Genshin Impact Not Using GPU & Poor Performance: If Genshin Impact is opening on the wrong GPU, running on integrated graphics, or simply performing badly on PC, the problem is usually one of four things: the game is being assigned the wrong graphics processor, the driver is outdated or broken, the system does not meet the game’s recommended level for smooth play, or background software is stealing resources.
HoYoverse recommends checking system specs, lowering graphics settings, closing background apps, verifying game files, and updating or cleanly reinstalling GPU drivers when performance is poor. Microsoft also notes that Windows can show poor graphics behavior when a display driver is unstable or when an incompatible app is involved.
The fastest fix is usually to make Windows and the game agree on which GPU should handle rendering, then remove anything that is blocking performance. On Windows 11, Microsoft provides a built-in graphics preference setting that lets you assign an app to High performance or Power saving, and it also offers a separate setting for optimizations for windowed games.
Why Genshin Impact may not use the GPU properly
On PC, Genshin Impact’s minimum requirement includes DirectX 11, 8 GB RAM, and either a discrete GPU like the GTX 1050 or an integrated option such as Intel Iris Xe or equivalent. HoYoverse’s recommended spec is stronger, with 16 GB RAM and a GTX 1060 6 GB or better, and they also say a solid-state drive is recommended for smoother play. If your system is below recommended level, the game can still run, but performance issues become much more likely.
If Windows falls back to a generic graphics driver, that can also hurt performance. Microsoft says the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter is only a generic driver used when a manufacturer-specific driver is missing, and that manufacturer drivers usually provide faster performance, smoother video playback, higher resolutions, better stability, and better battery life.
Step 1: Set Genshin Impact to High performance in Windows
Open Settings > System > Display > Graphics and add the Genshin Impact executable if it is not already listed. Then choose Options and set the game to High performance. Microsoft says Windows can assign apps to different graphics preferences, and this is the built-in way to push an app toward the stronger GPU on a system with more than one graphics processor.
This matters most on laptops with both integrated and dedicated graphics. If Windows decides the game is “power saving,” the integrated GPU may be used even when the dedicated GPU is available. Setting the game to High performance is the cleanest official Windows-side way to override that behavior.
After changing the setting, restart the game. Microsoft specifically says some graphics preference changes require a restart before they take effect.
Step 2: Test Windows 11 windowed game optimizations
If you play in windowed or borderless mode, turn on Optimizations for windowed games in Settings > System > Display > Graphics. Microsoft says this feature improves performance for DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 games running in windowed and borderless windowed modes, reduces frame latency, and can enable modern features such as Auto HDR and variable refresh rate on supported displays.
This is worth testing because Genshin Impact uses DirectX 11 on PC, and a lot of players run it in borderless or windowed mode. Microsoft’s guidance suggests that this feature can improve performance in that exact kind of setup, though you should treat it as a test rather than a guaranteed fix because results depend on your hardware and display chain.
Step 3: Update the GPU driver from the manufacturer
HoYoverse says PC players should make sure graphics card drivers are up to date, and if they already are, try a clean reinstallation of the drivers. That is one of the most important official fixes for lag, freezing, and performance issues in Genshin Impact.
Microsoft also recommends updating, rolling back, or uninstalling the display driver when Windows shows graphics flickering or driver-related instability. If a recent driver update triggered the issue, rolling back can be a valid test. If the driver is simply broken, reinstalling it is often the better path.
If Windows is using the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter, that is a sign the proper vendor driver may not be installed. Microsoft says the manufacturer’s driver is the better choice for performance and stability, so installing the latest official driver from NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel is the right move.
Step 4: Lower in-game graphics settings
HoYoverse’s performance guidance is very direct: open Paimon Menu > Settings > Graphics and reduce options such as Graphics Quality, Shadow Quality, and Special Effects. They say this is one of the first steps to try when Genshin Impact is crashing, lagging, or freezing.
If your GPU is not being fully used, the game may be pushing too much work to the CPU, the integrated graphics, or the system memory path. Lower settings reduce that load and often make the game behave more consistently even before you solve the GPU assignment itself. That is especially important if your machine only meets the minimum spec rather than the recommended one.
Step 5: Check whether your device actually meets the target level
HoYoverse says the PC minimum is Windows 10 64-bit, a 6th gen Intel Core i5 or Ryzen equivalent, 8 GB RAM, DirectX 11, and a GTX 1050-class discrete GPU or equivalent integrated graphics, while the recommended spec is Windows 10 or 11 64-bit, 16 GB RAM, and a GTX 1060 6 GB or better. They also note that a smoother experience is expected when the game is installed on an SSD.
If your system only meets the minimum, HoYoverse warns that you may still see low frame rates or freezing in demanding scenes. In other words, “it launches” does not mean “it will run comfortably.”
Step 6: Close background apps before launching the game
HoYoverse recommends closing unnecessary applications running in the background to free up system resources. That includes apps that consume memory, CPU time, disk activity, or GPU resources such as overlays, recorders, browsers with many tabs, and launch utilities.
This is a practical fix because a game may look like it is “not using the GPU” when the real issue is that another app is already using enough hardware resources to keep the game from scaling up properly. HoYoverse includes background cleanup in its official performance troubleshooting, so it is not just generic advice.
