Hogwarts Legacy BEST Settings For PC

My dream of finally learning the dark arts and becoming the next Lord Voldemort in a video game comes true in Hogwarts Legacy. However, it’ll only cost me a really beefy PC with top-of-the-line specs, as the game’s quite heavy on resources. Judging from the scenic views of the Hogwarts castle grounds to the itsy bitsy details in the halls and common rooms, Hogwarts Legacy is a demanding game. But don’t you worry, my fellow wizarding world lover, I’ve come up with some of the Hogwarts Legacy best settings for PC to help you retain those graphics while attaining decent FPS. 

How’s Hogwarts Legacy Optimization? 

Hogwarts Legacy is one of the most anticipated games of 2023, and the hype’s been building for it since the day it was revealed. And I must tell you, it’s definitely the best Harry Potter game I’ve played since the Half-Blood Prince on Xbox 360. The story’s great, the combat is great, and the environments are great; the only thing that’s not great is the game’s performance. 

We’ve tested the game on a mid-tier GPU, an RTX 3070, paired with 17-12700k. We set the resolution at 1440p with Ray Tracing features off and couldn’t even get a stable 60 FPS. RTX 3070 may be a mid-tier GPU. However, it still offers the best performance at a lower price point. So you can imagine seeing it defeated here gave me quite the heartbreak. 

However, this is where I started tinkering with the settings. Thank Devs! for including the DLSS and FS2.0. It even has the latest DLSS 3 and Frame Generation Technology for those of you fortunate enough to own Nvidia RTX 4000 series GPUs. But enough about ranting about the game’s performance; let’s get into how you can use Hogwarts Legacy’s best settings for PC to boost performance without being forced to upgrade. 

Check The PC System Requirements First

Now we’re about to start tweaking Hogwarts Legacy in-game graphics settings. However, before we can expect some good results from using Best Hogwarts Legacy settings, let’s make sure your PC is able to run the game well. 

Minimum PC Requirements

• Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10.
• Processor: Intel Core i5 6600 (3.3 GHz) or AMD Ryzen 5 1400.
• System Memory: 16GB.
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 GB or AMD Radeon RX 470 4GB.
• DirectX: Version 12.
• Storage Space Requirement: 85 GB HDD.
• Notes: SSD (preferred), HDD (Supported), Low-Quality Settings.

If you’re in this category then you’ll be able to play the game at 30 fps at HD 720p well.

Recommended PC Requirements

• Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10.
• Processor: Intel Core i7 8700 (3.2 GHz) or AMD Ryzen 5 3600.
• Memory: 16GB.
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700 4.
• DirectX: Version 12.
• Storage Space Requirement: 85 GB HDD.
• Notes: SSD, High-Quality Settings.

When your requirements for the system meet those, you’ll be able to play this game with 60 FPS at 1080 P with no hiccups.

Ultra PC Requirements

• Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10.
• Processor: Intel Core i7 10700K (3.80 GHz) or AMD Ryzen 5 5800.
• Memory: 32GB.
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6800.
• DirectX: Version 12.
• Storage Space Requirement: 85 GB HDD.
• Notes: SSD, Ultra-Quality Settings.

Users with the same requirements for their system as the ones above will be able to play games at 60FPS at 1440P without difficulty.

Ultra 4K PC Requirements

• Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10.
• Processor: Intel Core i7 10700K (3.80 GHz) or AMD Ryzen 5 5800.
• Memory: 32GB.
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090Ti or AMD Radeon RX 7900.
• DirectX: Version 12.
• Storage Space Requiement: 85 GB HDD.
• Notes: SSD, Ultra-Quality Settings.

Hogwarts Legacy Best Graphics Settings

Now that you’ve got a general idea of how well your PC can run Hogwarts Legacy, let’s start optimizing its performance. We’ve tested the game thoroughly on several different setting combinations and found the following to be a perfect balance between good visuals and performance. Let’s start tweaking the best graphics settings for Hogwarts Legacy now:

Display Options

1. Windowed Mode: Windowed Fullscreen
   • Since there’s no exclusive fullscreen option, use Windowed Fullscreen for seamless Alt+Tab functionality.
2. Anti-Aliasing Mode: None
   • Leave this option disabled as upscaling techniques like DLSS or FSR will handle image quality.
3. Upscaling Type: DLSS or FSR 2
   • Choose DLSS if you have an Nvidia RTX GPU for enhanced performance and image quality. Otherwise, select AMD FSR 2.0.
4. Upscale Mode: Balanced
   • Opt for the “Balanced” setting for the best compromise between visual clarity and performance. If your PC can handle it, switch to “Quality” for improved graphics.
5. Frame Generation: ON
   • Enable this setting if you have an Nvidia RTX 4000 series GPU to insert sub-frames for smoother gameplay. Note that it may introduce minimal latency.
6. Nvidia Reflex Low Latency: On + Boost
   • Improve input lag and latency issues by selecting “On + Boost” for an optimal gaming experience. Consider switching to “Standard ON” if you prefer lower GPU clock speeds.
7. VSYNC: OFF
   • Disable VSYNC to eliminate input lag, latency, and FPS caps.

