Genshin Impact runs on a heavily customized Unity build, and its performance profile is unusual for a game that looks as light as it does. The renderer leans hard on a few expensive features that hide behind innocuous menu names: Global Illumination, Volumetric Fog, Render Resolution above 1.0 and the Reflections quality tier. Low FPS in Genshin therefore rarely means your PC is too weak overall; it usually means one of those settings is set higher than the GPU can hold in a dense region like Natlan or the Fontaine underwater areas, or that the game is being capped, throttled or rendered on the wrong graphics adapter. There is also a CPU element: the anti-cheat driver, the HoYoPlay launcher’s background activity and Unity’s single-threaded main loop can pin one core on older processors and produce a frame rate that looks GPU-bound but is not. The checks below separate those causes so you can fix the right one rather than blindly lowering everything in 2026.
- Likely Causes
- Fix 1: Turn down the three expensive settings first
- Fix 2: Reset Render Resolution to 1.0
- Fix 3: Force the discrete GPU
- Fix 4: Check the frame rate cap and V-Sync
- Fix 5: Fix the Windows power mode and GPU power profile
- Fix 6: Reduce background CPU load
- Fix 7: Update the GPU driver
- Fix 8: Reset the game’s local settings
- If Nothing Works
- FAQ
Quick answer: Our top pick in 2026 is the Global Illumination, Volumetric Fog or Reflections set too high — our #1 rated choice. See the full ranked comparison, alternatives and buying advice below.
Likely Causes
| Cause | How to confirm | Fix difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Global Illumination, Volumetric Fog or Reflections set too high | FPS jumps when each is lowered individually in Settings | Easy |
| Render Resolution above 1.0 | Setting it to 1.0 restores FPS immediately | Easy |
| Laptop running on the integrated GPU | Task Manager shows the discrete GPU idle while playing | Easy |
| Frame rate cap or V-Sync limiting output | FPS pinned at exactly 30, 45 or 60 | Easy |
| Windows power mode throttling clocks | Power mode set to efficiency; CPU clock stays low under load | Easy |
| Outdated GPU driver or wrong driver profile | Driver older than the current game version’s release | Moderate |
| Background load from launcher, overlays or browsers | CPU usage high before the game even loads | Easy |
| Corrupted local settings or shader data | Performance far worse than identical hardware reports | Moderate |
Fix 1: Turn down the three expensive settings first
How to check
Open Paimon Menu, Settings, Graphics. Note the values for Global Illumination, Volumetric Fog and Reflections. Enable the in-game FPS display under Settings, Other, or use a lightweight external counter. Stand in a busy city and change one setting at a time, waiting a few seconds for the frame rate to settle.
What to do
Set Global Illumination to Medium or Off, Volumetric Fog to Off, and Reflections to Medium. These three commonly account for a large share of GPU time in this engine, far more than Shadow Quality or Anti-Aliasing. Leave Anisotropic Filtering at 8x or 16x; it is nearly free on modern hardware. If you are using a Custom preset the game will remember these; if you were on a named preset, switching one option converts it to Custom automatically.
How to undo it
Choose the preset you were using before (for example High) from the Graphics Quality dropdown and the individual values reset.
Fix 2: Reset Render Resolution to 1.0
How to check
In Graphics settings, Render Resolution controls internal resolution independently of the display resolution. Values of 1.1, 1.2 or 1.5 are supersampling and cost GPU time roughly in proportion to the square of the multiplier.
What to do
Set Render Resolution to 1.0. If you still need more headroom, drop to 0.8 and enable FSR 2 or, on builds and hardware that offer it, DLSS in the Anti-Aliasing dropdown to recover sharpness. Also check that Display Resolution matches your monitor’s native resolution and that Display Mode is Fullscreen rather than Windowed, which adds compositor overhead.
How to undo it
Return Render Resolution to your previous multiplier.
Fix 3: Force the discrete GPU
How to check
Open Task Manager, Performance, and watch both GPU entries while the game runs. Genshin’s log at %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\miHoYo\Genshin Impact\output_log.txt also lists the graphics device name near the top; if it names an Intel or AMD integrated adapter on a laptop with a discrete card, this is your problem.
What to do
Windows Settings, System, Display, Graphics. Add GenshinImpact.exe from your install folder (by default C:\Program Files\HoYoPlay\games\Genshin Impact game) and set it to High performance. Restart the game.
