The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Settings for Low-end PC: RTX 3060, RTX 3060 Ti & RTX 4060

The Witcher 3 was hailed as the next Crysis when it launched back in 2015. Even with a dual GeForce RTX 980 Ti GPU config, it was hard to hit the 60 FPS mark at 4K. Fast forward to present day, and things have changed more than little. While the game runs easily enough without ray-tracing, the lower-end GPUs have a tough time churning out acceptable framerates with it. Here’s our optimization guide for the Witcher 3 for budget and low-end PCs.

Windows/System Settings to Optimize

• Enable Resizable BAR.
• Turn on Game Mode.
• Enable Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS) and Windowed Optimizations.
• Use the Windows “High Performance” power profile and set your GPU power management mode to the same.
• Disable Memory Integrity. Windows Menu->VBS->Device Security.
• Ensure you use the proper XMP/EXPO memory profile (if available).
• Overclock your GPU if you’re narrowly missing the 60 FPS mark.
• Here’s a guide with more detailed instructions.

The Witcher 3 Next Gen + Ray Tracing System Requirements

Our Test Setup

The Witcher 3 Next-Gen: Low-end PC Benchmarks

NVIDIA RTX 30 and Radeon GPU owners will have a hard time getting the game to hit 60 FPS at higher resolutions. Ray tracing is out of reach. Fortunately, the DLSSG to FSR 3 mod saves the day (at least for GeForce users):

• Download the mod, copy the dll files to the “x64_dx12” folder located in the “bin” folder of your Witcher 3 directory.
• Run the “DisableNvidiaSignatureChecks” registry file, and select yes. That’s it.

The GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB averages nearly 60 FPS at 1440p Ultra+ with ray-tracing and NVIDIA Hairworks disabled. This is with DLSS upscaling “Performance” and FSR 3 frame generation enabled. Our optimized settings produced a consistent 60 FPS with ray-tracing enabled at 1080p. Users sporting an RTX 3060 Ti or an RTX 4060 should have an easier time with the settings.

VRAM Usage & CPU Bottlenecks

The Witcher 3 used up to 6 GB of VRAM on the GeForce RTX 3060 using our optimized settings, and a bit over 6 GB at 1440p. The game was mildly CPU-bound with a GPU-busy deviation of 10-15% on average.

The Witcher 3 Next-Gen: Best Settings for Low-end PC

Post-processing settings, including vignette, motion blur, depth of field, light shafts, chromatic aberration, and bloom negligibly impact performance and are left to personal preference.