Decided to type this up to help other players balance their CPU and GPU load as they see fit. for each graphics setting, I detail which components in your PC get more or less loaded.
Also, big disclaimer: this is not an attempt to invite players to Apex Legends, I’m simply using that game as an example as it’s graphics settings screen has similar info for all it’s settings.
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Render scale: directly affects the rendering resolution of the game, setting this to automatic tells Overwatch to set it based on GPU capabilities. Affects GPU load
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Texture Detail: this adjusts the resolution of the textures. requires the VRAM to support the texture level chosen. (1GB for low, 2GB for medium, 4GB for high)
Increasing this setting can lead to longer load times. -
Texture Filtering Level: this changes how textures look when you look at things on an angle. increases GPU load slightly when turned up
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Local Fog Detail: Turning this up affects the detail level of sun shafts, fog covering the floor, etc. (Horizon Lunar Colony has fog covering the floor near the second point for example) Puts more load on your GPU when turned up.
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Dynamic Reflections: gives you literally what it describes. turning it on or up increases GPU load. Can result in input lag if the GPU gets saturated by this setting.
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Shadows: turning this on gives you dynamic shadows on everything. turning shadow quality down will drastically drop GPU load. Turning them off frees a huge chunk of CPU time for Overwatch to use. (can help systems with a weak CPU)
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Model Detail: changes the quality of the model geometry. will also remove minor physics props from the maps when turned down. turning this setting down reduces GPU and CPU load. (However, the amount of CPU saved depends on the graphics card driver, NVIDIA cards are known to be able to push a slightly higher polycount than AMDs in a lot of cases)
Increasing this setting will result in slightly longer load times. -
Effects Detail: this increases the detail of the special effects. when on a setting higher than low, it’ll add environmental effects such as Lijang Tower’s rain to all maps. some weapon effects that affect the local fog will also be switched on when this setting is turned up from low. turn down to low settings to reduce CPU load heavily, turning this setting up from medium onwards will increase GPU load.
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Lighting Detail: This affects how many lights are rendered in the maps, the resolution of the glare effect and in some cases the update frequency for shadows from omnidirectional/spot sources (e.g. ceiling lamps) turning this setting up affects GPU and CPU load. (CPU load moreso on systems with AMD GPUs, due to the driver overhead from rendering lots of lights)
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Antialias quality: sets the antialiasing level. Off/FXAA is cheapest and recommended if you can run native res render scale but otherwise have a weak card. all levels of SMAA load the GPU more depending on the setting, but look much better than FXAA.
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Refraction Quality: this doesn’t do anything at all when set to low, will add refractions to certain transparent objects when set to medium or high. turning this setting up affects GPU load.
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Local Reflections: sets how static reflections render. Having this on adds better looking static reflections on environmental geometry and affects how reflections are blended on characters and first person models. Turning this on affects GPU load. Will only enable properly if the model detail setting is higher than medium. (Only been like that since Brigitte patch)
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Ambient Occlusion: adds nondirectional contact shadows on everything within a short distance in front of you. Turning this on affects GPU load heavily and can also result in more mouse lag if your GPU isn’t strong enough.
Thank you for reading, happy tweaking.