Larian Studios · 2023 · Role-Playing
Baldur’s Gate 3 is Larian Studios’ turn-based RPG built on a heavily modified Divinity engine, with large, detailed environments and hundreds of interactive systems running simultaneously even outside combat.
Its requirements and installed size are on the heavier end of this list, particularly for RAM and storage, reflecting the sheer amount of simulated content in every scene.
| Requirement | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-4690 / AMD FX-8350 | Intel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
| GPU | NVIDIA GTX 970 4GB / AMD RX 480 4GB | NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super / AMD RX 5700 XT |
| RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB |
| Storage | 150 GB | 150 GB |
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit |
Source: the publisher's own officially listed system requirements (view source). Actual performance still depends on drivers, background load and in-game settings.
Want to know roughly what frame rate your own CPU and graphics card get in Baldur's Gate 3, not just whether you clear the minimum?
Check Your PC for Baldur's Gate 3Or check every game in our list at once with Can I Run It?, or the balance of your CPU and graphics card with the Bottleneck Calculator.
Party-based RPGs generally favor the CPU for game logic, dialogue systems and companion AI running underneath the scene, while the GPU workload scales heavily with visual settings — it is usually safe to drop GPU-heavy settings here without hurting the actual gameplay experience.
The jump from 8GB to 16GB of RAM between the minimum and recommended spec is where Baldur's Gate 3 stops paging textures and level data from disk mid-play — below 16GB, that shows up as short stutters and pop-in rather than a flat drop in average framerate. At roughly 150GB, plan storage for Baldur's Gate 3 the same way you would for any modern title: an NVMe SSD keeps load times and texture streaming noticeably smoother than a hard drive at the same free-space total.
At 16GB, Baldur's Gate 3 asks for as much recommended RAM as any of the other 15 games we cover. 9 others ask for the same amount. Its 150GB install is the largest in our list.
Games with the closest published requirements (recommended RAM, install size and minimum RAM):
| Game | Recommended RAM | Install size | Recommended GPU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baldur's Gate 3 (this page) | 16 GB | 150 GB | NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super / AMD RX 5700 XT |
| Helldivers 2 | 16 GB | 135 GB | NVIDIA RTX 2060 / AMD RX 6600XT |
| Grand Theft Auto V: Enhanced | 16 GB | 105 GB | NVIDIA RTX 3060 8GB / AMD RX 6600XT 8GB |
| Counter-Strike 2 | 16 GB | 85 GB | NVIDIA GTX 1650 / AMD RX 570 (our suggestion) |
The Bottleneck Calculator treats Baldur's Gate 3 as one of the CPU-heavy games. Here is which part would set the frame rate on 6 pairings from budget to high-end at high settings; each pairing links to its full page.
| CPU + GPU | 1080p | 1440p |
|---|---|---|
| Core i5-12400F + RTX 3060 12GB | Balanced | GPU-limited |
| Core i5-12400F + RTX 5060 | CPU ~27% | GPU-limited |
| Ryzen 5 7600 + RTX 5060 Ti 16GB | CPU ~20% | GPU-limited |
| Ryzen 5 5600 + RTX 5070 | CPU ~52% | CPU ~30% |
| Ryzen 7 7800X3D + RX 9070 XT | CPU ~34% | Balanced |
| Ryzen 7 5800X3D + RTX 4090 | CPU ~58% | CPU ~39% |
Estimate Baldur's Gate 3 FPS for your own CPU and GPU · Check every game against your PC · All CPU + GPU comparisons
What the parts in the table above do: CPU, GPU, RAM and SSD.
8GB is the publisher's stated minimum, meaning Baldur's Gate 3 will start and run, but 16GB (the recommended figure) avoids the stuttering that comes from paging assets off your storage drive mid-session. Use our RAM calculator to check your exact total against everything else you run alongside it.
For Baldur's Gate 3, the GPU is the more common limiting part at higher resolutions and settings — our PC Bottleneck Calculator breaks this down by your exact CPU and GPU pairing instead of a generic rule of thumb.
Plan for at least 150GB free, not exactly 150GB — day-one patches, DLC and shader/texture caches routinely add several more gigabytes after install. Our Storage Calculator can help you plan an upgrade if you are close to full.
The publisher lists NVIDIA GTX 970 4GB / AMD RX 480 4GB as the minimum and NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super / AMD RX 5700 XT as the recommended graphics card for Baldur's Gate 3. To see how your own card is likely to perform at your resolution, try our FPS Calculator, and check memory needs with the GPU VRAM Calculator.
The publisher lists Windows 10 64-bit for both the minimum and recommended specs of Baldur's Gate 3.