Display Settings Continued:

8. Framerate: Uncapped
   • Choose “Uncapped” for your framerate to run at the maximum possible FPS, matching your monitor’s refresh rate.
9. Field of View: Personal Preference
   • Adjust FOV to your liking, but be aware that higher FOV settings can impact performance.
10. Motion Blur: OFF
    • Disable motion blur to avoid potential motion sickness. It won’t affect FPS.
11. Depth of Field: ON
    • Keep Depth of Field enabled for a high-quality Bokeh effect that enhances immersion.
12. Chromatic Aberration: OFF
    • Turn off chromatic aberration for a more visually consistent experience.
13. Film Grain: OFF
    • Disable film grain, as it can negatively impact image quality.
14. Select GPU: Primary GPU
    • If you have a dual GPU setup or Optimus enabled on your laptop, choose your primary GPU for running the game.

Graphics Options

1. Global Quality Preset: Custom
   • Leave this at “Custom” since you’ll be adjusting individual settings.
2. Effects Quality: Medium
   • Medium offers a good balance between visual quality and performance.
3. Material Quality: Low
   • Lowering this setting provides a significant FPS boost while still maintaining reasonable visual quality.
4. Fog Quality: Low
   • Set it to “Low” for improved performance with minimal impact on visuals.
5. Sky Quality: Medium
   • “Medium” is a good choice, as it affects clouds but doesn’t significantly impact gameplay.
6. Foliage Quality: Medium
   • Opt for “Medium” to strike a balance between visuals and performance, especially in forested areas.
7. Post-Process Quality: Low
   • Keep this setting at “Low” since motion blur and chromatic aberration are already disabled.
8. Shadow Quality: Low
   • Even at “Low,” shadows in Hogwarts Legacy look good and won’t heavily affect performance.
9. Texture Quality: Adjust according to GPU VRAM
   • Choose a texture quality based on your GPU’s VRAM: Low (4GB VRAM), Medium (6GB VRAM), High (8GB VRAM), or Ultra (8GB+ VRAM).
10. View Distance Quality: Medium
    • “Medium” strikes a balance between performance and reducing texture pop-ins.
11. Population Quality: Medium
    • Leave it at “Medium” for a decent crowd without a significant FPS hit.

12. Ray Tracing Reflections, Shadows, Ambient Occlusion: OFF
    • Disable all Ray Tracing features to maximize performance.
13. Ray Tracing Quality: Disabled
    • This option should already be disabled since you’ve turned off Ray Tracing effects.

We’ve finally applied the Hogwarts Legacy best settings in the game’s graphics options. These will help you tremendously in solving issues like FPS drops and stuttering. They’ll help you get a performance boost of somewhere around 30-40% depending on your CPU and GPU combination. However, that’s not all, we’ll also be optimizing other parts of your PC to squeeze every ounce of performance. Let’s get to that now. 

Best Nvidia Settings for Hogwarts Legacy

After optimizing the in-game settings for Hogwarts Legacy, we’ll be configuring the best Hogwarts Legacy settings in Nvidia Control Panel. Nvidia Control Panel has tons of settings in it that will give you a surprising boost in performance. Let’s see which ones they are and how you can optimize them. However, before we step any further, first you have to make sure to download the latest Game-Ready Driver to ensure the best experience.

Installing the Latest Nvidia Game-Ready Drivers

Nvidia has recently released the latest Game-Ready Drivers that include several performance improvements for Hogwarts Legacy. Here’s how to upgrade your Nvidia GPU:

1. First, you’ll need to open the Nvidia Geforce Experience Application. You can do that by either right-clicking on the desktop or through the taskbar in the bottom right.
2. As it opens, go to the Drivers tab to check whether you have any updates available.

3. This is where you’ll be notified whether you have a driver update or not. 
4. If there are updates available, let the driver download them as it can take anywhere from a few minutes to several depending on your internet connection.
5. Once the driver downloads, click on Express installation and let the driver wizard complete the installation for you.
6. Reboot your PC after the driver installation finishes.

