An unpleasant but pretty usual case is when you experience the low performance of GTA 5 on your PC. In most cases, the problem is in graphics settings. These are rules that define how the gameplay unfolds on your computer and how its elements look on the screen. Tuning them up may be a tough task for a beginner since there exists a huge number of them.
Surely, you can simply minimize the graphics settings if your computer cannot boast high productivity. This will normalize the game performance, but you’ll end up with low-quality visuals.
Is there a sort of compromise? The short answer is yes, and in this blog, we’ll explain how to administer the optimal GTA V and FiveM graphics settings on your PC.
GTA 5 System Requirements
The first step to take is to check your PC readiness for GTA V sessions. Your machine should comply with the following requirements for GTA 5 and FiveM:
Minimum System Requirements for PC: | |
OS | Windows 10 & 11
(Due to the support recall, a licensed copy of GTA V won’t function on Windows 7, 8.1, or older OS versions)ю |
Processor |
|
RAM | 4 GB |
Video Card |
|
Storage | 8 GB for setup & 65+ GB for the game components and updates. |
How fitting is your computer for the game? There are tools like Technical City that can monitor your system and define the optimal game settings for your PC.
Graphics Settings & How They Affect GTA 5 Performance
Knowing how these or those graphics parameters work is crucial for working out an optimal system of settings. The key goals here are to increase FPS and cut down stutters and lags.
FPS stands for Frames Per Minutes and represents a measure of rate. It displays how quickly your game produces and renders frames. Sounds tricky, but in plain language, the lower the game’s FPS, the worse. On PC, it’s good to maintain this parameter above 60 frames. Consoles provide 30 FPS at maximum. Everything below is a straight way to dissatisfactory gameplay. Let’s consider factors that affect FPS.
Resolution
You can lower the resolution parameters to raise FPS; that’s true. However, we don’t recommend it. In fact, you’ll only impair the quality of visuals.
Textures
Texture mods can make your experiences tremendously authentic. Even if their quality is admirable, they don’t spoil FPS. What can really mar your gaming sessions is the installed textures’ size. If there’s a lack of space on your video card, expect trouble.

So, a simple rule to follow here is to use textures that consume no more than the memory provided by your video card. Otherwise, they’ll switch to the RAM, which will cause the game to crash.
Shadows
Do you wish GTA V shadows to look genuine? Then, you need a computer with high-resolution capacities. The higher the quality you seek, the higher the requirements. If your PC is not perfect in this respect, you’ll experience lags, and less pixelated shadows will cause trouble.
Citizens
You may think that the more people are on the streets in GTA V, the more they slow down the performance. However, it’s not true, and the parameter doesn’t affect the gameplay quality.
Reflections
Fix the reflection parameter high, and you’ll enjoy high-quality reflections on water surfaces, in mirrors, on vehicles, etc. You can reduce the level to ‘Normal,’ and some of the reflections will be unavailable. However, this will help you raise FPS.
Shaders
Shaders rule various lighting effects in the game. This parameter can be lowered without great impact on the graphics quality of your session in most cases.
DirectX
DirectX is a set of APIs designed to ensure smooth interaction between the game and the computer’s hardware. A player can install the program’s version below 11, and this will increase FPS. However, several graphical features from this list will be blocked.
Other Graphics Settings to Consider
- Grass: You can raise or decrease the detail sharpness of grass plots and trees.
- Particles: These features define the quality of fire, smoke, explosions, dirt, etc.
- Water: Water surfaces can look authentic in the game.
- PostFX is a set of features that introduce such specialties as blooming, hazing, sunlight, moonlight, etc.
- Tessellation features ensure detailed and 3D objects.
- Soft Shadow parameters define how blurry shadows should be, depending on the distances between various objects.
- Anti-aliasing levels the objects’ outlines. A popular solution is NVIDIA’s FXAA tech. However, its main drawback is that objects lose clearness in the game.
- Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) provides realistic shadows interfering with each other in complex environments.
- Anisotropic Filtering makes angles look well-marked.
Leading FPS Consumers among GTA V Graphics Settings
What are the most voracious graphical features in GTA 5? Let’s list the most influential parameters that consume a lot of FPS:
- Grass: ~25 FPS.
- Reflections: ~20 FPS.
- Anti-Aliasing: ~15 FPS.
- Shadow Quality: ~10 FPS.
- Soft Shadows: ~10 FPS.
- PostFX: ~9 FPS.
- Shader: ~8 FPS.
While consuming so much FPS, these settings require powerful computers and affect gameplay performance dramatically. So, you can optimize these parameters and normalize the quality of your GTA V experiences.
First Settings to Check
You really can improve FPS if you lower some of the graphics settings on your PC. Moreover, you can achieve decent results without a serious loss of visual quality. We tested all the features, and our recommendations are as follows:
- Grass Quality – High or Normal.
- Texture Quality – Any value that lies within the capacities of your video card.
These easy steps will free you over 10 FPS. So, lowering only these two parameters may significantly improve your gaming performance.
Optimization Steps for Weak Computers
The main goal here is to predetermine such graphics parameters so that they comply with your PC’s capabilities. On computers that lack power, players can optimize the graphics settings in the following way:
- Reflections – High. Both Ultra and Normal should be avoided.
- Post FX – High. This will release up to 7-8 FPS.
- Shadow Quality – High. The shadow quality won’t be the best, but you’ll earn up to 10 FPS.
- Soft Shadows – Sharp, with a 10 FPS boost.
- Anti-Aliasing – FXAA. TXAA 2x or TXAA 4x will be too consuming for your performance.

So, the main rule is to avoid Very High and Ultra parameters. The High option will preserve the game’s appealing look, but it won’t decrease FPS.
You’ll also improve the performance if you switch off certain settings. They include long shadows, high-resolution shadows, and sharp textures during flights. You can lower the loading distance for detailed objects as well.
FiveMods Optimization
There are cases when you simply cannot disable or lower these or those settings in GTA v. Then, it’s time to entrust the mission to mod developers. Among creative modifications, you can pick solutions to raise the FPS level.
You can download the FiveMods app from our website. This app enables automatic installations of various mods for GTA and FiveM. We have mods that will increase your FPS to 60 and higher. You can select ideal parameters so that the game runs perfectly without spoiling the visuals.
Leading Mods to Optimize GTA 5
Use our app to set up the most useful optimization mods. You should pay attention to these modifications in the first place:
- Garbage Removal to delete small unnecessary objects (+10 FPS).
- Rain & Snow. Remove these effects to free up to 10 FPS.
- Disable Particles. Dust clouds, blood splashes, and similar effects will be turned off. You’d scarcely notice the difference but win up to 5 FPS.
- Grass Removal – FiveMods knows how to disable the feature at all.
- Render Distance – you can lower it by 10% and earn about 7 FPS.
- Disable Shadows – FiveMods can help you switch off the shadows. It’s not the best solution for visuals, but it’ll provide you with 25 FPS or even more!
Don’t wish to build optimized configurations for GTA V? No problem. You can go to the ‘Graphics Settings’ and apply the ready existing configuration that is considered the best for your PC. You can also deal with Filters from FiveMods. These tools can smartly change the graphics settings on your computer without affecting FPS.
Key Takeaways
Even on weak machines, you can enjoy GTA V without a loss of visual quality. For this purpose, you can optimize your graphics settings manually or employ specialized software like FiveMods. This advanced app for GTA 5 gamers will provide various optimization mods. A couple of clicks is enough to bring them into action and make your GTA V experiences powerful from a performance perspective and aesthetically appealing.