Baldur’s Gate 3 is about to release on August 3 for PC, after two years of Early Access. The game feels like a real next-gen RPG for PC, combining the classic turn-based gameplay that Larian Studios is famous for with absolutely stunning visuals never seen before in an isometric CRPG.
Since the game has been out of early access for a while now, we have a good idea of how it will play out, and although the game looks road Better than Divinity: Original Sin 2, the system requirements are actually not that steep. Instead, this will be a game about scaling from low-end hardware to the best graphics cards on the market right now.
Baldur’s Gate 3 system requirements
Baldur’s Gate 3 has had official system requirements for both Windows and Mac for a while now. The minimum requirements are very reasonable, requiring only an Nvidia GTX 970 (8 year old graphics card) and an Intel Core i5-4690. Both have been mid-range segments for almost a decade now, which means that all kinds of gaming PCs will be able to play the game with ease.
The only thing that really stops older budget builds from playing the game is the demanding requirements of an SSD. But, with the cheapness that the best SSDs get on a daily basis, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get an affordable drive for your computer.
The recommended specs are a bit more intense, but even those requirements are tamed for 2023. Larian recommends an Nvidia RTX 2060 Super or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT for graphics, and an Intel 8700K for the CPU. Both parts have been around for a while, and the current-generation equivalents are dirt cheap. For example, you can get almost the same CPU performance from an Intel Core i5-13600K, and the same GPU performance from an Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti.
Baldur’s Gate 3 will also run on the best MacBooks, though you’ll absolutely need the machine to handle it. Developers recommend at least MacBook Pro 15 (2016) with AMD Radeon 460 – this is the minimum specification. If you want to run it to the recommended specs, you’re looking at either the MacBook Pro 16 (2019) or the MacBook with M1 and 16GB of RAM.
Best PC for Baldur’s Gate 3
I’ve been playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on PC since Early Access kicked off in 2020, and the recommended system requirements are perfect – if you’re playing at 1080p. But since all of those parts are discontinued at this point, you’ll need equivalent performance out of anything you can find on the shelf in 2023.
Right now, the closest graphics card to an RTX 2060 Super is the Nvidia RTX 3060. Since that graphics card has been replaced by the RTX 4060 and it’s on its way out, you can actually get it pretty cheap now, like this $289 version from MSI on Amazon. If you’re going for Team Red, the best 1080p graphics card for Baldur’s Gate is probably the best. AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, which is slightly cheaper at $279.
If you want to upscale the resolution to 1440p, you’ll need more graphics horsepower. We recommend the Nvidia RTX 3070 (If you can still find it in stock). Failing that, you should get roughly the same performance from RTX 4060 Ti.
However, if you’re looking to play Baldur’s Gate 3 on one of the best gaming laptops, the rule of thumb is to go one level up to get similar performance. So, a gaming laptop with an Nvidia RTX 4070 will perform similarly to an RTX 4060. So, if you want to play Baldur’s Gate 3 on the go, you’ll want to at least NVIDIA RTX 3070 or RTX 4070.
As for the CPU, Larian Studios recommends at least the Intel Core i7-8700K, but you won’t find it for sale anywhere. For reference, though, this was a six-core, 12-thread processor with a turbo boost of 4.7GHz. The best way to get similar performance is actually on Team Red. Will AMD Ryzen 5 5600X It only costs you about $160 These days it’s a 6-core and 12-thread processor just like the older Intel chip.
To complete the build, you’ll need an AMD B550 or X570 motherboard, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and at least a 256GB SSD. The game only requires 150GB of storage, but you’ll need some space for Windows 11 as well.
You’ll also need a power supply up to the task. Fortunately, since none of the components in this build are particularly power-hungry, you don’t have to get crazy here. A solid 700W power supply should be more than enough to handle everything you mentioned. Try to find one that supports PCIe 5.0, as you will most likely have the modern 12VHPWR connectors for Nvidia graphics cards.
To save you a little time, I’ve gone ahead and collected links to all the parts to build the perfect Baldur’s Gate 3 PC in either 1080p or 1440p below.
MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB
Should you play Baldur’s Gate 3 on PC?
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game designed for PC first, even if the PS5 was released a month later. Not only will it look better on PC, at least if you have the hardware to push it to the maximum settings, but it will probably control better with a keyboard and mouse. In fact, even though the game will be playable with a controller, Larian Studios has yet to add controller support to Early Access on PC, and there are only two weeks left for the global launch.
Not only is the game made for PC first, but it’s already being released earlier on PC, coming August 3 instead of September 6 on PS5. Running the game on a gaming PC means you’ll get a month’s worth of jump-start on this massive RPG.
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