Let me start with the conclusion: the two biggest ways to boost Valorant FPS are turning on multithreaded rendering in the video settings and lowering detail quality to low. Touching just these two options can raise your frames by 20 to 50% on CPUs with four or more cores.
The rest of the options add to this by improving stability and reducing stutter. Below, we look at each option's effect one by one, and at the end you can plug in the recommended values that match your PC spec.
The short answer: multithreaded rendering on + detail quality low
Two options are the answer. In the video settings turn multithreaded rendering on and set detail quality to low; on a CPU with four or more cores that alone lifts frames by 20–50 percent.
Low-end PCs also drop material, texture and UI quality to low with anti-aliasing off, while mid-range and above keep texture and UI at medium with MSAA 2x, anisotropic 4x and NVIDIA Reflex on + boost. The goal is to hold a frame rate above your monitor's refresh rate.
The catch is that once you turn on a recorder, that headroom often disappears again. On supported NVIDIA graphics cards such as the RTX series, DOR records with NVENC hardware encoding, so the load on game frames is small and you keep your frames.
It also detects VALORANT, records the whole match and saves kills and rounds as automatic clips, so you keep your ace too. Below we look at each option's effect and the recommended values per PC tier.
Basic settings to check first
Before you touch per-option quality, getting the foundational items right makes the effect of your later settings much clearer. Check the following under Settings > Video > General.
- Display Mode: Fullscreen. It has less input lag and gives higher frames than windowed or borderless window modes.
- Frame Cap: 10 to 20 above your monitor's refresh rate. For 144Hz, setting it around 160 reduces input lag.
- VSync: Off. It reduces screen tearing but increases input lag and cuts frames.
- Anti-Aliasing: MSAA 2x or off. Off for low specs, and only up to 2x if you have headroom.
FPS impact by option
Valorant's video settings vary widely in how much each item affects your frame rate. We have ordered them by impact, so start from the top.
Multithreaded rendering, the biggest effect
This single option delivers the largest frame increase. On a CPU with four or more cores, just turning it on can give you 20 to 50% more frames. It is on by default, but it is sometimes off, so make sure it is set to on under Settings > Video > Graphics Quality.
Detail quality, the second biggest effect
This is the heaviest option in Valorant. It controls the fine detail of backgrounds and effects unrelated to gameplay, and Riot themselves have called it one of the few options that affects performance across all specs. Lowering it gives you a noticeable frame increase.
Material quality and texture quality
It is safe to leave material quality on low. For texture quality, there is almost no visual difference between medium and high, while medium gives about a 4% frame gain, so set low for low specs and up to medium if you have headroom.
Effect quality, bloom, and distortion
Keep effect quality on low. Bloom is a light-emphasis effect with a 1 to 2% frame impact but little visual benefit, and distortion is a scope refraction effect with an even smaller impact. Neither hurts your play if turned off, so set them both to off.
First-Person Shadows (Cast Shadows)
This option adds shadows to your hands and weapon and eats up about 2 to 3.5% of your frames. Beyond the frame reason, it adds visual noise to the screen and can obscure enemies, so turning it off is better for your aim.
Recommended settings by spec
These are recommended values bundling the options above to match your PC spec. Find your tier and plug them in directly.
Low-end, integrated graphics or older laptop
- Multithreaded Rendering: On
- Material, Texture, Detail, UI, Vignette: all low
- Anti-Aliasing: Off, Anisotropic Filtering: 1x
- Bloom, Distortion, First-Person Shadows, Experimental Sharpening, Improved Gameplay Clarity: all off
- Target frames: prioritize a stable 60 to 120
Mid-range, GTX 1650 or RTX 3050 class
- Multithreaded Rendering: On
- Material: low, Texture: medium, Detail: low, UI: medium
- Anti-Aliasing: MSAA 2x, Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
- Bloom, Distortion, First-Person Shadows: off, NVIDIA Reflex: On+Boost
- Target frames: a stable 144 or above on a 144Hz monitor
High-end, RTX 4060 or above with a high-refresh monitor
- Multithreaded Rendering: On
- Material: low, Texture: medium, Detail: low, UI: medium (based on pro settings)
- Anti-Aliasing: MSAA 2x, Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
- Bloom, Distortion, First-Person Shadows, VSync: off, NVIDIA Reflex: On+Boost
- Frame Cap: on a 240 to 360Hz monitor, set it to the refresh rate ceiling
How this compares with VALORANT pro settings
If you searched for VALORANT pro settings, the short version is that they look almost exactly like the high-end values above.
ProSettings.net, which collects the settings of 700 pro players (updated May 18, 2026), bases its recommendations on pro preferences and its own testing: material and detail at low, texture and UI at medium, MSAA 2x, anisotropic 2x or 4x, and most effects turned off. Two things differ.
On resolution, 68% of pros use 1920×1080 and some play 4:3 stretched, although the site itself says stretched gives no real advantage in VALORANT. The setup is covered in Valorant stretched res and the best resolutions.
