Baldur's Gate 3 FPS Calculator & System Requirements

Baldur's Gate 3 delivers an incredibly deep RPG experience filled with detailed character models, magical effects, and highly interactive environments. Running Baldur's Gate 3 requires a CPU score of at least 60 and a GPU score of at least 55. The game scales well across a wide range of hardware — minimum-spec machines can hit a playable frame rate at reduced settings, while recommended hardware (CPU 75, GPU 75) targets 90 FPS at 1080p. Use the FPS calculator to test your specific CPU and GPU combination at 1080p, 1440p, or 4K.

The minimum PC requirements for Baldur's Gate 3 are: CPU — Intel I5 4690 / AMD FX 8350; GPU — Nvidia GTX 970 / RX 480 (4GB+ of VRAM); RAM — 8 GB RAM; Storage — 150 GB available space; OS — Windows 10 64-bit. Hardware at this tier can run the game at low graphics settings, typically achieving around 30 FPS at 1080p. Performance may feel inconsistent during CPU-heavy or GPU-heavy sequences. Using an SSD instead of a hard drive and keeping background applications closed can meaningfully reduce stuttering even without a GPU upgrade.

The recommended PC requirements for Baldur's Gate 3 are: CPU — Intel i7 8700K / AMD r5 3600; GPU — Nvidia 2060 Super / RX 5700 XT (8GB+ of VRAM); RAM — 16 GB RAM; Storage — 150 GB available space. This hardware tier is tuned for around 90 FPS at 1080p on high graphics settings. Moving to 1440p at the same quality requires a GPU score meaningfully above 75. Use the FPS calculator to identify which specific CPU and GPU combinations hit your target frame rate at each resolution.

On hardware meeting Baldur's Gate 3's recommended specifications, expect around 90 FPS at 1080p on high settings. Minimum-spec hardware typically lands in the 30–45 FPS range on low-to-medium presets at the same resolution. Moving to 1440p reduces the frame rate by roughly 25–35%, and 4K roughly halves 1080p performance. Frame time consistency matters as much as the average: capping near your monitor's refresh rate can smooth out dips. Enter your components in our FPS calculator for a tailored projection including per-resolution estimates.

At 1080p, Baldur's Gate 3 needs a GPU with a minimum score of 55 — the equivalent of Nvidia GTX 970 / RX 480 (4GB+ of VRAM). For smooth, consistent performance at 1080p on high settings, target the recommended score of 75 (Nvidia 2060 Super / RX 5700 XT (8GB+ of VRAM)). Scaling to 1440p typically calls for a GPU scoring around 98, and 4K demands significantly more headroom. GPU performance score is derived from multi-game benchmark data and allows direct comparison across NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel Arc cards. Use the FPS calculator to match any GPU in our database against Baldur's Gate 3's requirements.

Baldur's Gate 3 is primarily GPU-bound for raw frame rate output, but a CPU below the minimum score of 60 can create a bottleneck in complex scenes. The recommended CPU score of 75 (Intel i7 8700K / AMD r5 3600) is calibrated to keep the processor from limiting GPU utilisation. If your GPU significantly exceeds the recommended score while your CPU sits near the minimum, you may notice inconsistent frame times during busy sequences. Our FPS calculator models CPU-GPU pairing and surfaces bottleneck warnings when components are significantly mismatched.

At 1440p, expect roughly 25–35% lower frame rates than 1080p in Baldur's Gate 3. On hardware at the recommended tier (GPU score 75), this translates to around 63 FPS on high settings. To maintain 90+ FPS at 1440p, target a GPU scoring around 98 or higher. Use the FPS calculator above to get a precise estimate for your specific CPU and GPU combination at 1440p across every quality preset.

4K demands roughly 55–65% more GPU power than 1080p in Baldur's Gate 3. On the recommended GPU (score 75), expect around 38 FPS at 4K on high settings. Reaching a consistent 90 FPS at 4K requires a GPU scoring around 124 or better. Upscaling technologies like DLSS 3 or FSR 3 can recover 40–60% of the resolution overhead with minimal visual cost on supported hardware.

Baldur's Gate 3's Act 3 — set in the city of Baldur's Gate — is significantly more demanding than Acts 1 and 2 due to dense NPC population, complex multi-story geometry, and concurrent physics simulation across dozens of interactable objects. On hardware near the minimum recommended CPU score, Act 3 city districts can see 20–40% lower frame rates compared to Act 1 wilderness areas. Larian addressed several Act 3 performance regressions in patches post-launch. Reducing the NPC Detail setting, lowering shadow draw distance, and disabling Volumetric Fog are the three highest-impact changes for recovering frame rate in the city.

Despite being a turn-based RPG, Baldur's Gate 3 is surprisingly GPU-intensive due to Larian's high-fidelity real-time character rendering, dynamic lighting in underground environments, and detailed cutscene cinematics. Vulkan is the default and best-performing API. The game uses a lot of VRAM for its character and environment asset quality — 8 GB is the practical minimum for high settings at 1080p without texture streaming stutters. Lowering Character Detail and Shadow Quality has the highest per-frame GPU impact. The game does not support DLSS or FSR natively, so native resolution rendering means what you see is what you get.