Guide to Optimizing Escape from Tarkov for Low-End PCs (2024): How to Increase FPS, Eliminate Lags and Freezes

With the release of update 0.14.0.0 in Escape from Tarkov, many players have encountered optimization issues. We asked ourselves a simple question: how to increase FPS, as well as get rid of freezes and stutters? In this guide, we will describe several effective ways to improve performance, and also tell you how to properly set graphics settings for a more comfortable game.

The first thing you need to do is to properly configure the launcher. It has many useful features that will help increase the game's performance. Follow the instructions below.

Open the launcher. In the top right corner next to your nickname, click the arrow and click on the Clear cache button. Then go to the Settings section.

Here we are interested in two lines. In the When clicking the window close button item, set Close launcher. In the When launching the game section, select Fully exit the launcher.

Scroll down the list and find the Temporary files folder section. We recommend clearing it before each game launch.

Such launcher settings will create the minimum load on the system, thus freeing up more resources for the game. Check these settings after updates, as they may reset during the download of the next patch or other minor fixes.

Escape From Tarkov is quite demanding and not fully optimized yet. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare the system for a more comfortable game.

In the gaming community and among popular streamers, it has long been believed that EFT primarily consumes resources of RAM and CPU. The graphics card also affects the gaming process, but not as significantly. For example, when comparing the graphics cards GTX GeForce 1060 Ti (3GB) and Radeon RX 580 (8GB) on minimum graphics settings, the difference in FPS gain turned out to be just over 10 frames.

It's no secret that the data transfer speed of SSD drives is significantly higher than that of regular hard drives. If you have several drives at your disposal, try to install the launcher and game on an SSD drive if possible.

For those players with no more than 8 GB of RAM installed, we recommend creating a swap file in the Windows system. This will help avoid various hangs and crashes, as they can be quite common in this case:

Note: You must restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

We have provided optimal values for the swap file. If you still encounter difficulties, developers recommend setting higher values. For the swap file, be sure to specify an SSD drive if available.

Next, go to the Manage 3D settings tab. In the window that opens, set the optimal values (the order of actions may vary):

Right-click on the desktop and select AMD Software: Adrenaline Edition. In the application that opens, go to settings by clicking the gear icon in the top right corner. Then open the Graphics section and select the following options:

Next, open the Advanced tab and also set the values:

In the shader cache section, you need to periodically click Perform Reset to clear the files. This will not affect the performance of your PC.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and end all background tasks that are loading your system and are not needed at the moment.

Now let's move on to the settings of Escape from Tarkov:

The following parameters may differ for different users depending on the manufacturer of their video cards.

It remains to deal with a few separate parameters that are also important for increasing performance in the game. In the Graphics tab, there are a few more separate items:

You can simply set the graphics settings in these items as shown in the screenshot below.

Even with the Auto RAM Cleanup feature enabled, after several prolonged raids, you may experience freezes and hangs. We recommend re-entering the game from time to time. This will allow you to forcibly clear the RAM.

In the Windows operating system registry settings, there is a notable feature that might be disabled for you. It's called LargeSystemCache and is responsible for maintaining the standard size of the file system cache, which in turn can remove minor freezes and lags in Escape from Tarkov. To check its activity, follow the instructions:

If you have the value 0, it means the function is turned off, and you need to replace the value with 1. After that, simply close the registry and restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

Note: If changing this parameter causes your system to crash and errors, simply follow the path mentioned above and change the value back to 0.

With patch 0.13.0.0, a Binaural Sound feature was added to the game. Ideally, it allows you to determine the direction to the sound source, making the sound perception volumetric. However, many gamers note that activating this parameter significantly drops the overall game performance, usually by 10-15 FPS. We recommend doing the following:

In a recent update, developers introduced a feature to the game that allows you to cross over low barriers, called Overcoming Medium Obstacles. By default, this parameter is set to Key Press, however, many players set it to Auto. Some gamers note that this can significantly affect FPS drops during gameplay on large locations, such as Streets of Tarkov. We strongly recommend enabling Key Press.

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At the moment, these are the most effective tips that both the game itself and the gaming community can offer. Battlestate Games, in turn, is constantly working on optimizing the project.