Genshin Impact has taken the gaming world by storm, with its strong narrative, open world and amazing anime graphics. But if you’re looking to play it, you may wonder about how it will run. Is Genshin Impact CPU or GPU intensive?
Genshin Impact is more GPU intensive than it is CPU intensive. It needs a medium- to high-end gaming rig, with a dedicated video card. It can be played on higher end phones and other devices as long as they have enough processing power and RAM.
Let’s look at the system specifications of the game, how it plays on specific hardware, and some hardware recommendations to get the most out of it. We’ll also consider whether the game leans more on the CPU or the GPU so you can diagnose how to get it running.
Is Genshin Impact CPU-intensive?
Genshin Impact is not the most intensive game out there but will need a decent processor with multiple cores at least at an Intel i5 level.
Like many modern games, more and more of the processing power is going to be dealt with by a dedicated GPU rather than a CPU but this doesn’t mean you can get away with not having a multi-core CPU.
Is Genshin Impact GPU-intensive?
Genshin Impact is best run on a system that has a dedicated GPU and most of the processing power is going to be handled by the GPU.
You’re going to run into some issues if you try to run this off an onboard video card or integrated graphics, especially if you have a higher resolution monitor in the 1080p or 4K territory, or even just multiple monitors.
Given that the game is locked to 60 FPS, you may notice some stuttering if v-sync or other monitor settings like refresh rate are causing issues.
You can try forcing your desktop resolution to 60 FPS via the video card or monitor settings to see if that smooths things out, or specifically set up profiles via your video card software.
There are no plans to remove this FPS lock as it was apparently put in by the developers to make sure that the game runs smoothly.
Genshin Impact System Requirements
Genshin Impact is available across many platforms, devices and consoles, but the PC version is best dealt with via having a desktop computer or laptop meant to play games via getting a well-ventilated case with solid hardware.
Genshin Impact PC System Requirements (Minimum)
The game is not overly intensive so any of the Intel Core i5 range or higher will be fine. For RAM, go with at least 8GB of mid-range RAM at a decent clock speed. If you’re looking at going with AMD, anything like the Ryzen 3, 5, 7, or 9 will be fine.
Genshin Impact needs at least Windows 7 SP1 64-bit but you’ll want to go with Windows 8.1 64-bit or Windows 10 64-bit at a minimum.
For a video card, go for an NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 or higher. It will need to support pixel shader 5.1 and vertex shader 5.1. Go through the specification sheets of the card and confirm it has at least 2048MB or 2GB of dedicated video RAM.
Make sure you also have about 30GB of free disk space and also go for an SSD drive or even better an NVMe or M.2 drive if your motherboard supports it.
Genshin Impact PC System Requirements (Recommended)
To get the game running nice and smooth, get at least an Intel Core i7 or its equivalent. Go for system RAM of 16GB, and this is also going to be better for Windows 10 or 11 to run on as well.
For a GPU, go with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB or higher, again making sure it supports pixel shader 5.1 and vertex shader 5.1. Also, ensure that the video card has a minimum of 6GB of dedicated video RAM.
Make sure your rig is equipped with at least 30GB of free disk space and follow the SSD or NVMe drive recommendations as above in the minimum requirements section.
Genshin Impact Android System Requirements (Minimum)
Your device will need to include at least an Armv8-A 64-bit-based architecture or higher, or a non-PowerVR architecture. System RAM will need to be 3GB or more.
Generally, if you’ve hit the above hardware specifications your operating system will also be above minimum, but ensure you’ve got Android 7.0 and above.
The game will take up around 10GB of space.
Genshin Impact Android System Requirements (Recommended)
This game will be best on a CPU of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, Kirin 820, or similar power, and you should go for RAM numbering 4GB or more.
Genshin Impact Apple System Requirements (Recommended)
The best way to consider whether your Apple device will work best for Genshin Impact is to choose a device from the following list.
Generally, if you use anything above an iPhone 8 Plus or an iPad Air (3rd generation), it should run relatively well.
Conclusion
So, is Genshin Impact CPU or GPU intensive? It isn’t going to need a high-end gaming computer to run well, and indeed you can probably get most of the basic hardware for under $700.
But you’ll need to make sure you’ve got an i5 processor or better, and going for a mid-range NVIDIA or similar video card that has at least 2GB or recommended specifications are to go for 8GB.
