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Best graphics settings for MK1 PC – how to improve Mortal Kombat 1 FPS
Looking to get the best gameplay in MK1, there's a few graphics settings you can change up
Updated: Sep 22, 2023 7:49 am
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Fighters are in a category of gaming that kind of abides by their own rules as to performance. Where most gamers will be opting for the highest frame rates for their high refresh rates, these games are stuck to 60 FPS or lower. Even still if you’re looking to optimize the performance we find the best graphics settings for MK1.
Mortal Kombat 1 is the latest in the franchise’s lineup even though the number might be deceiving. The game is opting for a refresh to start with a new look and story mode. With system requirements nothing too demanding for this day and age, you don’t need the best GPU for MK1 to enjoy it to its fullest even if you turn down the settings a bit.
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So if you’re rocking the best laptop for the job or ready to use that new best controller for the game, you can find what kind of optimizations to do. It can range from high to low end depending on your hardware but you should be able to get the most out of the game with these.
Mortal Kombat 1 performance
Running on our test bench we had the RX 7800 XT, Ryzen 7 7700X, and 32GB DDR5 6000MHz. It’s a rather high-end system for the game and so it’s not surprising that our game maxed out at pretty much every setting.
Although running at 4K it does put it through its paces and we did see the frame rate in fact drop from the hard-locked 60. At ultra-high, we averaged 50 FPS, while very high achieves 54, and high gets 56. It’s only at medium does it stabilize to the 60 FPS expected. This means even if you have some more top-end hardware and the best 4k monitor, you might have to change up some options.
MK1 global video settings
Before going into the more advanced video settings, there are some initial graphics settings that are pretty much the same across the board and are dependent on your display.
- Display no.: select whichever monitor you want the game on
- Video mode: borderless is the preferred option, but windowed might be the one for you
- Vsync: off, can introduce input lag
- FPS limit: 60, unless you really can’t run it that high
Best MK1 graphics settings for low end hardware
If you’ve got something close to the minimum or recommended requirements then you might have to play around with some of the settings to get some more performance from it. No matter your monitor resolution it may be effective to tinker with the options more so for higher resolutions if it’s struggling a bit.
A screenshot of Mortal Kombat X with improved graphics.
Screenshot, settings menu.
A screenshot showcasing the best graphics settings for MK1 to improve Mortal Kombat 1 FPS.
Screenshots of the custom low end settings benchmark and options menu
When it comes to this sort of hardware that doesn’t perform at the best rate, we end up utilizing upscaling tech. With FSR available across the board, XeSS and DLSS are best reserved for their own hardware. However, with this genre of gaming, you want the least amount of input delay, making sure you have a responsive experience and the moves you want happening when they should. Upscaling might create that extra buffer you don’t need. If you feel that with these settings, turn upscaling off and turn them down more to make up the frames but don’t mind the slightly worse graphics.
Below are the settings we went for balancing quality and framerate. However, if you do turn off upscaling then turning off the bloom, occlusion, and reflection should be the first to go. Then turning down the rest of the options by one or two should do the trick.
- Upscaling: FSR 2
- Quality: Balanced
- Upscaling sharpness: 50 (higher = better look)
- Texture quality: High
- ANISO filtering: 4x
- Shadow quality: High
- Bloom: On
- Ambient occlusion: On
- Reflection: On
- Chromatic aberration: Off
- Particle density: High
Best Mortal Kombat 1 graphics settings for the mid range
When it comes to the mid range, we also opt for a touch of upscaling, which again you might not want to include. But it does provide a cleaner looking experience without the leaves of the tree meshing and becoming one but rather be easier to distinguish them.
Tips to enhance Mortal Kombat 1 gameplay on PC – optimize graphics settings and FPS improvement.
A screenshot of the settings menu in the game, featuring graphics settings and tips for improving Mortal Kombat 1 FPS.
A screenshot of the graphics settings menu in Mortal Kombat 1.
Our mid range settings are as follows:
- Upscaling method: FSR 2
- Quality: Quality
- Sharpness: 50
- Texture quality: Very high
- Filtering: 8x
- Shadow quality: Very high
- Bloom: Off
- Ambient Occlusion: Off
- Reflection: Off
- Chromatic aberration: Off
- Particle density: High
Best Mortal Kombat 1 high end graphics settings
Now for those with nothing holding back their hardware, there can be some tinkering to be done. As in our case, running the game at 4K ultra high did mean an average of 50 FPS. Only adjusting a few things was needed to get it up to the limit, but it didn’t hurt the image too bad for it.
Mortal Kombat 1 – screenshot 2 featuring best graphics settings and improving FPS.
A screenshot of the settings menu in the game with tips to improve Mortal Kombat 1 FPS.
A screenshot of the settings menu in the game, featuring the best graphics settings for MK1 PC.
With no upscaling required, just some advanced changes are needed as we go through the list. We turned off the extra lighting features to achieve our steady of 60, but if you prefer having those, you can instead turn down the quality and filtering to reach it. Or in turn, use some upscaling if you don’t feel the input delay as much. But for us, these gave us our steady 60 over the 50 FPS we had with the ultra high preset.
- Upscaling: Off
- Render scale: 100
- Texture quality: Very high
- ANISO filtering: 8x
- Shadow quality: Very high
- Bloom: Off
- Ambient occlusion: Off
- Reflection: Off
- AA mode: TAA
- Particle density: High
Best graphics settings for MK1 final word
There we have provided a range of options to consider for Mortal Kombat 1 to get a good framerate no matter your hardware. Ranging from low to high end, you shouldn’t want to miss out on a good experience with it. Once you have that you may also want to consider the best controller settings for Mortal Kombat 1 or even find out if MK1 will run on the Steam Deck.
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