Thanks for all the input. Switching between windowed and fullscreen mode didn't significantly affect performance for me. While Shadow Quality on High, I turned Shadow Map Resolution all the way down to 1024 (with SQ on low it doesn't really make any difference no matter how I adjust it). FPS counter is normally green for me, flicking around 60, turning red when FPS drops. As far as I remember, with everything maxed out I ended up getting like 30 FPS downs, too (quite often though). Lowering Shadow Map Resolution and AA helped a bit, but not much. Should I just accept that it won't go any better with the current gear?

Dear fellow Players, I am aware there have been a number of such thread, and I humbly apologize for yet starting another one. I guess I just need some feedback on whether technology or myself am to blame for the issue in question. In a nutshell: I recently invested in a new graphics card (R9 380 4 GB) in hope of being able to run the game on (at least close to) Ultra preset in 1080p. In fact I am, but with results not quite pleasing. While trying to tweak with the settings in the past weeks I found that I can have everything maxed out except for Shadow Quality, which I have to set to Low in order to get satisfactory FPS (we are not talking warzones now). No other setting - AA included - seems to have significant effect on the matter (hence I keep AA on max). My problem is, that turning Shadow Quality down basically devastates the looks, while the whole point was to be able to play with nice graphics. Which brings two questions: - what kind of machinery it takes to run the game with very nice graphics? - may I be the one who's doing something wrong? I would be very grateful for your kind advice. My rig's specs are the following (I have the game installed on the SSD): CPU: Intel Core i5-3550 3.30 GHz (3.70 with Turbo) VGA: MSI R9 380 Gaming 4G MB: Asus P8B75-M LX Plus RAM: 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz SSD: OCZ Vertex3 120 GB HDD: Western Digital WD5000AAKX 500 GB Display: Dell P2314H (1080p)