The best The Quarry PC settings for smooth performance are a 60 FPS cap, native 1080p or 1440p resolution, High textures, Medium shadows, Medium effects, and disabled motion blur, film grain, and chromatic aberration. That combination keeps Supermassive Games' cinematic faces and dense environments sharp without asking your GPU to brute-force every expensive shadow and lighting effect. If your frame rate still dips, lower shadows and effects first; leave textures alone unless you are running out of VRAM.
The Quarry is not a twitch shooter, but unstable performance still hurts. A camera hitch during an aiming prompt, a stutter while Kaitlyn explores the lodge, or a sudden dip during a werewolf chase can make a seemingly simple decision feel unfair. This guide focuses on frame-time consistency rather than a flashy peak number, with separate profiles for 1080p, 1440p, and weaker gaming PCs.
Use This The Quarry PC Baseline First
Before changing individual options, set a sensible baseline. The game runs on Unreal Engine 4 and leans heavily on cinematic lighting, foliage, post-processing, and high-resolution character assets. Its official PC requirements list an Intel Core i5-6600K or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 as the minimum CPU, a GeForce GTX 780 or Radeon RX 470 minimum GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 50GB of storage. The recommended tier rises to a Core i9-10900K or Ryzen 7 3700X, an RTX 2060 or Radeon RX 5700, and 16GB of RAM. You can verify those specifications on The Quarry's official Steam page.
Those requirements are a useful warning, not a guarantee. The minimum hardware is designed to launch the game at a lower visual target, while the recommended specification is closer to a comfortable 1080p experience. If you have a modern six-core CPU, 16GB of memory, and an RTX 3060, RX 6600 XT, or better, 60 FPS at 1080p is a realistic goal. Native 1440p is more demanding because the game spends much more time shading dark foliage, mist, and shadow-heavy environments.
| Target | Resolution | Starting Profile | Expected Hardware Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 FPS cinematic | 1080p | High preset, Medium shadows | GTX 1060 / RX 580 class |
| 60 FPS balanced | 1080p | High textures, Medium effects and shadows | RTX 2060 / RX 5700 class |
| 60 FPS sharp | 1440p | High textures, Low-to-Medium shadows | RTX 3060 Ti / RX 6700 XT class |
| High-refresh target | 1080p | Medium effects, Low shadows | RTX 4070 / RX 7800 XT class |
Use the official 2K support hub for The Quarry if the game refuses to launch or displays a rendering error. For general PC stability, our ELEX PC crash and FPS fixes also cover practical checks such as driver cleanup, overlays, and background processes that apply here.
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View on Steammoz Store →Best The Quarry PC Graphics Settings for 60 FPS
Start with a 60 FPS cap rather than leaving the frame rate unlimited. The Quarry's scenes can vary dramatically: a quiet conversation in the lodge is lighter than a stormy forest sequence full of volumetric lighting and animated vegetation. An uncapped GPU may render 90 FPS in one shot, then fall into the 50s in another. That swing feels worse than a stable 60 because frame pacing becomes inconsistent.
Display and frame-rate options
Choose exclusive fullscreen if the option is available and use your monitor's native resolution. Borderless mode is convenient for multitasking, but exclusive fullscreen can reduce desktop interference on some systems. Set V-Sync to match your display strategy: use it with a fixed 60 FPS cap on a standard monitor, or disable it and use G-SYNC or FreeSync if your variable-refresh display is working correctly.
For a 120Hz or 144Hz display, don't assume The Quarry should run at 120 FPS. The game is built around cinematic pacing and can become CPU- or GPU-limited in demanding scenes. A locked 60 FPS with VRR often looks cleaner than an unstable 75-100 FPS range. If your PC cannot hold 60, a locked 30 FPS is preferable to a constantly fluctuating 35-55 FPS, particularly during quick-time events.
Quality settings that deliver the biggest gains
| Setting | Recommended Value | FPS Impact | Visual Trade-Off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | Native 1080p; use 1440p only with headroom | Very high | Lowering it softens character edges and foliage |
| Textures | High with 6GB or more VRAM; Medium below that | Low to medium | Mostly affects surface detail and faces |
| Shadows | Medium | High | Lower settings reduce depth in forests and interiors |
| Effects | Medium | High | Impacts fog, lighting effects, and dramatic weather |
| Anti-aliasing | High if available | Medium | Lower values create shimmer on hair and foliage |
| View distance | High | Medium | Lower values make distant trees and objects pop in |
| Post-processing | Medium or High | Low to medium | Changes cinematic effects more than core detail |
| Motion blur | Off | Small | Sharper camera movement and aiming prompts |
| Film grain | Off | Negligible | Removes intentional noise from dark scenes |
| Chromatic aberration | Off | Negligible | Cleaner image around screen edges |
Textures are the setting to protect. The Quarry frequently pushes the camera close to faces, clothing, wood, and wet vegetation. High textures preserve that detail and usually cost less frame rate than shadows or effects. The catch is VRAM: if your graphics card has 4GB, High textures can cause hitching when the game streams new areas. That hitch is a memory problem, not an average-FPS problem, so Medium textures are the smarter choice.