That’s about it. You’ve successfully updated your Nvidia GPU to the latest version. Now it’s time for us to tweak your Nvidia Control Panel with the Hogwarts Legacy’s best settings.

Best Nvidia Control Panel Settings

By simply following the guide below, you’ll be able to tweak the best Nvidia Control Panel settings to get the best performance in Hogwarts Legacy.

Hogwarts Legacy Nvidia Settings:

1. Image Sharpening: OFF
   • Disable image sharpening in the Nvidia Control Panel since Hogwarts Legacy has its own sharpening feature that works well with DLSS and FSR 2.0.
2. Background Max Frame Rate: 20
   • Set a low background max frame rate to allow other applications to use system resources while alt-tabbed out of the game. This is useful for streamers and multitaskers.
3. Low Latency Mode: OFF (or Ultra if needed)
   • While Low Latency Mode can reduce input lag, it’s not necessary for Hogwarts Legacy. You can switch it to Ultra if you experience input delays.
4. Max Frame Rate: Off
   • Do not limit your maximum frame rate; allow the game to run at its highest possible FPS for a smoother experience.
5. Power Management Mode: Prefer Maximum Performance
   • Set your GPU’s power management mode to “Prefer Maximum Performance” to ensure optimal gaming performance and eliminate FPS drops.
6. Anisotropic Sample Optimization and Texture Filtering: ON
   • Enable Anisotropic Sample Optimization and Texture Filtering to enhance visuals without sacrificing performance.
7. Texture Filtering – Quality: High Performance (or Quality if GPU is capable)
   • Choose “High Performance” for texture filtering to improve performance slightly while maintaining acceptable visual quality. If you have a powerful GPU, you can use the “Quality” setting.
8. Trilinear Optimization with Texture Filtering: ON
   • Enable Trilinear optimization for improved visuals and better gaming performance.
9. Vertical Sync: OFF
   • Disable vertical sync (V-Sync) in both game settings and the Nvidia Control Panel to prevent input lag and latency issues.

And there you have it, we’ve finally used the Hogwarts Legacy best settings in Nvidia Control Panel to give you a boost in performance. These won’t only let you experience better performance in Hogwarts Legacy, but also across other games as well. Although we’ve covered only the essential settings above, if you want a complete guide on Nvidia Control Panel optimization, you can check out our best Nvidia Control Panel settings guide.

Best AMD Settings for Hogwarts Legacy

After optimizing Nvidia settings, let’s tend to our Team Red here. Similarly, we’ll be using a combination of the Hogwarts Legacy best settings for the AMD Radeon panel that’ll help you squeeze every bit of performance out of your GPU. But first, you’ll have to update your drivers and get them to the latest version.

Update AMD GPU Drivers

As discussed before, GPU manufacturers release driver updates right before a major game release to give you the best gaming experience on day 1. So, it becomes crucial for players to download and install these updates so that their GPU is pushing out the max FPS possible. Just follow the steps below to get everything up-to-date:

1. First, you’ll have to open up AMD Adrenaline software from either your Windows Search bar or your desktop. 
2. Once it opens up, go to”the “Drivers & Softwares” section at the top of the screen and click “Check for Updates.”
3. Here you’ll get to know whether your GPU drivers are up-to-date or if there are essential updates available for you to download. If everything is good here, directly jump to the optimized settings after this section.
4. If there are updates available for your AMD GPU, click on the install button and the Radeon panel will start downloading it. After the download has been completed then click, click install and the AMD tool will guide you through the installation.
5. Reboot your PC after the update process finishes. 

Now that you’re running the latest AMD drivers on your system, we can continue tweaking its settings for the best performance in Hogwarts Legacy.  

AMD Best Radeon Settings

Once you open up the AMD Radeon panel, browse to the system settings and then the graphics panel to get access to global settings. Here, you’ll see a bunch of settings that you need to optimize in order to get the best performance in Hogwarts Legacy. Let’s go through each setting and start optimizing. 

Global Settings:

1. Radeon Anti-Lag: Enabled
   • Enable Radeon Anti-Lag to reduce input lag and improve gaming latency.
2. AMD Radeon Chill: Disabled
   • Keep AMD Radeon Chill disabled to maintain consistent GPU performance.
3. Radeon Boost: Disabled
   • Disable Radeon Boost to avoid dynamic resolution changes that may reduce graphics quality.
4. Image Sharpening: OFF
   • Turn off Image Sharpening since Hogwarts Legacy has its own sharpness adjustment with FSR 2.0.
5. Radeon Enhanced Sync: Enable
   • Enable Radeon Enhanced Sync to reduce screen tearing without significantly increasing input lag.
6. Wait For Vertical Refresh: Always Off
   • Disable Wait For Vertical Refresh (V-Sync) to prevent FPS capping and reduce input lag.

