upscaler: DLSS if you own an RTX card, otherwise FSR or XeSS. Skip Frame Generation. An upscaler renders fewer pixels and reconstructs the frame, so each real frame costs less GPU time. Frame Generation inserts extra frames between real ones, so it doesn’t make the real frames cheaper (general behavior, not tested here).
The game offers all three upscalers plus Frame Generation, per Notebookcheck’s menu review. NVIDIA says only RTX 40-series cards get DLSS 3 Frame Generation; every other RTX card gets DLSS 2 Super Resolution, so a GTX 1650 or 1660 uses FSR or XeSS instead. Embark’s own notes show why to be careful: Update 11.7.0 fixed a performance degradation when running AMD FSR3, so retest it if it ever ran worse for you, and Update 11.9.0 mitigated Frame Generation hangs before 11.12.0 fixed another one.
| Your GPU | Start with | Upscaler | Measured (Notebookcheck, 1080p) |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 2050 or RTX 3050 4GB laptop | Medium or High preset, Ray Tracing Static | DLSS Quality or Balanced, only if needed | 76.4 / 67.8 FPS (2050) and 80.3 / 71.4 FPS (3050) at Medium / High |
| GTX 1650 Super, GTX 1660, RX 5500 XT | Low or Medium preset, Ray Tracing Static | None first; FSR or XeSS if matches dip under 60 | 98.9–109.7 FPS at Medium |
| RX 6500 XT, GTX 1650 mobile | Low preset, Ray Tracing Static | FSR (Radeon), FSR or XeSS (GTX) | 100.2–107.8 FPS at Low, 70.4–75.2 at Medium |
| GTX 1050 Ti, RX 580, integrated graphics | Low preset, Textures Low if it stutters | FSR or XeSS, likely required | Radeon 780M: 73.2 at Low, 55.1 at Medium; no measured 1050 Ti or RX 580 figure found |
Your play style changes the call too. For ranked matches, stay on Low even if Medium holds 60 in the Practice Range, because real matches dip below it and you want the headroom. Casual players can take Medium or High and add FSR Quality when the frame rate wobbles. If you’re new and still learning maps, don’t chase the last 10 FPS: apply the Quick Start list once and play.
When Settings Won’t Help: CPU, RAM and Version Problems
If dropping from Epic to Low barely changes your FPS, your CPU or RAM is the limit, not your graphics card, because lowering graphics settings only reduces GPU work. The Steam page lists a minimum of an Intel Core i5-6600K or Ryzen 5 1600 with 12 GB of RAM, and a recommended Core i5-9600K or Ryzen 5 3600 with 16 GB. A PC with 8 GB of RAM is below the minimum, and no graphics preset fixes that. Embark also called out a “minor regression in CPU performance of rendering work” in Update 11.9.0, so confirm you’re fully patched before blaming hardware.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| FPS barely changes between Low and Epic | CPU or RAM limit (inference) | Close background apps; check your specs against the Steam minimum |
| Dips when buildings collapse or in big explosions | Lighting and effects spikes (inference from NVIDIA’s description) | Ray Tracing Static, Effects Low, Shadows Low |
| Worse FPS after enabling FSR3 on an older build | FSR3 slowdown fixed in 11.7.0 | Update the game, then retest |
| Hang at the podium or end of round with Frame Generation | Hang fixed in 11.12.0, mitigated in 11.9.0 | Update, or turn Frame Generation off |
For card-specific tuning, our GTX 1650 and GTX 1660 settings guide covers the Nvidia side and our RX 7600 1080p guide covers AMD. If you have an RTX 4070-class card, the The Finals best settings guide covers the Dynamic ray-tracing trade-off. Once the game runs smoothly, our loadouts by class guide is the next stop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does The Finals have a destruction quality setting?
No. The Quality section lists view distance, anti-aliasing, shadows, post-processing, textures, effects, foliage and global illumination resolution, plus a Ray Tracing option. Press reports say Embark simulates destruction on its servers, so lower Ray Tracing, Effects and Shadows instead.
What are the best The Finals settings for a GTX 1650?
Use the Low preset, Ray Tracing Static and Textures Medium. Notebookcheck measured a GTX 1650 Super at 142.1 FPS on Low and 98.9 FPS on Medium in the Practice Range at 1080p. A GTX 1650 can’t use DLSS, so add FSR or XeSS if matches dip below 60.
Can I run The Finals on 8 GB of RAM?
Steam lists 12 GB as the minimum, so 8 GB is below spec. I found no benchmark of an 8 GB system, so I can’t say how it runs. Close background apps and keep the game fully updated.
Should I use frame generation on a low-end PC?
No. NVIDIA says only RTX 40-series cards get DLSS 3 Frame Generation, it doesn’t make the real frames cheaper, and Embark was still fixing Frame Generation hangs in Update 11.12.0.
Sources
- Embark Studios. THE FINALS system requirements. Steam
- Embark Studios. Update 11.12.0 patch notes. THE FINALS
- Embark Studios. Update 11.9.0 patch notes. THE FINALS
- Embark Studios. Update 11.7.0 patch notes. THE FINALS
- Glaser, Florian. The Finals review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks. Notebookcheck
- NVIDIA. THE FINALS: Out Now & Enhanced With NVIDIA Reflex, NVIDIA DLSS 3, and NVIDIA RTXGI Ray Tracing. GeForce News
- NVIDIA. THE FINALS closed beta: DLSS, Reflex and ray tracing. GeForce News
- GGRecon. THE FINALS Preview: ‘One to watch’. GGRecon
- GGRecon. Best THE FINALS graphics settings for FPS & visual quality. GGRecon
- Gfinity Esports. The Finals performance settings. Gfinity Esports
- CheckFPS. THE FINALS: optimize FPS. CheckFPS
- CheckFPS. THE FINALS FPS on GTX 1650. CheckFPS
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.