ARC Raiders Live Update 1.39.0 Best Settings (2026 Guide)

Live Update 1.39.0 rewrote parts of ARC Raiders' rendering pipeline and introduced new post-processing options that can tank frame rates if left unchecked. The update also shifted the CPU load profile — some systems that ran the game smoothly before now see stuttering in firefights, while others gained headroom.

The good news: the settings that matter most changed, and dialing them in correctly unlocks substantial gains. Measured benchmarks show RTX 5080 users jumping from 87 FPS to over 155 FPS at 1080p high by disabling two specific toggles, while mid-range cards like the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER see 1440p ultra climb from 105 FPS to 170+ with targeted tweaks. This guide breaks down exactly what to adjust for your hardware tier.

What Changed in Live Update 1.39.0

Embark Studios shipped three performance-relevant changes in 1.39.0. First, the new volumetric fog system is beautiful but brutally expensive — it runs multiple resolution passes and hits both GPU compute and VRAM bandwidth. Second, the anti-aliasing options now include DLAA and XeSS 2, which help, but the default TAA implementation got slower. Third, draw-distance for destructible environmental objects increased 40%, which sounds minor but shifts the CPU bottleneck point down a GPU tier.

The result: settings that were "high" pre-patch now perform like old "ultra", and two new toggles (Advanced Fog Detail and Debris Draw Distance) appeared in the graphics menu with no in-game tooltips. Both default to ON. We'll address those first.

The Two Settings Killing Your Frame Rate

Advanced Fog Detail and Debris Draw Distance are the primary culprits. Advanced Fog Detail renders volumetric fog at your display resolution then composites it with temporal data — on anything above 1080p, this alone costs 15–25% of your frame budget. Debris Draw Distance controls how far out you see destructible props and rubble piles; raising it loads more physics objects into the simulation and hammers a single CPU core.

Shadow Quality is the third lever. The gap between High and Ultra shadows is 8–12 FPS but nearly invisible in motion. Drop it to High unless you're recording cinematic footage. Shadow Distance can stay at default (Medium) — the performance cost of Far is steep and you don't gain tactical intel from distant shadows in ARC Raiders' gameplay loop.

Settings by GPU Tier (RTX 50/40, RDNA 4, Arc)

High-End (RTX 5080/5090, RX 9070 XT)

You have the headroom to run most settings at Ultra, but the fog and debris toggles still matter. Sportskeeda measured an RTX 5080 at 87 FPS average (21 FPS 1% lows) on 1080p ultra with defaults — unacceptable 1% lows for a top-tier card. Disabling Advanced Fog Detail and setting Debris Draw Distance to Low pushed that same config to 155+ FPS with 1% lows above 80. At 4K ultra, the RTX 5080 hits 100 FPS average with those two changes, measured by the same source.

• Texture Quality: Ultra (these cards have 16–32GB VRAM; use it)
• Advanced Fog Detail: OFF
• Debris Draw Distance: Low
• Shadow Quality: High (not Ultra — you won't spot the difference)
• Post-Processing: High with Motion Blur OFF
• Anti-Aliasing: DLAA if you have an RTX 50-series, or FSR 4 Quality on RDNA 4

Enable DLSS 4 Frame Generation if you're on an RTX 50-series card and targeting 240Hz — it'll push you past 200 FPS at 1440p. RDNA 4 users should test FSR 4 Frame Generation; it's less mature than DLSS but still adds 40–60% more frames with minimal latency penalty.

Mid-Range (RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, RX 7800 XT, Arc B580)

This tier targets 1440p high-to-ultra with a few compromises. XDA Developers measured an RTX 4070 Ti SUPER at 90 FPS on 1440p high defaults; with Advanced Fog Detail OFF and Debris Low, the same card climbed to 105 FPS on ultra preset. Steam Community data shows an RTX 4070 Ti hitting 170 FPS at 1440p ultra with the optimized config below.

• Texture Quality: High (12GB cards can handle Ultra, but High saves 3–5 FPS for minimal loss)
• Advanced Fog Detail: OFF
• Debris Draw Distance: Low
• Shadow Quality: Medium
• Effects Quality: Medium (explosions and particle density — Medium is plenty)
• Anti-Aliasing: DLSS 3 Quality (RTX 40-series) or FSR 3.1 Quality (AMD/Intel)

Budget/Entry (GTX 1660 Ti, RTX 3060, RX 6600 XT)

Targeting stable 60+ FPS at 1080p requires aggressive cuts. XDA Developers measured a GTX 1660 Ti at 62 FPS on 1080p low defaults — that's the baseline before optimization. The same config with the tweaks below adds 20–25 FPS.

