witchywhiskers
Published
Opt into SteamOS 3.5.14 Preview for improved performance of ray-traced reflections (Settings > System > System Update Channel).
Limit TDP to 7 watts.
Based on Digital Foundry's tech review, it seems that Persona 3 Reload uses a form of ray-traced reflections. Unfortunately, these ray-traced reflections significantly impact performance, especially in Tartarus. The "Reflections" setting in the "Config" menu is misleading, as disabling doesn't remove reflections outright. It removes ray-traced reflections in favor of a screen space fallback. Although Value has released a preview update for SteamOS meant to address ray-traced performance, I'd recommend disabling it to favor higher, stable framerates. This game also has performance issues with lighting, with noticeable dips in areas with dynamic light sources, such as the hanging blue lights in Tartarus and the elevator lighting in the Velvet Room, making it hard to target a stable 60 or even 40 fps in these areas even on low settings.
Due to the performance issues related to dynamic lighting and ray-traced reflections, I'd recommend targeting 30 fps on low graphics quality with "Rendering Scale" lowered to 75% and "Frame Rate Limit" increased to 60 or 120 fps. Instead, limit the frame rate to 30 fps in the Steam Deak's performance tab. I recommend limiting the frame rate through the OS instead of in-game, as it leads to a more consistent frame time and a smoother micro stutter-free experience. I also recommend limiting the TDP to 7 watts for improved battery life. You could go as low as 6 watts, but I found 7 watts to have a more consistent frame time. These tweaks should yield an enjoyable, stable 30 fps experience everywhere except the Velvet Room, where you can experience dips to the low 20s.
