Borderlands 4, the latest looter-shooter in the beloved series from Gearbox Software, launched on September 11, 2025. Less than a week later, it’s sitting at a “Mixed” review score on Steam with more than 16,500 entries. The prevailing issue forcing the review score down? Dreadful PC optimization.
The game’s developer has now released a couple of lengthy PC optimization guides for both NVIDIA and AMD GPUs (via Videocardz). There are 68 different GPUs listed, with optimal settings for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions. NVIDIA’s cards range from the RTX 2070 to the mighty RTX 5090, while AMD’s cards range from the RX 5700 XT to the RX 9070 XT.
Unless you’re using an RTX 3060 Ti or newer, you can expect about 30 FPS at 1080p. For 1440p, you’ll want at least an RTX 3070 Ti to run the game at 30 FPS. Want to play at 4K? You’ll want at least an RTX 3090 Ti to hit 60 FPS.
Borderlands 4’s poor PC performance doesn’t sit well with gamers
My current GPU, NVIDIA’s RTX 5070 Ti, is listed under the 4K section. In order to achieve 60+ FPS, I’ll need DLSS 4’s Multi Frame Generation cranked up to 4x with texture quality set to Medium (and many other settings dropped to Low).
If I want to hit 60+ FPS at 1440p, I’ll still need DLSS MFG 4x, though textures and other quality can be cranked up a bit. I think perhaps I’ll wait a bit longer before trying the game to see if any more performance updates are released.
Despite knowing months ahead of launch that Borderlands 4’s PC specs were very demanding — more than 50% of Steam users may need an upgrade to play the game, at least judging by Steam’s frequent hardware surveys — players are trashing the game for its brutal performance.
Poor optimization and PC performance were topics of our Borderlands 4 review.
Despite playing the game on an NVIDIA RTX 3080 and AMD Ryzen 9 5900X — older hardware that should nevertheless be relevant today — our reviewer experienced some brutal performance woes that mostly continued after a patch.
Terrible, terrible performance. Worst I’ve ever seen. Turned it down to Low graphics preset and couldn’t hit 60 FPS, even with FSR upscaling on my RX 6900 XT.
Steam user “Etiko”
Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Software, hasn’t been shy about stating his case for Borderlands 4’s performance. The game, which runs on the controversial Unreal Engine 5, is demanding, and Pitchford says gamers need to come to terms with lowering the resolution or in-game settings to achieve stability.
“Borderlands 4 is a premium game made for premium gamers,” said Pitchford in an X reply to a gamer struggling to play on older hardware.
The minimum and recommended specs are published. The most common hardware is a four year old cell phone. Borderlands 4 is a premium game made for premium gamers. Just as Borderlands 4 cannot run on a PlayStation 4, it cannot be expected to run on too-old PC hardware. Unlike on…September 13, 2025
Considering NVIDIA’s RTX 3060 and RTX 4060 GPUs continue to hold the top spots on Steam’s GPU survey list, many players are struggling to come to terms with how a AAA game can launch at a $70 price tag and run so poorly.
On the other side of the hardware fence, console players have bemoaned the lack of an FOV slider and a motion blur toggle. Considering that both of these common settings can directly contribute to motion sickness, it’s not a good look for Gearbox.
If you are indeed one of Borderlands 4’s launch adopters, I recommend giving the recommended GPU specs laid out by Gearbox a shot. At this point, any extra frames are appreciated.
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