It’s not the first time: A game is supposed to make graphics cards unusable. With the beta of Diablo 4, however, it seems to have caught a comparatively large title.
Who remembers Amazon’s (failed) attempt to shake up the world of online role-playing games? Probably only those who lost their graphics card in the process. Because the beta of the game “New World” in mid-2021 made sure that Nvidia GPUs gave up the ghost in droves.
Especially the then top model RTX 3090 died of heat death because a faulty chip in the fan control burned out. So the problem was with the graphics card and not directly with the game. The conditions of the game only made for a “perfect storm” – i.e. the combination of extremely unfavorable circumstances.
Cutscene causes broken GPUs
In the case of the diablo 4 beta, the “Chapel” cutscene seems to be primarily responsible for the early demise of the Nvidia graphics cards. It was built into the game without a frame limit, which probably allows the GPU to “rotate freely” – and thus possibly puts too much strain on it.
At least that’s what users report in the official Diablo 4 forums and on Reddit.
Mostly RTX 3080 Ti affected by Gigabyte
So far, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti has been particularly affected. Gigabyte custom designs make up a large part of this, although some ASUS graphics cards are probably also affected. Normally, however, GPUs shouldn’t have any problems with high frame rates, or should be able to eliminate possible overloads through built-in protection mechanisms. It is not yet clear why the RTX 3080 Ti seems to be affected so disproportionately.
This is how you protect your graphics card – until a patch is released
To date, according to WinFuture, there has been no reaction from Gigabyte or Diablo publisher Blizzard. A patch for the problem is expected in the near future, at least for Diablo 4. What exactly Gigabyte’s hardware-side solution could be has not yet been decided. We will then keep you informed with an update of the article in due course.
If you can no longer wait for a patch and still want to play the Diablo closed beta right away, you can protect your graphics card by setting a frame rate limit.
To do this, go to “Nvidia’s Control Panel” and select the “Program Settings” tab under “Manage 3D Settings”. There the Diablo 4 Beta can be added manually and the item “Max. Frame Rate” from “Use Global Settings” to “On” and change the respective frame rate of your monitor (say 60Hz, 144Hz or 240Hz).
via: WinFuture, Diablo 4 Forums, Reddit
