Baldur's Gate 3 PC performance guide: High temperatures, ideal framerates, and more explored

Multiple PC gamers have reported performance issues in Baldur's Gate 3. Complaints range from overheating PC components to low framerates and stuttering issues. Despite being more polished than most other AAA releases so far this year, some gamers are facing issues that could ruin their experience in Larian's action RPG.

Unfortunately, there isn't a lot that players can do in case they face performance hiccups in the game. While buying powerful hardware can be a fix, Baldur's Gate 3 isn't a demanding title that could require an RTX 4090.

Some fixes have worked for gamers on the internet, however. These solutions might help resolve the problem without spending a single dime on better hardware.

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Fixes to Baldur's Gate 3 performance issues on PC

My PC's running hotter than Karlach by u/xyzerb in BaldursGate3

Baldur's Gate 3 has been praised for being bug-free. However, multiple gamers are reporting performance issues. Players on the Steam Deck, especially, have reported overheating issues and low framerates. Let's go over some fixes that work for PC users.

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Fix 1: Optimize Nvidia graphics settings

Tweaking settings inside of the Nvidia Control Panel has helped many gamers fix low-performance issues in Baldur's Gate 3. If you have an Nvidia graphics card, alter the following under Manage 3D settings in the software:

3D settings

• Maximum pre-rendered frames: 1
• Preferred refresh rate: Highest available
• Power management mode: Prefer maximum performance
• Threaded optimization: On
• Vertical sync: Off

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Fix 2: Update graphics drivers

A main culprit for poor performance in video games is outdated GPU drivers. Gamers can update to the latest version via the respective software (Geforce Experience for Nvidia and Radeon Software for AMD) for optimal performance.

In case you're stuck in the process, follow our detailed guide to update your GPU drivers to the latest versions.

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Fix 3: Set Baldur's Gate 3 to high-priority

Some have reported that setting the game to high priority helps with low-framerate issues. Although this fix won't impact the game for the most part, it is still worth a shot. Follow the steps listed below:

• Step 1. Launch the game.
• Step 2. Once you are in the game, hit Ctrl + Shift + Esc together. It will open up Task Manager.
• Step 3. From the Processes window, navigate to Baldur's Gate 3.
• Step 4. Right-click on Baldur's Gate 3.exe. Then from the list that appears, click on Set Priority. Set it to High.

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Fix 4: Lower graphics settings in Baldur's Gate 3

Finally, CPU overheating and low framerate issues can be fixed by lowering the graphics settings. Our recommendation for the best settings combination in case your game isn't playing as expected is as follows:

Video

• Fullscreen display: Display 1
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (16:9) 60 Hz
• Display mode: Fullscreen
• Vsync: Disabled
• Framerate cap enabled: On
• Framerate cap: 30
• Gamma correction: As per your preference
• Overall preset: Custom
• Model quality: Low
• Instance distance: Low
• Texture quality: Low
• Texture filtering: Trilinear

Lighting

• Light shadows: Off
• Shadow quality: Low
• Cloud quality: Low
• Animation LOD detail: Low
• Nvidia DLSS: Balanced (if available)
• AMD FSR 1.0: Balanced (if DLSS isn't available)
• Sharpness: As per your preference
• Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS): On
• Anti-aliasing: FXAA
• Ambient occlusion: On
• Depth of field: As per your preference
• God rays: Disabled
• Bloom: Disabled
• Subsurface scattering: Disabled

Although Baldur's Gate 3 is a polished title, performance issues are destroying the turn-based RPG experience for many. With the fixes listed above, they can fix their gameplay and get back into action with minor hiccups.