Elden Ring – How To Fix Game Not Using GPU & Low GPU Usage

Users with integrated GPUs are facing a weird problem. The game does not detect the graphics card and uses the integrated GPU instead. There’s a quick workaround for this; continue reading to find out.

The launch of Elden Ring hasn’t been smooth so far. There are multiple issues that players are facing; crashing, performance issues are prominent. On top of that, the game is locked at 60 FPS (which you can unlock now) with no DLSS and FSR available at launch.

One Reddit user posted

I have a 2080 ti and a i7 -9700k 4.7 ghz and I can’t even get a steady 50+ at 1080p with almost sometimes 100 percent cpu usage. Even at 1440p the cpu usage remains very similar.

When asked about his GPU usage, it turned out that the game was only using 6% of this GPU. This means the iGPU was being used as the primary graphics processor.

How To Fix Elden Ring Not using GPU?

There are two ways you can fix this

High Performance Display Setting

Update: Seems like this is yet another fix that has seemed to work for many users. Here’s how you can do it.

• Right-click on your Desktop > Display Settings
• Click on Graphics > Locate Elden Ring, you can add the game if its not there
• Click on Options button located below the game name and select “High Performance” as shown in the screenshot below:

Disable Internal GPU using Device Manager

You can disable your internal GPU using the device manager. To do so follow the steps given below:

• Type Device Manager in Windows Search
• Located “Display Adapters” and find the name of your internal GPU
• Right click > Disable

Disable iGPU using Bios Settings

Disabling iGPU using Bios is a little trick and difficult for someone who is unsure how the bios work. We’ve mentioned the steps to make it easier for you.

• To do this, you have to access your device’s bios
• Restart your computer, when the computer turns on press DEL, F2, F8, or F12 repeatedly. Note that not every motherboard has the same button to access the BIOS. 

For Asus Motherboard Users

The steps below will work for Asus users:

• Navigate to Advanced Tab
• Go to System Agent (SA) Configuration
• Go to Graphics Configuration
• Locate iGPU Multi-Monitor and Disable it.

For MSI Motherboard Users

The steps below will work for MSI users:

• Head to Settings > Advanced
• Go to Integrated Graphics Configuration
• Set “Initiate Graphic Adapter” to PEG
• Now, locate IGD Multi-Monitor and set it to Disabled.

Change Preferred Graphics Processor using Nvidia

• Launch Nvidia Control Panel
• Click on 3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings
• Click on the “Program Settings”
• From here, select “Elden Ring” using the drop-down menu or locate the exe file of the same.
• Located “Preferred Graphics Processor” setting and select “High-performance NVIDIA processor”

Note: This setting only appears for PCs with both iGPU and a dedicated GPU. I have to mention this because of the comments. If you’ve turned the iGPU already off using the bios setting we discussed above, this setting won’t appear for you.

Elden ring is getting a mixed rating on Steam. The bad reviews can be mainly attributed to the bad performance of the game, crashing issues, and bugs that are not letting people play the game. Some have even refunded the game already. Problems for AAA titles are nothing new. The game is one of the most demanding titles ever made, so problems will surely emerge.

I also hear that the game faces troubles, especially on PCs with a dual monitor setup. I also did testing by turning off one of my monitors and then launching the game. The performance improvement was certainly there, which is obvious. I stopped facing micro-stutters that can probably be attributed to the stuff I keep open on my second monitor.

That’s how you can fix the game not using your GPU. Do let us know if this worked for you. We have already written a few guides on Elden Ring that you can read here.