And the site recommends leaving Improve Clarity and Experimental Sharpening on, while adding that Improve Clarity should go off if it costs you frames. Riot also lists both among the options to disable when Low Client FPS appears. If your PC is short on frames, keep them off as in the low-end list.
| Setting | ProSettings.net recommendation | Compared with this guide |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution and display mode | 1920×1080 (68% of pros), Fullscreen | Same as the basic settings. Only some pros play 4:3 stretched. |
| Material and Detail / Texture and UI | Low / Medium | Same as the high-end values. |
| Anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering | MSAA 2x, 2x–4x | In line with the mid-range and high-end values (MSAA 2x, 4x). |
| Improve Clarity and Experimental Sharpening | On (Improve Clarity off if it costs frames) | Different: the low-end values turn them off. Turn them off if you are short on frames. |
| VSync, Bloom, Distortion, First-Person Shadows | Off | Same as every tier above. |
Wrapping up with Windows and drivers
Once your in-game settings are done, you need to align the Windows side too for stuttering to drop. Apply the following in order.
- Turn on Settings > Gaming > Game Mode to funnel system resources to Valorant.
- Set your power option to High Performance.
- Update your graphics driver to the latest version.
- Close unnecessary background programs like Discord and recording overlays.
VALORANT stuttering, lag or FPS drops: find the cause by situation and check it on a recording
If you have applied everything above and the game still stutters, first work out which kind of "lag" you have. Players use the word for three different things: your own PC dropping frames, data between you and the server arriving late or getting lost, and the server itself struggling.
Graphics settings can fix only the first. Riot built instability indicators into the game to tell them apart.
Turn on Settings > General > Other - Instability Indicators, and when something goes wrong an icon appears in the top right corner: High Average Ping, Low Client FPS, Low Server FPS or Network Problem.
Riot says icons that flash briefly and disappear are generally safe to ignore; troubleshoot when they show up often or stay. Add the Client FPS readout or graph under Settings > Video > Stats and you can see at a glance which row of the table below you are in.
| When it stutters | What you see with it | Likely cause and what to do |
|---|---|---|
| In fights and ability spam (shooting, smokes, flashes, ultimates) | Your Client FPS number drops at that moment and Low Client FPS appears | Graphics load. Use the Stats graphs to see whether the CPU or the GPU is the bottleneck, then lower material, texture, detail and UI quality first, which Riot names as the most useful, before turning off effects and shadows. |
| When you flick or turn quickly | The number drops too, or it holds steady but the image looks split horizontally | If the number drops, it is the same load as the first row. If it holds, that is screen tearing from having VSync off, not a frame drop. |
| High average FPS but a hitch every few seconds (high-end PCs) | The average stays high while the graph spikes for a moment | Suspect another program competing for resources; Riot's first step is closing other applications. Turn off overlays, recorders and browsers one at a time and compare in the same mode. |
| Enemies teleport, or your shots register late | High Average Ping or Network Problem appears | This is the network, so graphics options will not fix it. Turn on the packet loss graphs in Stats, then restart your router and switch to a wired connection if you can. |
| Everyone stutters and movement snaps back | Low Server FPS appears | A server-side problem that affects the whole match. Riot says this one is on them and lists no player-side fix, so leave your own settings alone. |
| FPS has stayed lower since a patch | Low Client FPS shows up often throughout the match | Check that multithreaded rendering and the other values above are still set, then update your graphics driver. |
Checking the stutter on a recording
Stutters pass in a few seconds, and by the end of the match you rarely remember exactly when or where they hit. If you record a match with the indicators on screen, the numbers and icons stay in the video, so you can match each moment to the table above.
DOR detects VALORANT when you launch it and records every match in full automatically (on by default), so you do not have to start anything yourself.
- 1Put the indicators on screenTurn on the instability indicators and show Client FPS in Stats. If you suspect the network, add ping and packet loss. They are drawn on the game screen, so they show up in the recording too.
- 2Play a normal matchWhen it stutters, press F8 and the previous 30 seconds (the default) are saved as a separate clip.
- 3Find the moment in My ClipsPlay the full recording and the player shows which round you are in, while the progress bar marks your kills, deaths and every point where you pressed F8. At that point, check the FPS number, any icon, and what was on screen: smoke, a fight or a fast turn.
- 4Rule out recording loadIf it seems to stutter only while recording, choose the Game Performance preset (Optimized for Game Performance, 720p and 30 fps) under DOR Settings > Video outside a match and play the same mode again. If you still suspect it, quit DOR completely, play one match of the same mode and compare the FPS numbers. While DOR is running, Blackbox Record (on by default) keeps going even when match recording is off, so quitting gives the cleanest comparison.
Keeping your FPS while still capturing your best moments
In Valorant, FPS translates directly into aim accuracy. That is why it is most frustrating when a heavy recording program cuts back into the frames you worked to gain. DOR uses low-overhead capture to keep the recording load down, and automatically saves moments like aces and clutches as clips.
After you finish your settings, run one round of Valorant through DOR and you can check in one go whether your frame rate holds and whether the best moments were saved. It works the same way in other FPS titles where frames matter, like Counter-Strike.
