Baldur’s Gate 3, the latest title from Divinity: Original Sin series maker Larian Studios, has been winning hearts and praise from all over the gaming world. A sequel to 2000’s Baldur’s Gate II by BioWare, fans of the series have been waiting for a very long time to get their hands on the third installment. That day finally came on August 3, 2023. But only for Windows, though the game will be made available on other platforms in the upcoming months. While BG3 is a fairly well-optimized game, it seems like some players are encountering high CPU/GPU usage while running it.
Larain has done a fairly commendable job optimizing BG3. But no matter how well optimization is done, issues will arise sooner or later. But almost all issues can be dealt with. And so, here’s a guide that will help you fix the high CPU/GPU usage issue in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) High CPU/GPU Usage Issue: Is there any fix yet
For now, players will need to make do with the following workarounds as Lairan is yet to put out a fix officially. Try these workarounds out and see if any of them are of help to you.
Check whether your system meets the minimum requirements
Before you try out different workarounds, we suggest you check your hardware. If your PC doesn’t meet the game’s minimum system requirements, it will struggle to provide optimal power for the game to run, which will eventually lead to high GPU/CPU usage issues. Here are the minimum system requirements of BG3:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- Processor: Intel I5 4690 / AMD FX 8350
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GTX 970 / RX 480 (4GB+ of VRAM)
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 150 GB available space
- Additional Notes: SSD required
Try different APIs –
Players who have been using DirectX to run the game can try Vulkan, and vice versa. If the problem gets resolved, then congratulations. However, if the CPU/GPU usage is still high, try the next workaround.
Undervolt your GPU –
Undervolting the CPU/GPU could possibly fix this issue. Besides that, it also significantly improves thermals while maintaining almost the same level of performance. All in all, there’s little downside to undervolting. Try this and see if the issue still persists.
Lower graphics settings –
One of the most obvious workarounds is to simply lower all the graphics settings in BG3 to lower the load on your CPU/GPU. Players who have been playing the game with all graphics settings turned to maximum/high should do the opposite. Make sure to disable the Ambient Occlusion setting from the in-game settings as well. This will put less strain on the CPU/GPU, resulting in less power use.
Set Maximum Processor State to 99% –
Some players were able to resolve this issue by setting the maximum processor state to 99%. For the sake of this guide, all you need to know about MPS is that it determines the range of performance states the system will use, i.e., Windows. To set MPS to 99% –
- Open the Control Panel and click on Hardware and Sound.
- Here, you will see a myriad of options. Select Power Options > Choose or customize a power plan > Change plan settings.
- In the next window, click on the option located at the bottom: – Change advanced power settings.
- A mini-window will appear next. From the suboption presented to you, click on Processor Power Management. Doing so will expand the sub-option, and you will see two more options: Minimum processor state and Maximum processor state.
- Select the Maximum processor state to expand it. Now, change the setting to 99%. Click OK and Apply.
Set Vertical sync to Adaptive using Nvidia Control Panel (Nvidia GPU)–
Setting Vertical Sync to Adaptive is another way to deal with this issue. To do that, open the Nvidia Control Panel and then go to 3D Settings. Next, click on Manage 3D settings. Now, under the Global Settings tab, on the right side of the screen, from the suboptions available, look for the setting named Vertical Sync. When found, click on the drop-down menu and select Adaptive. Close the application and check if the GPU usage is still high.
Switch to Windowed or Borderless Window –
Another set of users dealt with this issue by switching the game to either Windowed or Borderless Windowed. Using these two display modes results in the game using fewer resources, which in turn helps your GPU not draw more power. You can switch to the Windowed or Borderless Window mode by opening the in-game Settings menu of BG3 and selecting the Video tab. From there, search for Display Mode. Next, click on the dropdown menu and choose whichever mode you prefer between the two.
Change PhysX settings (Nvidia GPU)–
For some reason, PhysX might be set to Auto rather than the dedicated GPU in use. If you haven’t changed that, then –
- Open the Nvidia Control Panel and go to 3D Settings.
- Click on Manage 3D Settings, and on the right side of the screen you will see two suboptions: Global Settings and Program Settings. Go with Global.
- Under Global Settings, find this option: OpenGL rendering GPU. Now, from the dropdown menu, select your GPU and click on Apply.
- Next, navigate to Set PhysX Configuration. On the right side of the screen, there’s an option called Select a PhysX processor with a dropdown menu.
- Select your dedicated GPU. Close the Nvidia Control Panel and boot up the game.
Update your GPU drivers –
The problem here could be that you are using a GPU that hasn’t been updated in a while. If that’s true, then go to the official website of the GPU manufacturer and download the latest drivers for your GPU. After installing them, restart your PC, and then launch the game.
We hope the workarounds will be effective in fixing this issue in Baldur’s Gate 3. For more such interesting guides, follow DigiStatement. Also, read: Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) Top 5 & Best Mods List & How to use them
