A sprawling Dungeons & Dragons RPG where turn-based tactics and reactive storytelling shape every choice across a 100-hour campaign.
Baldur's Gate 3 is Larian Studios' critically acclaimed adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, blending deep turn-based combat with an enormous, branching narrative across three sprawling acts. Built on Larian's Divinity engine (running on Vulkan or DirectX 11), it scales gracefully from mid-range hardware at High to jaw-dropping fidelity at Ultra with DLAA. The catch is Act 3's Lower City: a densely populated urban zone where the CPU — not the GPU — sets your frame rate, as the engine simulates crowds, reactive NPCs, and countless interactive objects. Tune for that district and the rest of the game runs comfortably.
Built for competitive players who want the highest frame rate and lowest input latency.
Prioritizes a high, stable frame rate — especially through Act 3's CPU-bound Lower City. Trims the expensive world-detail and NPC-simulation settings while keeping textures readable.
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Display Mode | Fullscreen | Lowest latency; exclusive GPU access. |
| Resolution | Native Resolution | — |
| VSync | OFF | Removes latency and uncaps frame rate. |
| Framerate Limit | Uncapped | — |
| Upscaling (DLSS / FSR) | Performance | Big GPU win; renders internally at ~half resolution. |
| Frame Generation | OFF | Adds latency for little benefit at high base FPS. |
| Model Quality | Medium | — |
| Detail Distance | Low | Cheaper world streaming; helps in dense outdoor zones. |
| Dynamic Crowds | Low | Single biggest CPU relief in the Lower City. |
| Texture Quality | High | Nearly free if you have the VRAM; keeps the world sharp. |
| Texture Filtering | Anisotropic 4x | — |
| Shadow Quality | Low | — |
| Cloud Quality | Low | — |
| Fog Quality | Low | — |
| Depth of Field | OFF | — |
| Subsurface Scattering | OFF | — |
Maximum visual fidelity for players who prefer the best-looking image.
Maximum fidelity for cutscenes and screenshots. DLAA delivers a razor-sharp native-resolution image, and Ultra shadows plus Bokeh depth of field make dialogue close-ups shine.
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Display Mode | Fullscreen | — |
| Resolution | Native Resolution | — |
| VSync | ON | — |
| Anti-Aliasing / Upscaling | DLAA | Native-res anti-aliasing; the cleanest possible image. |
| Frame Generation | ON | RTX 40-series only; smooths the CPU-bound Lower City. |
| Model Quality | High | — |
| Detail Distance | High | — |
| Dynamic Crowds | High | Fullest NPC simulation; heaviest CPU cost in Act 3. |
| Texture Quality | Ultra | — |
| Texture Filtering | Anisotropic 16x | — |
| Shadow Quality | Ultra | — |
| Cloud Quality | High | — |
| Fog Quality | High | — |
| Depth of Field | Bokeh Depth of Field | — |
| Ambient Occlusion | ON | — |
| Subsurface Scattering | ON | — |
The sweet spot between frame rate and visuals. Drag the slider to shift the balance.
The everyday sweet spot: BG3 keeps its cinematic look while shedding the heaviest world-detail and shadow costs. Reduces Dynamic Crowds a notch so Act 3 stays playable.
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Display Mode | Fullscreen | — |
| Resolution | Native Resolution | — |
| VSync | OFF | — |
| Upscaling (DLSS / FSR) | Quality | Best fidelity-to-performance ratio; near-native image. |
| Frame Generation | OFF | — |
| Model Quality | High | — |
| Detail Distance | Medium | — |
| Dynamic Crowds | Medium | Lower to Low if the Lower City stutters. |
| Texture Quality | High | — |
| Texture Filtering | Anisotropic 8x | — |
| Shadow Quality | Medium | — |
| Cloud Quality | Medium | — |
| Fog Quality | Medium | — |
| Depth of Field | ON | — |
| Ambient Occlusion | ON | — |
| Subsurface Scattering | ON | Soft skin lighting; cheap and very visible in dialogue. |
| Metric | CompetitiveMax FPS / Smooth Act 3 | BalancedBalanced | High GraphicsBest Graphics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input Latency | Lowest | Low | Standard |
| Graphics Quality | |||
| GPU Usage | Low | Medium | Very High |
| Competitive Score | 90/100 | 72/100 | 50/100 |
| Recommended For | High-refresh 144Hz+ play and keeping the Lower City smooth on mid-range CPUs. | Players who want a rich, cinematic look without sacrificing smoothness. | Cinematic single-player sessions, content capture, and high-VRAM GPUs at 1440p/4K. |
Official minimum and recommended specs for Baldur's Gate 3.
| Component | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit |
| Processor | Intel I5 4690 / AMD FX 8350 / Snapdragon X Elite | Intel i7 8700K / AMD r5 3600 |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Graphics | Nvidia GTX 970 / RX 480 / Intel Arc A380 / Qualcomm Adreno X1 (4GB+ of VRAM) | Nvidia 2060 Super / RX 5700 XT / Intel Arc A580 (8GB+ of VRAM) |
| DirectX | Version 11 | Version 11 |
| Storage | 150 GB available space | 150 GB available space |
Minimum
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 64-bit Processor: Intel I5 4690 / AMD FX 8350 / Snapdragon X Elite Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia GTX 970 / RX 480 / Intel Arc A380 / Qualcomm Adreno X1 (4GB+ of VRAM) DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 150 GB available space Additional Notes: SSD required
Recommended
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 64-bit Processor: Intel i7 8700K / AMD r5 3600 Memory: 16 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia 2060 Super / RX 5700 XT / Intel Arc A580 (8GB+ of VRAM) DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 150 GB available space Additional Notes: SSD required
Source: Steam
Pick your hardware and preset to estimate your frame rate — results update instantly.
Frame generation is never counted: every figure is rendered frames only.
Your Estimated Baldur's Gate 3 Performance
High (assumed from the recommended spec) · native · 1080p
70
Low end
79
Estimate
85
High end
FPS values displayed on GamerSpecs are estimates. Actual game performance may vary depending on hardware configuration, drivers, cooling, power limits, background applications, and game updates.
How is this calculated?Safe, technically-sound tips to get the most out of Baldur's Gate 3.
In Act 3's Lower City, lower 'Dynamic Crowds' first — the engine simulates a dense NPC population there, so this is the single biggest CPU relief in the whole game.
Enable DLSS or FSR at the Quality preset: it renders internally at a lower resolution and hands most GPUs a large frame-rate boost with barely perceptible image loss.
On RTX 40-series cards, Frame Generation smooths the CPU-limited Lower City, since it adds frames the CPU never has to simulate — leave it off elsewhere if you prefer the lowest input latency.
Prefer the Vulkan renderer on modern NVIDIA/AMD GPUs for steadier frame times; if you hit crashes or stutter, relaunch with DirectX 11 — the faster API genuinely varies by system.
Install BG3 on an SSD. It streams large volumes of world and character data, and a mechanical drive causes texture pop-in and long act transitions.
Close background overlays and browser tabs before long sessions — Act 3 leans hard on the CPU for frame pacing, and background apps steal exactly those cycles.