Shadows are your first serious performance lever. Medium retains enough depth for the camp's cabins and forest paths, while Low can make lighting look flatter and can produce distracting shadow transitions. Move from High to Medium before lowering resolution. If you still see dips, Low shadows are a reasonable sacrifice for a consistent 60 FPS.
Effects deserve the second cut. Storms, fog, volumetric light, and dark outdoor scenes can create sudden GPU spikes. Medium effects usually keeps the horror atmosphere intact. Low effects improves performance, but the rain, mist, and flashlight interplay can look noticeably less dramatic. Don't lower effects just because a benchmark scene looks busy; test a forest section at night, where the setting actually works hardest.
1080p, 1440p, and Low-End PC Profiles
There is no single perfect preset because The Quarry's workload changes with resolution and hardware. The following profiles are better starting points than blindly choosing Low, Medium, or Ultra. Apply one, then play through a demanding area for several minutes. A quiet dialogue scene is a poor benchmark because it can hide the exact problems that appear later in the woods.
Best 1080p 60 FPS profile
Use High textures, Medium shadows, Medium effects, High anti-aliasing, High view distance, and Medium post-processing. Keep motion blur, film grain, and chromatic aberration disabled. This is the strongest all-round profile for RTX 2060, RTX 3060, RX 5600 XT, RX 6600, and similar cards. It protects the game's close-up cinematics while cutting the settings that create the largest GPU spikes.
Best 1440p profile
Stay at native 2560x1440 if your GPU can hold 60 FPS in a nighttime forest. Keep textures High, but set shadows and effects to Medium or Low depending on the card. An RTX 3060 Ti, RX 6700 XT, or faster GPU should start with Medium. For an RTX 2060 or RX 5700, 1440p may require a 30 FPS lock or a resolution reduction. A sharp, stable 1080p image is better than soft 1440p performance with repeated stutters.
Low-end and laptop profile
Use 1920x1080 only if your GPU has enough headroom; otherwise choose 1600x900 or 1280x720. Set textures Medium, shadows Low, effects Low, anti-aliasing Medium, view distance Medium, and post-processing Low. Disable every optional cinematic filter. Cap at 30 FPS first. If frame pacing is stable, test 40 or 45 FPS only if your display supports a matching refresh-rate mode.
| Profile | Textures | Shadows | Effects | Frame Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1080p quality | High | Medium | Medium | 60 FPS |
| 1440p balanced | High | Medium | Low or Medium | 60 FPS |
| Entry-level desktop | Medium | Low | Low | 30 FPS |
| Gaming laptop | High if VRAM allows | Medium | Medium | 60 FPS with plugged-in power |
| Steam Deck-style handheld | Low or Medium | Low | Low | 30 FPS |
On a laptop, plug in the charger, select the high-performance power mode, and check temperatures before blaming the settings. Mobile GPUs can drop clock speeds after sustained play, which looks like a graphics problem but is really thermal throttling. A cooling stand, clean vents, and a sensible 30 FPS target can make the experience far smoother than chasing an unstable 60.
How to Fix Stutter, Frame-Time Spikes, and Streaming Hitches
Average FPS doesn't tell the whole story in The Quarry. Stutter usually appears as a short pause when a new area, character asset, or lighting state streams in. You may notice it when moving from the lodge into the forest, entering a cabin, or switching into a heavily scripted scene. Watch the frame-time graph with MSI Afterburner or CapFrameX if possible. A flat 16.7ms line is a 60 FPS experience; repeated spikes above 25-40ms are what your eyes read as hitching.
Use a cap that your PC can actually sustain
Set the cap below your worst-case performance rather than your best-case result. If your benchmark ranges from 52 to 78 FPS, use 50 or 45 FPS, not 60. With VRR, a 50 FPS cap can feel excellent. Without VRR, use 30 FPS or 60 FPS and accept the appropriate visual target. The key is to stop the GPU from constantly bouncing between a power ceiling and idle headroom.
Reduce VRAM pressure before reducing everything
Texture streaming hitches are more likely when the card is close to its VRAM limit. Shut down browsers with video tabs, recording tools you don't need, and hardware-monitoring overlays that hook into the game. If the hitching happens after loading several chapters or replaying scenes, restart the game and test again; long sessions can expose streaming behavior that a fresh launch does not.
Keep Windows and your GPU driver current, but don't assume the newest driver automatically solves every issue. If the problem began immediately after a driver update, a clean installation or rollback may be worthwhile. Steam's file verification can also catch a damaged asset. For a broader troubleshooting checklist, see our PC crashing and low-FPS fixes; the steps for overlays, power plans, and installation files translate well to The Quarry.
