Best AMD Radeon Software Settings for Gaming (2026)

AMD's Adrenalin driver hides some of the best free performance features in PC gaming — but a couple of them quietly cost you frames if left on the wrong setting. Here's exactly what each Radeon toggle does and where to leave it. If you're not sure how much headroom your card has, Rate My PC will flag a GPU or VRAM bottleneck first.

Radeon Anti-Lag / Anti-Lag 2 → On

AMD's answer to NVIDIA Reflex. Anti-Lag reduces input lag by keeping the CPU from running too far ahead of the GPU — a real 10–30% latency cut when you're GPU-bound. Anti-Lag 2 is the newer, in-engine version (integrated per-game, like Reflex) and is better where supported.

Recommendation: Anti-Lag On globally; use Anti-Lag 2 in games that list it. Note: in a few anti-cheat titles the old global Anti-Lag was flagged historically — Anti-Lag 2's in-game integration fixes that, so prefer it in competitive shooters.

Radeon Super Resolution (RSR) and image upscaling

RSR is driver-level FSR 1 upscaling that works in any fullscreen game, even ones with no built-in upscaler. Set a lower in-game resolution and RSR upscales it to your native panel for a big FPS jump. It's a blunt tool, though — if a game has built-in FSR 2/3/4, always use that instead (here's why).

Recommendation: Use in-game FSR when available; fall back to RSR for older titles.

Radeon Image Sharpening → On (~80%)

Nearly free (1–2%) and genuinely improves clarity, especially when you're upscaling. It counteracts the softness that TAA and FSR introduce.

Recommendation: On, sharpness around 70–80%.

Radeon Chill → Off (for max FPS)

Chill lowers your frame rate when you're standing still to save power and heat. Great for a quiet laptop; the opposite of what you want when chasing frames. Leave it Off on a desktop unless you're deliberately capping power draw.

Enhanced Sync vs FreeSync

If you have a FreeSync monitor (most do), turn it On — it's AMD's variable refresh tech and eliminates tearing without the lag of VSync. Cap your frame rate a few below your refresh (using Radeon Chill's max, or better, an in-game cap) to stay in the FreeSync window.

Enhanced Sync is for people without FreeSync — it reduces tearing without the hard latency penalty of standard VSync, at the cost of occasional frame drops. Don't run both.

Recommendation: FreeSync On + frame cap 3–4 below refresh; leave standard "Wait for Vertical Refresh" off.

Texture Filtering Quality → Standard/Performance

Under Graphics settings. Standard or Performance is visually identical to High in motion and saves a couple percent. Surface Format Optimization → On (free). Tessellation Mode → AMD Optimized (caps wasteful over-tessellation some games request).

Radeon Boost → optional

Boost dynamically lowers resolution during fast motion only, recovering frames when you're whipping the camera around and won't notice. It's a fine competitive-shooter setting; skip it for slower, prettier games.

The 2-minute Radeon checklist

1. Anti-Lag On (Anti-Lag 2 in supported games)
2. FreeSync On + cap FPS 3–4 below refresh
3. Image Sharpening On (~80%)
4. Radeon Chill Off on desktop
5. Texture Filtering → Standard, Surface Format Optimization On, Tessellation AMD Optimized
6. Use in-game FSR, fall back to RSR for old titles
7. Update the driver (Adrenalin → check for updates)

Driver settings polish the last few percent — the in-game settings that matter most do the heavy lifting. Curious how your Radeon ranks or whether an upgrade is worth it? See the GPU Benchmark Ranking.