Step 7: Verify the integrity of the game files
HoYoverse recommends verifying Genshin Impact’s game files through the launcher or the in-game resource integrity check. Their support article says file verification is part of the standard process for fixing crashing, lagging, and freezing.
Corrupted resources can cause poor rendering, stuttering, loading delays, or strange performance drops that look like GPU problems. Verifying the files is safer and faster than reinstalling the game from scratch, so it should be one of the first repair steps after you finish the graphics and driver checks.
Step 8: Restart the game fully and wait a few minutes
HoYoverse says to completely close the game and wait five minutes before restarting it. That sounds simple, but it is one of their official performance fixes because some temporary issues are cleared only after the game and its processes fully reset.
Do not just minimize the launcher and relaunch over the top of it. Fully exit the game and launcher, then reopen them cleanly. This is especially helpful after changing graphics settings, reinstalling drivers, or updating the app’s graphics preference in Windows.
Step 9: Use driver repair or rollback if the issue began after an update
Microsoft says that if Windows Update recently changed the device, rolling back the display driver may fix flickering and related display instability. If a newer driver is the real problem, rolling back can be more effective than trying to force the latest version to work.
HoYoverse’s own guidance also allows for a clean driver reinstall when the current driver is not solving the problem. So the decision is simple: if the issue started after a driver update, try rollback first; if the driver seems damaged or incomplete, reinstall it cleanly from the GPU manufacturer.
Step 10: Check whether the launcher itself is the problem
If the launcher is unstable, the game may not start with the correct settings or may fail to hand off properly to the rendering process. HoYoverse says launcher issues can be handled by restarting the PC, closing memory-heavy apps, checking for launcher updates, using Repair Now, or reinstalling the launcher if necessary.
HoYoverse also notes that launcher errors can be caused by outdated graphics drivers, which means a broken driver can affect both launch behavior and in-game performance. So if the game is still misbehaving after the fixes above, the launcher should not be ignored.
Step 11: Make sure storage is not holding performance back
HoYoverse recommends at least 110 GB of available storage for PC and says that using an SSD gives a smoother experience. They also note that storage requirements may increase with future updates. If the game is installed on a slow HDD, performance and loading can suffer even if the GPU is fine.
This does not mean the GPU is irrelevant. It means the game’s overall performance depends on a healthy chain of hardware, and a slow disk can make the system appear GPU-starved because assets are not being fed to the engine quickly enough. In practice, moving the game to an SSD is one of the most effective long-term improvements.
Step 12: Use Windows Task Manager to separate GPU issues from app conflicts
Microsoft says screen flickering in Windows is usually caused by a display driver issue or an incompatible app, and they recommend checking whether Task Manager flickers as well. If Task Manager flickers with everything else, the display driver is probably the cause; if Task Manager stays stable while the game or another app flickers, an incompatible app is more likely.
That logic is helpful for Genshin Impact performance too. If the whole desktop is unstable, the problem is likely system-wide. If only Genshin Impact is slow or visually broken, the issue is more likely inside the game configuration, the launcher, or the graphics driver path the game is using.
Step 13: If needed, collect the right support information
If none of the fixes work, HoYoverse asks PC players to send detailed support information: game UID, a screenshot or video, OS and device model, processor, graphics card, RAM, the date and time the issue happened, antivirus name and version, and log files such as output_log.txt, mihoyocrash, and driverError.log. They also note that some of these files need to be saved while the issue is happening because they reset when the game restarts.
That request is useful because Genshin Impact performance problems can come from multiple layers at once. The support team needs the logs and the exact PC details to tell whether the failure is coming from the GPU driver, the launcher, corrupted files, or a spec mismatch.
Best fix order to follow
The smartest order is: set the game to High performance in Windows, enable Optimizations for windowed games if you use windowed or borderless mode, update or clean reinstall the GPU driver, lower in-game graphics settings, close background apps, verify the game files, restart the game fully, and then test rollback or launcher repair if the issue started after an update. That sequence follows the official guidance from HoYoverse and Microsoft and gets the most likely causes out of the way first.
If the game still does not behave correctly after all of that, the next step is support escalation with logs and system details. At that point, the issue is usually not a simple setting mistake anymore.
FAQs
1) Why is Genshin Impact using the integrated GPU instead of the dedicated GPU?
On Windows, the app may be assigned to a power-saving graphics preference unless you set it otherwise. Microsoft’s graphics settings let you choose High performance for a specific app, which is the official way to push it toward the stronger GPU on a dual-GPU system.
2) Does lowering graphics quality actually help if the GPU is the problem?
Yes. HoYoverse specifically recommends lowering Graphics Quality, Shadow Quality, and Special Effects when the game is crashing, lagging, or freezing. Those settings reduce the load on the system and can make the game much more stable.
3) What should I do if the game still performs badly after updating the driver?
If the problem continues after a driver update, HoYoverse recommends verifying game files, closing background apps, restarting the game completely, and trying a clean driver reinstall. Microsoft also notes that a rollback can help if the issue started right after a display driver update.