How to undo it
Remove the entry or set it back to “Let Windows decide.”
Fix 4: Check the frame rate cap and V-Sync
How to check
If the FPS counter sits at exactly 30 or 60 and never moves, a cap is active. Genshin offers a Frame Rate option in Graphics settings, and V-Sync is a separate toggle.
What to do
Set Frame Rate to the highest value your build offers. Turn V-Sync off and, if you dislike tearing, enable it in the driver control panel instead, or use G-Sync/FreeSync with the in-game option off. Remember that the game’s animation timing is tuned for its supported caps, so exceeding them with external tools is not something the developer supports.
How to undo it
Set Frame Rate back to 60 and re-enable V-Sync.
Fix 5: Fix the Windows power mode and GPU power profile
How to check
Windows Settings, System, Power. If the mode is Best power efficiency or Balanced on a laptop, CPU clocks may drop while Genshin’s main thread needs them. Task Manager’s CPU graph showing clock speeds far below rated boost during play confirms it.
What to do
Set the power mode to Best performance and plug the laptop in. In NVIDIA Control Panel, Manage 3D Settings, add a profile for GenshinImpact.exe with Power Management Mode set to Prefer maximum performance. AMD users can set a similar profile in Adrenalin.
How to undo it
Return the power mode to Balanced and delete the profile.
Fix 6: Reduce background CPU load
How to check
Open Task Manager before launching and sort by CPU. The HoYoPlay launcher itself, if left open with its animated background, plus Discord, browser tabs and recording tools all take slices from a game that already leans on one main thread.
What to do
In HoYoPlay settings, disable the dynamic background and set the launcher to minimize or close when the game starts. Turn off the Discord overlay and Xbox Game Bar. Close browsers with video open. Pause any cloud sync or download during play.
How to undo it
Re-enable the launcher background and any overlays you prefer to keep.
Fix 7: Update the GPU driver
How to check
Compare your driver’s release date with the date of the current Genshin version. New regions frequently coincide with driver updates that add profiles or fix performance regressions for this engine.
What to do
Install the latest driver from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel using the clean installation option. Reboot. If performance drops after a new driver, roll back one version and report it; regressions do happen.
How to undo it
Install the previous driver version or use Device Manager’s Roll Back Driver.
Fix 8: Reset the game’s local settings
How to check
Genshin stores graphics settings in the Windows registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\miHoYo\Genshin Impact, not in an ini file. If your performance is far worse than similar hardware and nothing above helped, a stale value there may be forcing a hidden setting.
What to do
Back up the key first by right-clicking it in Registry Editor and choosing Export. Then delete the key with the game closed. On the next launch the game recreates defaults and you can rebuild your settings in the menu. This resets keybinds and audio too, so note them beforehand.
How to undo it
Double-click the exported .reg file to restore the original values.
If Nothing Works
Verify the install through HoYoPlay’s repair option (the wrench icon next to the game) to rule out damaged assets. Test a fresh Windows user account. Compare your numbers against players with the same GPU in the same location, because Genshin’s frame rate genuinely varies by region: cities, dense foliage and large water bodies are simply heavier than open fields, and a dip in Fontaine or Natlan that recovers elsewhere is expected behavior rather than a fault. If your hardware sits near the minimum specification, the honest fix is the Low preset with Render Resolution 0.8, which the game handles gracefully.
FAQ
Why does my FPS drop in cities and recover in the wild?
Cities carry more NPCs, more dynamic lights and more Global Illumination work. Lowering Crowd Density and Global Illumination targets exactly that.
Is Render Resolution 1.0 the same as native?
Yes. Values above 1.0 supersample and cost heavily; values below use upscaling. Most players should stay at 1.0 or use FSR 2 or DLSS at a lower value.
Does the anti-cheat lower my frame rate?
It adds some CPU overhead, most noticeable on older four-core processors. You cannot disable it, but reducing other background load offsets much of the effect.
Should I use Fullscreen or Borderless?
Fullscreen generally gives the best frame pacing in this engine. Borderless is convenient for alt-tabbing but routes through the Windows compositor.
Ready to decide? Our #1 pick for 2026 is the Global Illumination, Volumetric Fog or Reflections set too high.
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