Minimum | Low | ★ Best valueRecommended | High | Ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settings | Low | Medium | High | High | Ultra |
| Performance | 1080p30 FPS | 1080p60 FPS | 1080p60 FPS | 1440p60 FPS | 4K60 FPS |
| GPU (NVIDIA) | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super 8 GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12 GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB |
| GPU (AMD) | AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6 GB | AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB | AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB | AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB | AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB |
| CPU (Intel) | Intel Core i7-8700K | Intel Core i7-10700K | Intel Core i7-12700K | Intel Core i7-13700K | Intel Core Ultra 9 285K |
| CPU (AMD) | AMD Ryzen 5 1600X | AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D |
| RAM | 8 GB RAM | 16 GB | 16 GB RAM | 16 GB | 32 GB |
| Upscaling | Native | Native | Native | DLSS 4 or FSR 3.1 | DLSS 4 or FSR 4 |
| Frame Gen | — | — | — | — | Yes |
| Ray Tracing | Off | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
Disable ray tracing entirely and lock the game to 30fps with frame pacing enabled to ensure stability on GTX 1060 VRAM constraints. Drop shadow quality to Low and volumetric effects to Off—these are the biggest FPS drains after RT and will recover 8-12fps with minimal visual loss in this action game.
Enable DLSS 4 Quality at 1080p to push past 60fps comfortably; the RTX 2080 Super benefits massively from upscaling, recovering 20-30% performance. Keep ray tracing at Low and shadows at Medium—this is the sweet spot where the game looks great without aggressive compromises.
This tier hits 60fps High settings natively, but enabling DLSS 4 Balanced lets you bump to 1440p or max out ray tracing at Medium with headroom. The RTX 3060 Ti's 8GB VRAM is tight at High settings, so monitor VRAM usage and reduce texture quality to High (not Ultra) if you see stuttering.
DLSS 4 Quality at 1440p is the play here—the RTX 4070 Super will deliver 80-100fps with High ray tracing and upscaling, giving you comfortable headroom for VRR displays. Volumetric effects and shadow distance are the remaining optimization levers if you want to push toward 120fps, but 60fps High + DLSS is the intended experience.
This tier is built for 4K 60fps with DLSS 4 Quality and Ultra ray tracing—the RTX 5080 handles it with ease. Frame Generation is viable here for single-player exploration scenes, but disable it during combat for responsive input; the game's action-heavy nature means native 60fps is more important than synthetic frame doubling.
Storage
55 GB available space
DirectX
Version 12
Achieving 120fps requires an RTX 5070 Ti or RX 9070 XT paired with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D at 1440p Medium settings, or RTX 5080 at 1080p High. Disable ray tracing entirely, drop shadows to Medium, and cap volumetric effects at High—these three changes alone recover 40-50fps. Frame Generation is not viable here since Expedition 33's action-heavy combat demands native input latency; prioritize native 120fps over synthetic frame doubling.
The Recommended tier (RTX 3060 Ti + Ryzen 7 5800X) is the best value—it delivers 60fps High settings at 1080p natively and costs $400-500 less than the High tier while still supporting DLSS 4 for future games. If you want 1440p gaming, the High tier's RTX 4070 Super is only $150-200 more and unlocks DLSS 4 Quality upscaling, making it worth the jump for longevity.
GTX 1060 users should jump to RTX 5070 ($549)—it's 4-5x faster and unlocks DLSS 4, turning 30fps Low into 80-100fps High. RTX 3060 users can skip to RTX 5070 Ti ($749) for 1440p 60fps+ with headroom, or stay with the 3060 and use DLSS 4 Quality to hit 1440p 60fps. RTX 4060 users should upgrade to RTX 5070 ($549) for 1440p 60fps+ and DLSS 4 MFG support; the 4060 struggles at 1440p even with upscaling.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a demanding action game that scales well from 30fps budget builds to 4K 60fps high-end rigs, with ray tracing being the primary performance lever. The Recommended tier (RTX 3060 Ti + Ryzen 7 5800X) is the true sweet spot, delivering 60fps High at 1080p without compromise, while the High tier pushes to 1440p with DLSS 4 Quality for future-proofing. Expect this to be GPU-heavy rather than CPU-heavy, with volumetric effects and shadow quality being the secondary optimization targets after ray tracing. On consoles, PS5 Pro's PSSR 2.0 and Performance mode create the best experience, while base PS5 and Series X both default to 60fps FSR 3.1 as the optimal choice for combat responsiveness.
