Best Cyberpunk 2077 Settings for GTX 1650 / RTX 3050 (Update 2.1)

Let’s be honest: Cyberpunk 2077 is a hardware bully. If you are rocking the legendary GTX 1650 or the entry-level RTX 3050, you know the struggle is real. The good news is that you don’t have to quit Night City! We have found the best Cyberpunk 2077 settings for the GTX 1650 and RTX 3050 to get smooth gameplay in Update 2.1 without making the game look like a potato. Here is the practical guide to surviving the demands of the Phantom Liberty expansion on a budget.

If you are rocking the legendary GTX 1650 or the entry-level RTX 3050, you can still experience Night City. You just need to stop trying to run the game on “Ultra” and start playing smart. Here are the best Cyberpunk 2077 settings for GTX 1650 / 3050 to get smooth gameplay without making the game look like a potato.

The Golden Rule: VRAM Management

Before we touch the graphics sliders, we need to address the elephant in the room: Video Memory (VRAM).

• GTX 1650 (4GB): You have very little wiggle room. You must set Texture Quality to Medium (or even Low). If you set textures to High, your VRAM will overflow, and you will experience massive stuttering every time you drive fast or enter a new area.

• RTX 3050 (4GB/6GB/8GB): If you have the 4GB laptop version, follow the GTX 1650 advice. If you have the 8GB desktop card, you can safely run Texture Quality on High.

Optimized Settings for GTX 1650 (The “Survivor” Config)

The GTX 1650 is below the official minimum specs for Phantom Liberty, but with the right upscaling, it’s surprisingly capable.

Target: 1080p / 30-40 FPS (Stable)

• Resolution Scaling: FSR 2.1 or Intel XeSS (Set to Balanced or Performance)

  • Pro Tip: Many users find that Intel XeSS actually looks sharper than AMD FSR in Cyberpunk 2077, even on NVIDIA cards. Try both and see which looks less “shimmery” to you.

• Screen Space Reflections: Low (or Off)

• Volumetric Fog Resolution: Low (This is a huge FPS killer)

• Volumetric Cloud Quality: Medium

• Local Shadow Mesh Quality: Low

• Color Precision: Medium

• Mirror Quality: Low

• Ambient Occlusion: Low

Struggling with stutters? The GTX 1650 is often paired with older CPUs. If the audio is crackling or the city isn’t loading fast enough, check our HDD Mode Guide to fix audio lag.

Optimized Settings for RTX 3050 (The “DLSS” Config)

The RTX 3050 has a superpower that the 1650 lacks: DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). This is your ticket to 60 FPS.

Target: 1080p / 60 FPS

• Resolution Scaling: DLSS Super Resolution (Set to Balanced)

• DLSS Sharpness: 0.50

• Ray Tracing: OFF

  • Reality Check: The RTX 3050 technically supports Ray Tracing, but turning it on will tank your FPS to the low 20s. It is not worth the performance hit.

• Screen Space Reflections: High

• Volumetric Fog Resolution: Medium

• Local Shadow Mesh Quality: Medium

• Crowd Density: Medium (Saves CPU performance)

• Ambient Occlusion: High

The Secret “FPS Killers”

No matter which card you have, three specific settings eat up performance for very little visual gain. If you are still lagging, nuke these first:

1. Cascaded Shadows Resolution: Set to Medium. The visual difference from High is barely noticeable, but it saves GPU power.

2. Screen Space Reflections Quality: This determines how grainy the reflections on wet roads look. On a GTX 1650, set this to Low immediately.

3. Crowd Density: This is a CPU setting, but it affects your total framerate heavily. If you are driving and your FPS drops, lower this to Low.

Is Your Drive Keeping Up? If the game runs smoothly standing still but stutters horribly when driving, your hard drive or slower SSD might be the real problem. This is a common bottleneck for budget systems. Follow this guide to enable HDD Mode for stable city performance.

Can I Run Phantom Liberty?

Yes, but don’t expect miracles. Dogtown (the new DLC area) is significantly heavier than the rest of Night City. You may need to switch your DLSS/FSR from “Balanced” to “Performance” when entering that specific zone.

Still not sure if your PC can handle it?

Don’t waste money buying the game if it won’t run. Use our Cyberpunk 2077 FPS Calculator to simulate your exact PC specs and see your expected performance score.