GTA 5 Not Using GPU, How to Fix?

Grand Theft Auto V is one of the action-adventure video games that has finally arrived for Xbox Series X & Series S consoles officially. Although it’s one of the critically acclaimed open-world titles, though players are quite satisfied with the game, some of them are facing a couple of issues whatsoever. The GTA 5 Not Using GPU is one of the problems that we’re going to talk about here.

According to multiple reports, affected players are reporting the error ERR_GFX_STATE while trying to launch the GTA 5 game on their Windows PC. Basically, the game crashes quite often and throws out an error message that says “ERR_GFX_STATE – Game error. Please reboot and restart the game.” However, the issue seems to be persistent enough because even after rebooting the game, it comes back and players are unable to get rid of it.

GTA 5 Not Using GPU, How to Fix?

Whenever the game doesn’t use the dedicated or external graphics card on your PC and starts using the integrated GPU, the chances are high that it starts experiencing some issues during launching or gameplay. Not only does the game stutter but also triggers graphical glitches, frame drops, crashes, etc. Now, if you’re also facing the same issue or somehow the game lags so much and keeps stuttering here & there, you should manually try fixing it out.

Here we’ve shared a couple of possible workarounds for you that should gonna help a lot. So, without wasting any more time, let’s jump into it.

1. Use a Dedicated Graphics Card

Make sure that your computer system is actually using the dedicated or external graphics card to run the GTA 5 game. It’ll eventually reduce game stutters, lags, and frame drops without any doubt. If you don’t know which settings you need to adjust then follow the steps below.

For Nvidia:

If you’re using the Nvidia graphics card, you can do the following.

• Right-click on the blank desktop screen > Click on NVIDIA Control Panel.
• Click on 3D settings > Select Manage 3D settings in the left pane.
• Select the Program Settings tab > Choose GTA 5 from the drop-down list.
• Now, select a High-performance NVIDIA processor.
• Save changes and reboot the PC to apply changes.

For AMD:

AMD graphics card users can do the following.

• Right-click on the Desktop blank screen > Select AMD Radeon Settings from the context menu.
• Now, click on System > Select Switchable Graphics.
• Make sure to save changes and reboot the PC to apply changes.

2. Update GPU Drivers

Mostly an outdated or corrupted graphics card driver can trigger multiple issues with the games or system performance. It’s highly recommended to check the graphics driver update. To do so:

• Press the Windows + X keys to open the Quick Link Menu.
• Click on Device Manager from the list > Double-click on Display adapters.
• Right-click on the dedicated graphics card that you’re currently using.

• Click on Update driver > Choose Search automatically for drivers.
• If the latest update is available, it’ll automatically download & install the latest version.
• Once done, restart the computer to apply changes immediately.

Alternatively, you can manually download the latest graphics driver version and install it on the PC via the official website. Download the graphics driver file respective to your graphics card model and manufacturer. Nvidia graphics card users can update the GeForce Experience app via the Nvidia official site, and AMD graphics card users can visit the AMD website for the same.

3. Close Background Running Tasks

Unnecessary background running tasks or programs can eat up a lot of system resources like CPU or Memory usage reducing system performance. Hence, the startup crashing, lagging, and not loading issues appear quite often. Simply, close all the unnecessary background running tasks completely. To do this:

• Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys to open up the Task Manager.
• Now, click on the Processes tab > to select tasks unnecessarily running in the background and consuming enough system resources.
• Click on End Task to close it one by one.
• Once done, restart your system.

4. Change Power Plan

It’s also highly recommended to change the power plan on the computer because the Windows system basically uses the Balanced power plan by default. But it reduces performance which can be improved by changing the power plan. Keep in mind that the performance plan can consume higher power. To do so:

• Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Type Control Panel in the field and click on OK from the search result to open it.
• Now, search for Power Options (Power & battery) and open it.

• Click on Best Performance > Reboot your PC to save changes immediately.

5. Tweak In-Game Graphics Settings

You can also change the in-game graphics settings to check if the problem is still appearing or not.

• Launch the Steam client and then open GTA 5 from Library.
• Click on the gear icon inside the GTA 5 game to enter the Settings menu.
• Now, make sure to select ‘Turn off VSync’.
• Then set each option under Advanced Settings to the low or medium.

6. Disable Overclocking of the GPU

If in case, you’re using MSI Afterburner or any other GPU overclocking software on your PC then we’ll recommend you to disable the overclocking option and uninstall the software to avoid GPU-related issues. Though the GPU overclocking function can help your system and hardware to run graphics-intensive games or programs much smoother, sometimes it may trigger multiple issues with the performance. So, you should try it out.

