Samplers and step counts control how SD refines the image from noise — understanding these prevents wasted time and GPU cycles.
Key Samplers
- DPM++ 2M Karras: Best quality/speed balance — great default
- Euler a: More creative, more variation between seeds
- DDIM: Deterministic, good for img2img
- LCM / Lightning: For fast 4–8 step generation
Steps
- 20–30 steps: Sweet spot for most use cases
- Below 15: Noticeable quality loss
- Above 50: Diminishing returns, wasted compute
CFG Scale
Controls how strongly the image follows your prompt. 7 is the classic default. Lower = more creative, Higher = more literal (and often over-saturated above 12).
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