• Preset: Low, then manually raise Texture Quality to Medium (the VRAM cost is negligible on 6–8GB cards, and Low textures are distractingly blurry)
• Advanced Fog Detail: OFF
• Debris Draw Distance: Low
• Shadow Quality: Low
• Anti-Aliasing: FSR 3.1 Performance mode (works on any GPU, adds 25–35% frames)
• V-Sync: OFF; cap frames at 60 via RTSS or the in-game limiter to reduce input lag

Motion Blur should be OFF regardless of tier — it masks low frame rates but adds input lag and makes tracking erratic movement harder.

CPU Bottleneck After 1.39.0

The Debris Draw Distance increase shifted CPU load noticeably. Before the patch, most 6-core CPUs (Ryzen 5 7600, Core i5-13600K) handled 1080p high without breaking a sweat. Now, those same chips can show stuttering in dense firefights if Debris is set above Low, because the physics simulation for destructible objects pins one or two cores near 100% while the rest sit idle.

CPUs with 3D V-Cache (Ryzen 7 9800X3D, 7800X3D) handle the patch better because the extra cache reduces the per-core load spike when tracking hundreds of debris objects. If you're on an older 4-core chip (Ryzen 3 3300X, Core i5-10400F) and see stuttering, Debris Draw Distance must go to Low — there's no workaround short of a CPU upgrade.

DLSS 4 vs. FSR 4 vs. XeSS 2 in 1.39.0

All three upscalers got native support in Live Update 1.39.0, and the quality gap narrowed compared to earlier implementations. DLSS 4 (RTX 50-series only) remains the sharpest at Quality mode, with the best motion clarity and minimal ghosting on fast camera pans. FSR 4 (AMD RDNA 4) closed the gap significantly — it's now ML-based rather than spatial, so fine detail like distant fences and foliage holds up better than FSR 3.1. XeSS 2 (Intel Arc B-series) sits between the two in image quality but has the lowest performance overhead.

Frame generation is where differences matter. DLSS 4 multi-frame generation can triple your base frame rate with acceptable latency if you're starting above 60 FPS native. FSR 4 Frame Gen adds 50–70% more frames but introduces more latency — it's usable for exploration but not ideal for high-stakes PvP. XeSS 2 Frame Gen is the lightest touch, adding 30–40% frames with minimal input lag penalty.

How to Apply and Test Your Config

1. Launch ARC Raiders and load into the Training Range (not a live match — you need a stable environment to benchmark).
2. Open Settings → Graphics and apply the tier-specific preset above.
3. Set Advanced Fog Detail to OFF and Debris Draw Distance to Low manually (these aren't part of the presets).
4. Enable your upscaler of choice (DLSS/FSR/XeSS) at Quality mode.
5. Run the built-in benchmark (Graphics menu → Benchmark tab). Look for 1% low FPS — if it's below 60, drop Shadow Quality one notch.
6. If 1% lows are still poor after shadow tweaks, open Task Manager → Performance → CPU → Change graph to Logical processors. Check for individual cores pinned at 100% while GPU usage sits below 90%. If yes, you're CPU-bound — lower Debris Draw Distance further or cap your frame rate at your monitor refresh to reduce CPU overhead.

Once you're stable in the benchmark, test a real match. The CPU load spikes higher in 16-player lobbies with active destruction, so you may need one more notch down on Debris or Shadows. Your goal is 1% lows above your monitor refresh rate — if you're on a 144Hz panel, target 145+ FPS 1% lows for tear-free gameplay without V-Sync input lag.

Live Update 1.39.0 tightened ARC Raiders' performance requirements, but the right settings unlock significant headroom. The two mandatory changes — disabling Advanced Fog Detail and setting Debris Draw Distance to Low — apply across every GPU tier and recover 30–50% of your frame budget. From there, the tweaks are straightforward: drop shadows to High, enable upscaling at Quality mode, and test per-core CPU usage if stuttering persists.

If you want a hardware-specific config file tuned for your exact GPU and CPU, run a free playbook at /optimize — it generates settings in under 60 seconds and auto-updates when Embark ships the next Live Update. For users who play multiple games, Patch Watch regenerates every supported game's playbook when patches or driver updates land, so you're never chasing optimization guides manually.

Frequently asked questions