3D graphics display and memory allocation can slow performance on your system. Adaptive degradation, performance tuning and memory tuning are different approaches to delivering the best performance possible.
Adaptive degradation is a way to control performance of features as you use them.
Examines your graphics card and 3D display driver and decides whether to use software or hardware implementation for features that support both.
Performance can also be improved by adding memory to your system. This is especially true when working on larger models.