diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 1e0c7f7d4b..2b12c2b651 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -154,6 +154,8 @@ option(RECASTNAVIGATION_STATIC "Build recastnavigation static libraries" ${_reca
 
 option(OPENMW_USE_SYSTEM_SQLITE3 "Use system provided SQLite3 library" ON)
 
+option(OPENMW_USE_SYSTEM_BENCHMARK "Use system Google Benchmark library." OFF)
+
 option(OPENMW_UNITY_BUILD "Use fewer compilation units to speed up compile time" FALSE)
 option(OPENMW_LTO_BUILD "Build OpenMW with Link-Time Optimization (Needs ~2GB of RAM)" OFF)
 
diff --git a/apps/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt b/apps/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
index ad4a21d5e4..c96531a666 100644
--- a/apps/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/apps/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,27 +1,5 @@
-option(OPENMW_USE_SYSTEM_BENCHMARK "Use system Google Benchmark library." OFF)
-
 if(OPENMW_USE_SYSTEM_BENCHMARK)
     find_package(benchmark REQUIRED)
-else()
-    cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.11)
-
-    set(BENCHMARK_ENABLE_TESTING OFF)
-    set(BENCHMARK_ENABLE_INSTALL OFF)
-    set(BENCHMARK_ENABLE_GTEST_TESTS OFF)
-
-    set(SAVED_CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}")
-
-    string(REPLACE "-Wsuggest-override" "" CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}")
-    string(REPLACE "-Wundef" "" CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}")
-    include(FetchContent)
-    FetchContent_Declare(benchmark
-        URL https://github.com/google/benchmark/archive/refs/tags/v1.5.2.zip
-        URL_HASH MD5=49395b757a7c4656d70f1328d93efd00
-        SOURCE_DIR fetched/benchmark
-    )
-    FetchContent_MakeAvailableExcludeFromAll(benchmark)
-
-    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${SAVED_CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}")
 endif()
 
 openmw_add_executable(openmw_detournavigator_navmeshtilescache_benchmark detournavigator/navmeshtilescache.cpp)
diff --git a/extern/CMakeLists.txt b/extern/CMakeLists.txt
index 27351ce675..4dd4c2b416 100644
--- a/extern/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/extern/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -210,3 +210,19 @@ if (NOT OPENMW_USE_SYSTEM_SQLITE3)
 endif()
 
 add_subdirectory(smhasher)
+
+if (NOT OPENMW_USE_SYSTEM_BENCHMARK)
+    cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.11)
+
+    set(BENCHMARK_ENABLE_TESTING OFF)
+    set(BENCHMARK_ENABLE_INSTALL OFF)
+    set(BENCHMARK_ENABLE_GTEST_TESTS OFF)
+
+    include(FetchContent)
+    FetchContent_Declare(benchmark
+        URL https://github.com/google/benchmark/archive/refs/tags/v1.5.2.zip
+        URL_HASH MD5=49395b757a7c4656d70f1328d93efd00
+        SOURCE_DIR fetched/benchmark
+    )
+    FetchContent_MakeAvailableExcludeFromAll(benchmark)
+endif()