Valid points, touche - I've also seen instances where older hardware basically ramps itself up to about 100% on its own as well, so perhaps its all a wash at the end of the day.

What matters most is getting the settings right just so people can play the game and shouldn't be lost sight of as the ultimate objective.

If you think Prefer Maximum Performance might damage the graphic card. you can set it to adaptive or optimal since this is not important one.

'Prefer Maximum Performance' does not mean it set to maximize output. It is more like it does not having the power saving time when GPU is idle. (keep running even the GPU is idle-time and that is why it is consume a little more voltage and the temperatures might slightly higher).

And it is the same maximize output when your GPU is 100% whether you set it to Optimal or Prefer Maximum Performance.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/c3szu7/optimal_power_vs_maximum_performance_in_nvidia/

And this setting is only applied when you are running the game. Otherwise, the setting will return to global setting one.

Ah yes, maximize output at the detriment of lifetime of the component. Such as classic example of "take it to the max" and pursuing burnout over longevity.

I still get stutters, but I do see how it runs smoother and renders textures better. Thanks!

Friend, thank you so much. Your solution really helps!

I would add the game in the gpu settings of windows too with "max performance".
Enter in the windows search bar "gpu" add game exe and max perf.

Worked for me too, thanks!

Thank you so much!! This fixed my stuttering issue i was having when running around <3 Big thanks!!