Borderlands 3 PC Performance Review and Optimisation Guide

CPU Performance – Another reason why DirectX 12 needs to be fixed  

Borderlands 3’s DirectX 11 mode is a single-threaded CPU performance hog. The game runs with similar performance levels with four cores and six cores, while the Windows Task manager shows a single cores taking the bulk of the game’s load. 

This wouldn’t be bad news if the game ran well with a single fast core. The problem is that it doesn’t. Borderlands 3 would have benefitted from a little more multi-threading, something which is provided under DirectX 12. 

While our 4GHz i7-6850K isn’t that high-end by today’s standards; we must remember that most PC gamers aren’t running 5GHz i7 or i9 series processors. A lot of us use older i5 and budget components. With this in mind, it is easy to see CPU performance as a failing in Borderlands 3. 

Yes, 60 FPS is easy enough to achieve at badass settings on our 4GHz i7-6850K, but what about the 120Hz crowd? Things could have been a lot better here. 

  

DirectX 12 

Under DirectX 12, Borderlands 3’s CPU performance sees a significant boost. Minimum framerates see a significant increase and this impacts several areas of Borderlands 3. Even hub areas like Sanctuary see major performance boosts with the move to DirectX 12, making it a must-have for those who need some extra CPU performance headroom. 

Sadly, as detailed on page 5, DirectX 12 doesn’t work correctly on Borderlands 3’s PC version at the time of writing. Borderlands 3 can perform a lot better under DirectX 12, which is why the game’s early DirectX 12 issues are a huge bugbear for high-end PC gamers.