The objective is to utilize the “Highest” preset as a base but manually toggle Ray Traced Shadows and DLSS/FSR to isolate the hardware’s raw compute vs. tensor performance.
1. The “Clean” Benchmark Baseline
To get a scientifically repeatable result ($R_{repeat} > 99\%$), you must disable dynamic features that interfere with raw frame delivery.
| Setting | Recommended Value | Technical Purpose |
| DirectX 12 | On | Mandatory. DX11 in SotTR is heavily single-thread limited and unoptimized. |
| Anti-Aliasing | SMAAT2x | Provides the best balance of edge clarity without the heavy blur of TAA. |
| Ray Traced Shadows | Off (for Baseline) | Turn OFF to measure raw rasterization; ON for “Next-Gen” stress testing. |
| DLSS / FSR | Off | Keep at Native resolution to measure the GPU’s true fill rate ($R_{fill}$). |
| V-Sync | Off | Essential to prevent the monitor’s refresh rate from capping the data. |
2. Analyzing the “Bottleneck” Percentages
The 2026 build of SotTR provides a “GPU Bound %” metric. Understanding this is key to your upgrade path:
- 99% GPU Bound: Your GPU is the absolute bottleneck. Increasing your CPU speed will result in 0% FPS gain.
- <50% GPU Bound: You are heavily CPU limited. This usually happens at 1080p with a high-end card. Your GPU is “waiting” for the CPU to send draw calls.
- The “Sweet Spot”: For a balanced high-end rig, aim for 85-95% GPU Bound. This ensures your GPU is fully utilized while leaving a small amount of CPU “air” for background tasks.
3. High-Precision “Stutter” Detection
SotTR’s benchmark is divided into three scenes: Cozumel (Market), Cenote (Cave), and Hidden City (Paititi).
- Scene 1 (Market): Tests CPU crowd simulation and draw call density.
- Scene 2 (Cave): Heavily tests GPU lighting and volumetric effects.
- Scene 3 (Hidden City): The ultimate “CPU Torture Test.” If your frame-time graph shows massive spikes here, your RAM Latency ($t_{CL}$) or L3 Cache is the likely culprit.
4. 2026 Pro Tip: The “Ultra” Secret
The “Highest” preset is actually not the highest the game can go. To truly max out a modern system for a benchmark:
- Manually set Shadow Quality to Ultra.
- Enable Screen Space Contact Shadows.
- Set PureHair to Normal (High often causes unnecessary physics glitches that skew the results).