My previous article on this subject was a bit long, so I wanted to also make a condensed version for those who want the bottom line on which graphical settings are worth turning up and which just negatively impact performance for minimal gain.
Resolution 1080p is good. 1440p is better. Beyond that, returns diminish.
Frame Rate You want 30 minimum, 60 ideally (more if your monitor has >60 Hz).
V-Sync Turn it off unless you are experiencing screen tearing.
Anti-Aliasing The higher the game’s resolution, the lower this setting should be.
Render Scale Leave it at 100%. 50% is low quality. >100% = dip in performance.
Field of View Preferably high-ish, but not to the maximum.
Turn up these settings:
Anisotropic filtering, Texture quality, Tesselation, Water/Particle effects
Tone down these settings: (if want a boost in performance)
Shadows, Reflections
Turn off these settings in online multiplayer games:
Motion Blur, Bloom and Depth of Field.