Diablo 4 is reportedly killing some RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards
But there is something you can do to possibly help protect your graphics card from a similar fate.
Fresh reports suggest some RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards are running horribly, or even dying, while playing the Diablo 4 closed beta over the weekend.
In what appears to be an issue closely resembling when Amazon's MMO New World was bricking RTX 3090 GPUs, the Diablo 4 beta appears to expose a potentially fatal flaw in some high-end Nvidia GPUs. Across Reddit and the Blizzard forums, users are reporting that during the beta their monitors go black, GPU fans run full speed, and their system restarts. Sometimes these symptoms are also accompanied by an error code and a dead GPU, though not every time.
It appears that most of the users affected by the issue are using RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards manufactured by Gigabyte, however, the scale of the issue is not yet known.
YouTuber Mortismal Gaming also notes they suffered the same issue on a Gigabyte RTX 3080 Ti graphics card while playing the game.
Diablo 4 is unlikely to be the cause of the issue itself, more so a catalyst for exposing a weakness that may have already been present in the affected cards. This was the case with New World. EVGA noticed some poor soldering on a batch of its cards that, when running at extremely high frame rates and with spiky load—in that case while playing New World—would result in failure.
If that's the same here while playing Diablo 4, it may be on Gigabyte to address this issue, not Blizzard. Blizzard may also choose to limit the maximum frame rate in Diablo 4 to try and not expose players to any possible issues their hardware may have.
You can also likely protect yourself from these issues, but bear in mind that without all the information we can't be too certain as to how effective these measures may be. Still, heading into Diablo 4's open beta weekend, it's nice to feel like there's some sort of safety net for RTX 3080 Ti owners.
You can limit your frame rate in the game's options settings to potentially lessen the load on your GPU, but it's worth looking at doing it from within the Nvidia settings to totally ensure that your GPU is not running at the ragged edge.
How to limit your frame rate within the Nvidia Control Panel
- Open Nvidia Control Panel (right click on desktop)
- Scroll down to Manage 3D Settings
- Change Max Frame Rate to On
- Choose a max frame rate (your monitor's refresh rate will do)
- Click Apply
- You may need to restart the game or your entire system for the changes to apply
Those affected by the issue are requesting returns via the manufacturer, namely in this case Gigabyte, and we recommend you try the same if you find yourself stuck in the same situation. It's not yet clear how the returns process will work for this, or whether Gigabyte will replace those cards free-of-charge, but the first step would be for any such issue to be officially noted.
I'm told Gigabyte HQ is aware of the reports and taking them seriously, but the company hasn't issued any formal statement to us.