Advanced Settings:

7. Frame Rate Target Control: Disabled
   • Disable Frame Rate Target Control to avoid FPS restrictions in Hogwarts Legacy.
8. Antialiasing: Use Application Settings
   • Let the game handle antialiasing settings; no need to adjust it at the driver level.
9. Antialiasing Method: Multisampling
   • Set Antialiasing Method to Multisampling for improved visual quality with minimal performance impact.
10. Morphological Antialiasing: Disabled
    • Keep Morphological Antialiasing disabled to prevent stuttering and FPS drops.
11. Anisotropic Filtering: Disabled
    • Most games use Anisotropic Filtering by default; no need to enable it in Radeon Settings.
12. Texture Filtering Quality: Performance
    • Choose “Performance” mode for texture filtering quality to optimize textures and improve performance.
13. Surface Format Optimization: Enabled
    • Enable Surface Format Optimization to help smooth out game-generated textures; test it for your system.
14. OpenGL Triple Buffering: Disabled
    • Since V-Sync is disabled, keep OpenGL Triple Buffering disabled as well.
15. Reset Shader Cache: Perform Reset
    • Periodically reset the shader cache to improve game performance by clearing outdated or corrupted shader data.

And that concludes our Hogwarts Legacy settings for AMD Radeon panels that will help you improve those performance numbers significantly. Since we’ve changed only a handful of settings that make an actual difference in your performance. If you want a detailed guide on Radeon software, take a look at our AMD best settings guide.

Best Windows Optimizations for Hogwarts Legacy

We’ve optimized everything, from the Hogwarts Legacy’s best settings for in-game graphics to GPU-level settings. Now it’s time to perform some Windows tweaks and optimizations that’ll help you gain performance across the board. We’ll be performing a variety of actions that’ll contribute to you gaining a decent FPS boost in Hogwarts Legacy while also speeding up your PC a bit. Let’s get to them one by one:

Update Windows 10/11 to the Latest Version

Windows is notorious for releasing updates every now and then. We’ve all been there where you might be doing some important work or battling a boss who’s giving you a hard time. Then all of a sudden you get this notification that Windows is about to start updating.

These updates may sometimes feel pesky, but they’re extremely important in giving you the best gaming and productivity experience on your PC. So, if you want your trip to Hogwarts to feel breezy, it’s recommended that you check and install any essential updates Windows might have to offer. Here’s how to do it: 

1. Start in the Windows Update section of your settings by pressing Win + I.
2. Once Windows Settings opens You’ll find Windows Update as a Windows update option in the upper-right corner of the menu settings. Click it.
3. The menu is called what you will see in the Windows Update menu. If there are any updates available, you can install them. If you don’t find any updates, click the “Check for Updates button and check whether there are any updates available.
4. When Windows successfully installs the updates It will ask you to restart the computer.

When the reboot is completed After the reboot is complete, the Windows will be upgraded to the most recent version, with all the performance enhancements and bugs fixed. Overall, you’ll experience an experience that is the best Windows user experience Microsoft can offer.

Turn on Windows Game Mode

Game Mode is a great gaming-centric feature introduced back in Windows 10. When you launch a game, Game Mode helps direct your PC resources toward the game more efficiently. It even puts any pesky background applications to rest until the game closes. Here’s how you can enable this:

1. Search Game Mode in the Windows Search and click on the first result that pops up. 
2. Once you click on the Game Mode settings result, you’ll be inside the Game Mode menu. 
3. Here, all you need to do is toggle the game mode On. And that’s it.

There’s nothing else required, simply launch the game and enjoy the benefits of this amazing feature. In some games, it will give you a boost in performance. In other games, it’ll at least help you get consistent performance without any FPS drops or stuttering. So, it’s a feature will several benefits and should be ON at all times. 

Edit Engine.ini File in Hogwarts Legacy

If you’ve been playing Hogwarts Legacy, you might have experienced stuttering a lot. Whether you’re exploring Hogwarts grounds, inside the castle, or simply opening or closing menus, there’s a lot of stuttering even on beastly hardware.