7. Delete ‘SGA’ Prefix Game Files

Sometimes some game files on the PC can also cause several issues with the game launching or using any specific feature whatsoever. Some reports are suggesting that Grand Theft Auto 5 game files having the SGA extension are somehow troubling the game files to run properly. It’s recommended to delete all the SGA prefix files from the installed game folder to get rid of the GPU not working or not detecting issues. To do so:

• Press the Windows + E key to open File Explorer.
• Now, go to the Documents folder from the left pane > Open the Rockstar Games folder.
• Open the GTA 5 folder > Go to the Settings folder.
• Here you can see three files with the SGA prefix. Just delete the SGA files.
• Once done, close File Explorer > Reboot the PC and try launching the Grand Theft Auto 5 game again.

8. Tweak Launch Options or Arguments

Well, command-line arguments are kind of additional (forceful) command prompts to the specific game client/launcher to run a specific game using a specified feature. That means if the game or the client is unable to run any specific feature/option, you can run that forcefully by commanding arguments. So, if the GTA 5 game is unable to detect or use the dedicated GPU or throws out the ERR_GFX_STATE error, you can follow the steps.

For Steam:

• Open your Steam client > Click on LIBRARY.
• Right-click on GTA 5 from the left pane > Select Properties.
• Now, click on SET LAUNCH OPTIONS.
• Type -ignorepipelinecache in the field and select OK.
• Once done, make sure to launch GTA 5 to check if the error is still bothering you or not.

For Rockstar Games Launcher:

• Open your Rockstar Games Launcher > Select Settings.
• Now, select GTA 5 under the ‘My Installed Games’ section.
• Scroll down to Launch arguments > Type -ignorpipelinecache in the text box.
• Finally, launch the Grand Theft Auto 5 game to check for the GPU issue.

For Epic Games Launcher:

• Open your Epic Games Launcher > Click on Settings from the bottom-left side.
• Scroll down to GTA 5 > Tick mark the Additional Command Line Arguments checkbox.
• Type -ignorepipelinecache in the field and go back to the main menu.
• Run the Grand Theft Auto 5 game to check for the issue again.

9. Verify and Repair Game Files

If in case, your installed game files do have some issues with the corruption or missing files then the chances are high that you’ll encounter crashes, lags, stutters, GPU errors, graphical glitches, etc on the PC. It’s always better to verify and repair the game files automatically from the game launcher whatever you use. You can verify the files using the following steps below for your specific game launcher/client. To do so:

For Steam:

• Open the Steam client on the PC and log into the account > Head over to Library.
• Right-click on the GTA 5 game from the left pane.
• Click on Properties > Click on the Local Files tab.
• Then click on Verify Integrity of game files…
• Now, wait for the process to complete, and close the Steam client.
• Finally, restart the PC to apply changes.

For Rockstar Games Launcher:

• Open the Rockstar Games Launcher on your PC > Sign in to the account.
• Head over to Settings > Click on the GTA 5 game from the My installed games section on the left side.
• Now, click on Verify Integrity under Verify game file integrity from the options on the right side.
• Wait for the process to be completed > Once done, a pop-up message will appear that your game is verified.
• Finally, launch the Grand Theft Auto 5 game, and check for the issue again.

For Epic Games Launcher:

• Open the Epic Games Launcher > Click on Library.
• Click on the three-dots icon of GTA 5.
• Click on Verify and it’ll start verifying the game files.
• Wait for the process to complete and restart the launcher.

10. Reinstall GTA 5

If none of the methods worked for you then try reinstalling the GTA 5 game on the PC to check if that helps you to fix the lagging or FPS drop issue due to not using a dedicated GPU (graphics card).

• Open the Steam client on your PC.
• Go to Library > Right-click on GTA 5.
• Select Uninstall > Click on Delete to confirm.
• Wait for the uninstallation process to complete > Exit the Steam client.
• Now, open the File Explorer application > Copy-paste C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common on the address bar and hit Enter to search for the location.
• Go to the GTA 5 folder and simply Delete the folder completely.
• Reboot the PC to apply changes > Open Steam Store and Reinstall the GTA 5 game again. [Obviously, this may take enough time but you should try it out]
• It should fix the lag or FPS drop issue completely.

That’s it, guys. We assume this guide was helpful to you. For additional queries, you can comment below.