Subnautica 2 Best Settings for Max FPS and Performance

Subnautica 2 is putting a massive strain on your hardware, causing stutters and low frame rates even on capable PCs. These performance issues usually stem from a few specific graphics settings that demand heavy GPU compute without providing a proportional visual upgrade.

Why performance drops

Settings like volumetric clouds, real-time reflections, and high-intensity global illumination force your GPU to work harder than necessary. By lowering these to optimized levels, you shift the load back to a manageable range while keeping the game looking sharp.

Steps

1. 01
   Navigate to the main menu and click the Settings button, then select the Graphics tab at the top to access your display configuration.
2. 02
   Set Motion Blur to Off to eliminate input latency and visual smearing while you are turning or swimming.
3. 03
   Select your upscaling method: choose DLSS if you are using an Nvidia RTX card, or TSR if you are using AMD or Intel hardware.
4. 04
   Change the Upscale Quality setting to Performance to allow the game to render at a lower internal resolution for a significant frame rate boost.
5. 05
   Set Global Illumination to Low and Reflections to Low, as these are the two heaviest tasks for your GPU in an underwater environment.
6. 06
   Adjust Shadows, View Distance, Effects, Shading, and Landscape all to Medium to maintain visual clarity while reducing hardware overhead.
7. 07
   Set Textures to High if your GPU has at least 6GB of VRAM, as this keeps the game looking crisp without impacting your FPS.
8. 08
   Lower Volumetric Clouds to Low to prevent the heavy compute cost associated with atmospheric rendering.
9. 09
   Click Apply and return to the game to verify the increased frame rate.

Still not working?

If you are still experiencing frame time spikes, ensure your graphics drivers are updated to the latest version for your specific GPU. If stutters persist, check your task manager to see if other background applications are competing for CPU resources or memory. Very low FPS on high-end hardware may indicate the game is running on your integrated graphics instead of your dedicated GPU.

Frequently asked questions

Will using Performance mode make the game look blurry?

Because Subnautica 2 relies on soft, organic underwater visuals, the difference between quality and performance modes is barely noticeable while you are in motion.

Should I lower texture settings if I have an older card?

Only drop textures to medium or low if your graphics card has less than 6GB of VRAM, as textures mostly affect memory usage rather than raw frame rate.

Do these settings affect my save files?

No, changing graphics settings is completely safe and does not impact your save data or game progression.

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