Shadow and ray tracing cost per frame
Shadows require the GPU to render the scene from the light source, effectively doubling draw calls. Real-time ray tracing bounces light rays through the scene millions of times per frame. Both are expensive, often cutting frame rates in half or more. Texture quality, by contrast, adds data to memory but not significantly more computation if VRAM headroom exists.
VRAM and cache determine texture efficiency
Texture resolution is nearly free if the GPU has enough memory and bandwidth. A card with 8 GB VRAM can load 4K textures with minimal frame time penalty. Exceed VRAM and the card must stream textures from main memory, tanking performance. This makes texture quality toggles deceptive: they scale from free to catastrophic depending on your GPU's memory.
Anti-aliasing smoothness at modest cost
Smoothing jagged edges (MSAA or DLSS) adds some GPU load but not as much as shadows or ray tracing. Modern frame interpolation techniques like DLSS 3 can deliver visual smoothness without rendering every pixel, making smoothness a better return on GPU budget than raw texture detail.