It looks like the Diablo 4 beta is bricking certain graphics cards thanks to a bug that seems similar to another MMO’s issue (thanks, PC Gamer). Much like Amazon’s New World in 2021, Diablo 4 seems to be placing extra stress on processors, namely the Nvidia RTX 3080Ti and RTX 3090 Plus cards, sometimes to the point where they just stop working.
Diablo 4 players on Reddit and the Blizzard forums began experiencing the problem as soon as the first beta opened. For most of those affected, their screen went black, and their cooling fans kicked into overdrive. Some initiated a hard shutdown and tried playing again, only to have the same issue happen and their GPUs stop working completely.
It’s a distressing quirk in general and even more so considering how expensive these cards are, but most seem to agree it’s an issue with the GPUs manufactured by Gigabyte and not the game.
Replies to some Reddit posts recommended capping the framerate to avoid placing undue stress on the cards, an approach that worked with the New World problem as well. In that incident, the issue’s cause turned out to be GPUs with shoddy soldering. Running the game with an uncapped framerate exposed the flaw somehow and sent the cards into overdrive.
You can change your framerate settings from the Nvidia Control Panel on your desktop, and it might be a good idea to do it if you’re planning to try the upcoming RPG‘s open beta.
- Right click on your desktop, and select “Nvidia Control Panel”
- Select “Manage 3D Settings”
- Toggle “Max Frame Rate” to “On”
- Select your framerate. This should be no higher than your monitor’s refresh rate
- Apply the settings
- Restart your computer
Blizzard and Gigabyte have not acknowledged the issue yet.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