Don't confuse shader compilation with permanent poor performance
Some first-run traversal hitches can improve after the game has visited more areas and built its caches. Give the title a few minutes after changing drivers or settings, then test the same route twice. If every run has the same large spike, lower effects and shadows. If only the first pass stutters, the issue is likely asset or shader preparation rather than a preset that is simply too high.
Image Quality Settings You Should Turn Off
Motion blur, film grain, and chromatic aberration are aesthetic choices, not performance solutions. Turning them off won't suddenly add 20 FPS, but it makes the frame you already have easier to read. That matters in The Quarry because many interactions depend on spotting a prompt over a dark, moving background. Motion blur can smear a camera transition, film grain can obscure fine detail, and chromatic aberration adds colored fringing around the edge of the image.
Keep anti-aliasing relatively high if your GPU allows it. The Quarry contains long strands of hair, thin branches, fences, and foliage that shimmer badly with weak edge smoothing. If you need extra performance, lower shadows before anti-aliasing. The image may become a little softer at Medium AA, but crawling edges are more distracting than a slightly simplified shadow map.
Don't use aggressive resolution scaling unless your settings menu gives you no alternative. Dynamic resolution can rescue a difficult scene, but the image may visibly soften just as a close-up begins. If you use NVIDIA or AMD driver-level sharpening, apply it lightly. Too much sharpening creates halos around character silhouettes and makes filmic lighting look noisy.
Best Control Panel and System Tweaks
Driver-level changes should support the in-game profile, not fight it. In NVIDIA Control Panel or AMD Software, use the game's executable profile, keep texture filtering at the driver's quality default, and avoid forcing anti-aliasing modes. The game knows how its post-processing pipeline works; overriding it can create shimmering, broken edges, or no visible benefit.
Enable your monitor's G-SYNC or FreeSync range if available, then cap a few frames below the refresh ceiling. For a 60Hz display, a 60 FPS cap is fine; for a 144Hz VRR display, 60 or 72 FPS can be a clean target. If your frame rate cannot stay above the monitor's VRR floor, use a fixed 30 FPS cap instead. Smooth pacing beats a number that repeatedly drops in and out of adaptive sync.
Close unnecessary overlays from Discord, GeForce Experience, Xbox Game Bar, and motherboard utilities while testing. These aren't automatically bad, but each can add a hook, notification, or recording load. Also disable background downloads and let Steam finish updates before a long session. If you have previously fought low performance in another Unreal Engine title, our FPS settings guide for Far Cry 6 explains the same useful workflow: establish a cap, isolate the expensive setting, and measure one change at a time.
How to Test Your Final The Quarry Settings
Don't judge the setup from the opening menu or a single dialogue scene. Play a repeatable route that includes a lodge interior, a transition into the woods, a flashlight-lit night section, and a scripted chase. Watch for three things: the lowest sustained frame rate, frame-time spikes when entering a new area, and image quality during close-ups. The best profile is the one that survives all three situations.
Change only one setting between tests. Start with shadows, then effects, then resolution. If lowering shadows fixes the dip, restore effects and keep the better-looking profile. If neither option helps but GPU usage is low, the limit may be CPU-side or caused by streaming. Lowering resolution in that situation will barely help, so keep the sharper image and focus on frame pacing, background apps, and a sensible cap.
| Symptom | Likely Cause | First Change | What to Keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPU at 99%, FPS drops outdoors | Shadows, effects, or resolution | Set shadows to Medium | High textures |
| Hitches entering new areas | VRAM or asset streaming | Lower textures one step | Native resolution if stable |
| Low GPU usage with stutter | CPU, streaming, or background task | Cap FPS and close overlays | Current visual settings |
| Shimmering branches and hair | Weak anti-aliasing | Raise anti-aliasing | Medium shadows first |
| Stable FPS but uneven motion | V-Sync, VRR, or frame-cap conflict | Use one frame-pacing method | Consistent cap |
For most players, the final answer is simple: native 1080p, High textures, Medium shadows, Medium effects, High anti-aliasing, High view distance, a 60 FPS cap, and every distracting post-processing filter disabled. Use 1440p only when your GPU has proven it can handle night forests without falling apart. The Quarry is at its best when the picture stays clean and the frame time stays boring—which is exactly what you want when the next choice could decide whether Ryan, Laura, Kaitlyn, or any of the other counselors makes it through the night.
For more PC performance coverage, bookmark Steamoz's higher-FPS settings guide for Filament and our FPS-first troubleshooting guide for Everspace 2. The same rule applies across both: find the worst-case scene, stabilize frame times, and only then spend performance on prettier pixels.
For news, patches, and developer information, check Supermassive Games' official The Quarry page and the game's official 2K game page.