When I first started messing around with SD, I kept thinking my images were blurry because my prompts sucked. Spent ages learning how to write better prompts, then started stacking LoRAs and embeddings on top. Turns out the real game-changer was just a few settings. Here’s what I’ve personally tested and confirmed based on that Aituts guide.
The biggest difference-maker is Hires Fix—basically just upscaling. A lot of people miss it because you have to actually check the box before you even see the upscaler options. For upscalers, I usually go with 4x-UltraSharp, 4x_NMKD-Siax, or 4x_NMKD-Superscale. The differences are subtle but each has its use. Start at 2x scale; anything higher will absolutely murder your GPU. Hires steps at 15 is the sweet spot for speed vs quality. And don’t leave denoising at the default 0.7—0.3 to 0.5 is way more stable.
For samplers, I use DPM++ 2M Karras as my go-to, with 35 steps being enough for most samplers. Euler a can go lower, like 20 to 30 steps. Restore Faces? Only use it when I’m in a hurry, and never turn it on at the same time as Hires Fix—they fight each other. CFG at default 7 works fine; if you wanna experiment, keep it between 4 and 11. Set seed to -1 for random, and when you find one you like, hit that lock button and tweak the variation seed.