For those who have older / weaker GPUs and/or like to play Dota 2 with a cool, silent system, i share below my configuration settings for a reliable 60 fps. In my view you get most of the eye candy compared to max details but 34.4% higher frame rates provided you are GPU bound/limited.
CPU: i5 3570k @ 3.8 GHz
GPU: R9 270 (GCN 1)
Radeon Software Version 18.8.1 (Dota 2 game profile settings left at default values)
Windows 7 SP1 64-bit
Dota2 version 7.21d
GPU clocks: 600/900 (underclocked from default 975/1400)
Core Voltage: 0.967v which results typical GPU power consumption of around 42W. This voltage is actually good for over 800 MHz but i am wary of running out of spec for long periods as i'm conscious that too high a voltage differential between the memory and core can overcome the protective diodes and kill the memory controller for example.
Dota 2 launch command line argument: -steam -dx11 +r_experimental_lag_limiter 1
benchmark command line config: -steam -dx11 +timedemo replays\3097027819 +timedemo_start 132000 +timedemo_end 133700 +cl_showfps 2 +fps_max 0 +mat_vsync 0 -novconsole -noassert
Dota 2 in-game graphics settings:
Resolution: 1920x1080p
Display Mode: Borderless Window
API: DX11 (DX11 returns 26% higher fps than Vulkan on my setup with these settings).
Animate Portrait OFF
Additive Light Pass ON
World Lighting OFF
Ambient Occlusion OFF (~10.5% gain in FPS)
Normal Maps ON
Ground Parallax ON
Ambient Creatures OFF
Ambient Cloth Simulation OFF
Grass OFF
Anti Aliasing OFF
Specular ON
Specular and Light Blooms ON
High Quality Water OFF (noting this is a noticeable visual down grade of river)
Atmospheric Fog / Caustics OFF
High Quality Dashboard OFF
VSync ON (i hate frame tearing)
Tree Wind OFF
Compute Shaders ON (~6.7% boost in bench FPS)
Texture Quality HIGH
Effects Quality HIGH
Shadow Quality HIGH
Game screen render quality 99%
At these settings with VSYNC OFF a pro game (3097027819.dem) team fight sequence benches at 78.9 fps.
Setting the basic graphics settings slider to maximum, benches at 58.7 fps
With a more demanding zoomed out commentator perspective the respective benches ease to 68.6 and 53.2 fps.
Hope this helps those looking for a few more frames or a quieter system.
Yes cool 
