After some handful of delays, Halo Infinite is finally available for people to try. As of now, the multiplayer beta for PC is available on Xbox store and Steam, and is completely free-to-play. The game has already received close to 40,000 reviews on Steam, with almost 100k players playing the game most of the time. But the entire player base is definitely way larger. A lot of PC users are playing the game via Xbox store, and probably have no idea that the game is available on Steam too.
The multiplayer in Halo Infinite is the classic Halo experience. If you are a fan, and coming from old Halo titles. I promise that you won’t be disappointed. Every mechanic in the game just screams “Halo”. I have played the game for almost 10 hours, and I am only going to play more.
Halo Infinite is a great game. In fact, I would go ahead and say that it is the best PvP shooter of 2021, now that I know how bad BF 2042 is. Sadly, I cannot say the same about the performance of the game on PC. I don’t think I am wrong when I say that Halo Infinite, in its current state, is one of the most poorly optimized games of 2021. And this is coming from somebody who has already played BF 2042. Yes, the minimum requirements do say that a GTX 1050 ti would be able to run to Halo Infinite. But for PvP titles like Halo, it is better to not play it at all, rather than playing it at 30 FPS. BTW, if you don’t know how to turn on your FPS Counter, you can check the process here.
Anyway, I tried to tweak the graphics settings in a way, so that it at least runs well on GPUs like GTX 1650, RX 570, etc. This guide will show you the best graphics settings for Halo Infinite for low-end gaming PCs. You will have a smoother experience in-game, and it might also help you eliminate various performance issues, if you are having any, of course.
Halo Infinite Graphics Settings
- Field of View: 100 [FOV in Halo Infinite, doesn’t affect performance that much. And, I think 100 is the sweet spot]
- Display Adapter: Pick the correct one [This is important for gaming laptop users]
- Display Monitor: 1 [Make sure you are picking your primary monitor]
- Borderless Fullscreen: On [I hate Borderless Fullscreen. You lose performance on every window mode other than Fullscreen. But, we don’t have an option here]
- Window Size: Disabled [This is where you change your resolution. This setting will stay disabled with Borderless Fullscreen turned On. If want to lower your resolution, you need to disable Borderless Fullscreen]
- Resolution Scale: 100% [Lowering this will make the game look blurry, and increasing this will affect performance]
- Minimum Frame Rate: Off [More information about this setting below]
- Maximum Frame Rate: Unlocked [If you want to cap your FPS, then set this to 72 or 144. Depends on your GPU]
- VSync: Off [No point throttling your frame rate]
- Limit Inactive Frame Rate: Off [This enforces the Maximum Frame Rate setting when you minimize the game, or alt+tab out of it]
- Quality Preset: Custom
- Anti-aliasing: Low [Low is actually better than High, in this game. Makes the game look sharper]
- Texture Filtering: Low [A demanding setting. Low is the only option for low-end GPU users]
- Ambient Occlusion: Low [I would have liked the options to be HBAO, SSAO, etc. I have no idea what Low, Medium, High, Ultra means here. Low is best in this situation]
- Texture Quality: Low [So no point setting this to higher quality, as Filtering is at Low]
- Geometry Quality: Low [Increasing the quality does reduce pop-in, but greatly affects performance. So Low is your best bet]
- Reflections: Low [Nobody cares about reflections in PvP]
- Depth of Field: Low [This will actually give you an advantage over people who have set this to High. Your sides won’t blur out when you ADS, allowing you to focus on more targets]
- Shadow Quality: Low [Again, nobody is staring at shadows in PvP. Yes, you do need it sometimes to spot targets. Low works well enough for that]
- Lighting Quality: Low [Increasing the quality will actually increase the maximum number of shadows rendered. Which is very demanding]
- Volumetric Fog Quality: Low [I didn’t find many locations with VF on the multiplayer maps. So set this to anything you want. Doesn’t affect performance that much]
- Cloud Quality: Low [You can set this to anything you want. Very small impact on performance]
- Dynamic Wind: Off [Personal preference. I don’t really like the Dynamic Wind effects. You can turn it on if you want. Very low or no impact on performance]
- Ground Cover Quality: Low [This basically controls the quality of things that are on the ground. Rock and other small objects, for example. Keep this at low]
- Effects Quality: Low [If you increase the quality, you will experience performance drops every time a grenade explodes on your screen]
- Decal Quality: Medium [I cannot set this to Low, as this controls the quality of tire tracks and footprints. They are important]
- Animation Quality: Auto [When set to Auto, quality is based on the power of your CPU]
- Terrain Quality: Low [You will lose significant performance on larger maps, if you increase this any further]