Now, the developers have acknowledged this problem and are working towards a proper fix for it. But, there’s a working fix for it that requires you to edit the Engine.ini file and change up the GPU pool size in Hogwarts Legacy save folder. Here’s how to apply this fix:

1. Open up windows explorer and go to the following path: 
   C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Hogwarts Legacy\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor
2. At this path, you’ll find Engine.ini in the WindowsNoEditor Folder. Open it up. 
3. In the Engine.ini File, paste the following at the bottom:

[SystemSettings]

r.bForceCPUAccessToGPUSkinVerts=True

r.GTSyncType=1

r.OneFrameThreadLag=1

r.FinishCurrentFrame=0

r.TextureStreaming=1

r.Streaming.PoolSize=3072

r.Streaming.LimitPoolSizeToVRAM=1

[ConsoleVariables]

AllowAsyncRenderThreadUpdates=1

AllowAsyncRenderThreadUpdatesDuringGamethreadUpdates=1

AllowAsyncRenderThreadUpdatesEditor=1

See the example below:

4. Once you’ve pasted the code in the Engine.ini file, close the file while saving the changes. 

The only thing you need to change is the Steaming PoolSize value according to your GPU’s VRAM. Change it according to the following: 

• For 4GB GPU VRAM: 2048
• For 8GB GPU VRAM: 3072
• For 8GB+ GPU VRAM: 4096 – 5120

This aims to reduce the stuttering you’re experiencing in Hogwarts Legacy by letting the game utilize your VRAM more efficiently. However, you can also turn down a few settings in-game alongside this fix to completely eliminate stuttering.

Disable Useless Applications From Background and Startup

There are several applications that hog your system resources and continue to run in the background while you’re enjoying your games. Some 3rd-party applications, that we don’t even use, often start up automatically with Windows and keep taking up resources. The best way to free up these resources is to disable these applications from auto-starting. Here’s how to do it: 

1. Right-Click on the Taskbar and open up the Task Manager.

   

2. There are a lot of applications that are running in the background or in the foreground. Common applications you’ll come across are Steam, Discord, TeamSpeak, and Faceit In short, those that have High Priority disabled.
3. From here, navigate to the auto-start option and the tab for startup of the Task Manager and turn off all programs that you do not want to run on Windows. You are able to also prioritize disabling middle-priority apps too.

   

After you’ve finished then it’s time to turn off certain unnecessary applications that consume your system’s resources. Here’s how:

1. Press the short-key WIN+R to type and type Msconfig in the run window.
2. In the Services Tab, Checkmark “Disable All Microsoft Services.” This will remove the necessary ones you should not disable. From the new list, remove the ones you think are unnecessary and ineffective.

Once done, hit apply and ok.

Enable Ultimate Power Plan

If you want the best performance in Hogwarts Legacy without any compromises, you’ll need to enable this hidden power mode in Windows. It’ll help take your PC’s performance up a notch by running everything at full tilt. This won’t only give you better FPS but also help reduce FPS drops and stuttering quite a bit. Here’s how you can unlock and use Ultimate Power Plan:

1. Type Windows PowerShell in the Windows Search Bar. Right Click on the first result and run PowerShell with administrative privileges. 

   

2. Once PowerShell is Opened, Copy and Paste the code I’ve attached below.

powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61

3. Once you enter and execute the code, you should get a message that it worked. In case you see any error, try the same method on command prompt. 
4. After PowerShell, in Windows Search, enter “Edit PowerPlan” and click on the first result.

   

5. From here, click on the Power Options location in the address bar and you’ll see all the avilable Power Plans on your system here.

   

6. After you’ve selected the Ultimate Power Plan, close the window and launch Hogwarts Legacy. 

Enable Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling

Windows 10 remains one of the best Windows for games alongside Windows 11 to this day. It introduced several tools and features that were directly targeted toward games. Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling is also one of the features that help you improve your gaming experience. It handles high-priority instructions on the CPU like rendering frames, is passed to GPU and the load’s divided while resulting in better performance and more stability. Here’s how you can enable this feature:

1. Type GPU in the Windows Search and click on Graphics Settings in the first result

2. Here, you’ll be greeted with the graphics menu. Click on Change Default Graphics Settings under Default Settings section. 

3. Here, turn on Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling.

That’s all, and your PC is good to go. All you need to do is launch Hogwarts Legacy and experience better performance right away. 

Was Our Best Hogwarts Legacy Settings Guide Helpful?

We’ve finally reached the end of our Hogwarts Legacy best settings guide for PC. I’ve personally tested every bit of setting and optimization on test PCs and made sure these were the most effective in improving performance. Hogwarts Legacy may not be in a perfect state right now, but rest assured, its performance will get better with future patches. Until then, I hope our best settings guide was able to improve your experience with the game.