Baldur's Gate 3
A dense RPG where Act 3 becomes a CPU stress test due to the high number of NPCs. An SSD is vital for loading times. 16GB of RAM is recommended, and the game benefits greatly from upscaling tech like DLSS and FSR.
Actual FPS may vary based on RAM speed, background processes, and other system factors
Performance Report
At 1080p, all quality settings exceed 85 FPS. At 1440p, frame rates range from 59 to 104 FPS. At 4K, frame rates range from 35 to 61 FPS.
The GeForce RTX 5090 is 136% above the recommended GPU (GeForce RTX 2060 Super) for Baldur's Gate 3. The Core i7-4800MQ is 3% below minimum CPU requirement.
The Core i7-4800MQ sets the FPS ceiling at all 1080p settings, all 1440p settings, all 4k settings, while the GeForce RTX 5090 still has headroom.
Approximated average price on current market:
Combo price: $3078. At 1080p Ultra, this combo delivers 85 FPS, equivalent to 0.03 FPS per dollar.
| Resolution | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1080p | 0.047 fps/$ | 0.042 fps/$ | 0.035 fps/$ | 0.028 fps/$ |
| 1440p | 0.034 fps/$ | 0.029 fps/$ | 0.024 fps/$ | 0.019 fps/$ |
| 4k | 0.020 fps/$ | 0.017 fps/$ | 0.015 fps/$ | 0.011 fps/$ |
* Table values represent FPS per Dollar (higher is better)
Affiliate Disclosure
ChipVERSUS is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We may earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through our links. This comes at no additional cost to you and helps support our work in providing comprehensive PC building guides and tools.
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
This chart answers a simple question: which upgrade is more likely to increase FPS first? In this case, the answer is clearly the CPU.
The largest gap appears at 1080p Low, where the Core i7-4800MQ reaches about 144 FPS, while the GeForce RTX 5090 still has headroom up to roughly 286 FPS.
That means the Core i7-4800MQ is hitting its performance ceiling first, leaving a 50% gap versus the GeForce RTX 5090's available headroom in the most unbalanced scenario. Across all tested settings, this pairing is CPU-limited in 12 out of 12 cases, with 0 GPU-limited and 0 balanced results.
Overall, this is a clearly CPU-bound combination in this game.
The Core i7-4800MQ is consistently the limiting part in this game, so upgrading the CPU is more likely to deliver a larger FPS gain than upgrading the GPU.
This chart shows which upgrade is more likely to unlock more FPS in each tested setting. The lower line represents the part that reaches its limit first. When the CPU and GPU lines stay close together, the system is more balanced. When the gap widens, one component is more clearly holding the other back. Hover any setting to inspect it.
The lower line is the current limiter. The closer the two lines are, the more balanced the CPU and GPU are for this game.
Each line represents an estimated FPS ceiling for one component, rather than live usage alone.
To estimate the CPU ceiling, we pair the Core i7-4800MQ with GeForce RTX 5090, our current GPU anchor. To estimate the GPU ceiling, we pair the GeForce RTX 5090 with Ryzen 9 9950X3D, our current CPU anchor.
The lower line indicates the current limiter, since that component reaches its FPS ceiling first. In most scenarios, that is also the part most likely to deliver the bigger performance uplift if upgraded first.
The percentage shown represents the gap between the two ceilings. In practical terms, it shows how much of the stronger component's potential is left unused because the weaker one becomes the bottleneck first.
See how your processor and graphics card compare against the game official minimum and recommended system specs. The placement of your hardware is calculated using relative synthetic performance scores to help you gauge overall playability.
Your hardware is below minimum requirements. CPU is the limiting factor (3% below minimum). Expect performance issues. Low settings recommended.
-67%vsrecommended
+136%vsrecommended
-3%vsminimum
+303%vsminimum
Yes, the Core i7-4800MQ paired with the GeForce RTX 5090 can run Baldur's Gate 3 smoothly up to 1080p achieving around 85 FPS at Ultra quality. Your GPU is 136% above the recommended specs, and your CPU is 67% below the recommended requirements.
This CPU + GPU combo costs approximately $3,078 ($378 CPU + $2,700 GPU). Since the CPU is the main limiting factor, investing in a stronger processor will improve your framerates and overall value. For example, the Core i9-14900HX is a great upgrade option for around $668 (Rank #12 for value).
For Baldur's Gate 3, upgrading the CPU would usually improve performance first. In the Performance Limiter Analysis, the Core i7-4800MQ is the side that most often caps the frame rate, while the GeForce RTX 5090 still has additional headroom in the tested presets. The main bottleneck appears on the CPU side. The largest gap shows up at 1080p Low, where the CPU reaches about 144 FPS while the GPU still has headroom up to roughly 286 FPS. Across all tested settings, the distribution is 0/12 GPU-limited, 12/12 CPU-limited, and 0/12 balanced.
Baldur's Gate 3 does not currently support Frame Generation technologies like DLSS 3 or FSR 3. Your performance is based entirely on native rendering. If the game adds support in a future update, newer GPUs will benefit the most.
Baldur's Gate 3 requires at minimum a Core i5-4690 (CPU) and GeForce GTX 970 (GPU) with 8 GB RAM and 150 GB (SSD) storage. For the recommended experience, you need a Core i7-8700K and GeForce RTX 2060 Super with 16 GB RAM. Your hardware falls below the minimum requirements for this game, which may result in poor performance.
These Baldur's Gate 3 FPS results are not arbitrary numbers. They come from calculations informed by thousands of real gaming benchmarks, and the typical accuracy range is around 10% to 15%. That makes them far more useful than generic FPS calculators that simply invent values without a benchmark foundation. Actual in-game performance can still vary with drivers, updates, RAM configuration, cooling, and the exact scene being rendered.
Performance estimates are based on synthetic benchmarks and hardware capabilities.
Results may vary based on drivers, OS, and background processes.