- Simulation Quality: High [This setting basically affects your CPU. I was testing the game on Ryzen 5 5600x, so High wasn’t a problem. Lower this if you have a weaker CPU]
- Flocking Quality: Low [Nobody got time to look at birds and critters during PvP]
- Async Compute: Off [I have no idea what this setting does, and I have not witnessed any improvements in the performance after enabling this. So ‘Off’ is my recommendation]
- Blur: 0% [Personal preference. I don’t like Blur in my games]
- Screen Shake: 20% [20% is the sweet spot. Don’t want my screen to shake too much during explosions]
- Exposure: 70% [It was 70% by default]
- Full Screen Effects: 100% [I like the small effects during shield recharge or while using an equipment]
- Speed Lines: On [I like the Speed Lines too. Makes me feel like I am running faster. LOL]
- Sharpening: 0% [You don’t need sharpening if you have turned off ‘Minimum Frame Rate’. More details below]
Okay, now that the Graphics Settings have been laid down, let’s talk about ‘Minimum Frame Rate’. If you ask me, this setting is extremely misguiding. One might think that it is just some sort of FPS limiter, by looking at this. It is not. In fact, this setting is similar to Dynamic Resolution or Adaptive Resolution. If you set Minimum Frame Rate to 60, then the game will dynamically change to resolution, and make sure that you get 60 FPS minimum at all cost. The problem is, if you have a low-end GPU, that is not capable of giving you 60 FPS at 1920×1080 resolution, this setting will greatly reduce the resolution, causing the game to look blurry. Also, I did notice some freezing, whenever the dynamic switch in resolution was taking place during combats.
So, it is up to you. If you have something like the GTX 1050 ti, or a laptop GPU. You can use Minimum Frame Rate, to make the game somewhat playable at the moment. If you do, make sure to set Sharpening at 60%. It will help you tackle the blurriness a little better.
Specifications of Test system
- PROCESSOR: Ryzen 5 5600x (Not overclocked)
- GPU: Zotac GTX 1650 4 GB
- RAM: 16 GB 3200mhz G.Skill Trident Z RAM
- MOTHERBOARD: Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming (Wi-Fi) Motherboard
- AIO: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240P Mirage
- STORAGE: Samsung 970 EVO 500 GB
- DISPLAY: MSI Optix MAG241CR 144hz | BenQ GW2480 IPS (Dual Monitor Setup)
- PSU: Corsair AX 1200W Gold PSU
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit Version 20H2
- GPU DRIVER: Nvidia Game Ready Driver 496.76
I decided to test Halo Infinite on an entry-level GPU because what I believe is, running a game on a medium end gaming rig is the best thing to do, if you want to find out the best combination of graphics settings for the game. There is no point in running benchmarks on gaming rigs with high or enthusiast level graphics cards. Because let’s be honest, every single game will run smoothly on a RTX 3080. I did test the game on RTX 3070, 3060 Ti as well, though. But I don’t think I will be posting the results.
Halo Infinite – Performance Analysis
| Minimum FPS (1% Low) |
Average FPS | Maximum FPS |
| 48 FPS | 59 FPS | 68 FPS |
These are round 1 test results, and only represent the performance of multiplayer beta. I am still testing the game, and will post final results once the final version is out. Right now, the optimization is horrible, and desperately needs some attention from 343 Industries.
The good thing is, even at the lowest settings, the game doesn’t lose clarity. The visuals are good enough, and you shouldn’t require more, if you are mainly focused on the PvP part. The targets are visible, the covers are visible, the weapons are visible. That should be enough, IMO.
Anyway, just to show you how bad the performance of Halo Infinite PC is, I have uploaded a video showing the best Halo Infinite graphics settings for RTX 3060 ti. The game is literally running at low-medium settings(High-res textures disabled), on a RTX 3060 Ti, paired with a Ryzen 5 5600x. Check it out:
Update – 12/06/2021
After the downloading and installing the latest Nvidia Game Ready Driver v497.09, I am noticing a slight performance increase. Though, I am not sure if it is due to the latest driver, or a patch. I will be testing this more.
Update – May 5, 2022
The Season 2 update just dropped for Halo Infinite. It is called Lone Wolves. Yes, a lot of the performance issues have already been taken care of. But that still doesn’t make this game perfect. In fact, Halo Infinite is far from being perfect, at the moment.
If you think this guide has helped you, then let us know in the comment section below. And for more Halo Infinite guides, keep an eye on Frondtech.
That’s all folks!
Last Updated on May 5, 2022
Shoaib, 30, is a simple guy who loves to play video games, and enjoys new cuisines sporadically. He has been gaming since he was 7 years old, and with an experience of 22 years, under his belt, there is not a single AAA game in this world, that he hasn’t played. Despite being a MBA Graduate he decided to follow his passion. And because of his love for gaming, Frondtech came into existence.