Borderlands 3 PC Performance Review and Optimisation Guide

Graphical Settings Comparison Low, Medium, High, Ultra and Badass  

In Borderlands 3, we believe that the game’s Low Preset is the first one that’s worth using, and even then it is a cut below what we want from the game. It makes a lot of cuts in a lot of areas, but the game still looks pretty good despite that. That’s the perks of Borderlands’ cell-shaded art style.  

Cranking up game settings to Medium will significantly increase Borderlands 3’s level of detail settings. This will draw more items in the medium distance while also bringing to the table sharper textures, improved lighting and more terrain detail. The only thing that’s missing from Medium is TAA, which significantly reduced visible aliasing in Borderlands 3. Add this and AMD’s FidelityFX, and we have a great performance/graphics balance for most players. 

(Low VS Medium)
  

 
High will bring to the table more distant detail, more complex geometry and greater levels of shadow detail at a distance. While this will come at a performance cost, this is where some of the best graphics/performance balance is to be had, especially if you lean more to the graphics side of this equation. 

TAA and FidelityFX will reduce aliasing and resharpen the game respectively, delivering a great visual result. We recommend that all Borderlands 3 players use TAA and FidelityFX, given their low performance cost and graphical impact.  

(Medium VS High)
  

 
At Ultra we see more distant detail and increases in shadow quality. Much like we had seen in High. However, this subtle change comes at a high performance cost and has a small graphical impact. To many players, this performance cost will not be worth the gain in in-game detail seen below. 

(High VS Ultra)
  

 
Between Ultra and Badass, you could be forgiven for seeing no difference in graphical detail. In most cases, Badass is a graphical preset that isn’t worth using. It cost too much compute power and rarely makes a difference to Borderlands 3’s visuals. 

(Ultra VS Badass)