Hey.
I know many of you are having some issues. So I wanted to do a full breakdown of my system, every little setting that might contribute, from Windows, to drivers, to in-game settings, and what it’s running on. So here we go:
The system
I built this computer earlier this year back in May. This is a composition of new and used parts.
New Parts:
- Intel 12900K. (i9) 5.2GHz, 125W
- MSI Pro Z790-P WiFi (PCIe 5 support, DDR5 support, 4x M.2 slots)
- MSI MAG CoreLiquid 360R V2 AIO
- Kingston Fury Renegade 1TB NVME with up to 7300MB Read/7000MB Write
- Kingston Fury Beast 32GB Kit DDR5 5600
- BitFenix Spectre Pro RGB 140mm Fans x2
- MSI Optix 32" Curved Freesync 165Hz
- Nvidia 4080 Super AS OF Jan 2024
Open boxed or Used Parts:
- Corsair AX1200i (was new in-warranty replacement)
- MSI Gaming X Trio 3070Ti (Used from eBay, but complete with box) REMOVED
- CoolerMaster HAF 932 Advanced Full ATX Tower (Used with previous gaming build)
- Samsung 2TB SATA based SSD (Used from previous build)
- Other drives, including Blu-Ray, HDDs for large storage, and multi-ext interface drive (all used from previous build)
- 280mm Fan (came with case)
- Acer Predator 24" Gsync HD monitor (used)
- Logitech Performance MX with Darkfield (ancient rechargeable) REPLACED With MX Master 2S
- Corsair Basilisk V2 (used)
- Generic Keyboard (used till updated later - was on a Razor BlackWidow Chroma, but it died) UPDATED TO LOGITECH G815 LINEAR
- Altec Lansing 5.1 Analog multi-cable sound system (used)
- APC UPS 1500 Pro Backups with extended battery pack (Used and under full game load with both monitors it maintains about a 90 minute run time)
Internet available:
- Primary internet is Starlink. It is capable of speeds between 75MB to over 300MB. Works fine, except for when trees have leaves and/or really heavy weather. Then it can cause spikes in latency.
- Secondary internet is Brightspeed DSL. It has a speed of 8MB. I pretty much just use it to game on for just this machine. It doesn’t connect to anything but the computer. And it will maintain a pretty solid latency between 60-90 in most games, including D4.
Operating system is Windows 11 Pro with the latest updates. The following are the Windows settings I run that have a direct bearing on game performance:
Base system settings:
- Swap file is disabled. THIS IS NOW ENABLED AND SET TO 16GB
- I log in with a Local Admin account.
- Sleep is prevented (disabled).
- Fast Start is disabled.
- Windows update is set to automatic and to get the latest as soon as possible.
- Optional updates are checked manually every so often and done.
- Focus is enabled and system is set to do not disturb.
Display settings for Windows:
- Running a dual monitor setup.
- 32" MSI Curved Freesync is my primary monitor. Set to 1440p Native and 165Hz (164.55) using a display port cable.
- 24" Acer Predator G-Sync is my second monitor. Set to 1080x1920 (portrait) and 144Hz (143.98) to the left of the MSI monitor also using a display port cable.
- Using a background that is spanned across both monitors.
- HDR is enabled on the 32" and not available on the 24".
Under Graphics:
- In the list of Apps, for Diablo IV Retail, it is set to High Performance Nvidia Geforce RTX 4080 Super.
- Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling is On.
- Flip Presentation model is enabled (for HDR support).
- Auto HDR is enabled.
Video Driver version and settings:
Currently (at the time of this post) using Nvidia Driver version 535.98 that was released on May 30th. I had installed it on June 1st. The same day I installed the 3070 Ti. The driver settings below may not be the same on all versions of the driver. DRIVER HAS BEEN UPDATED TO 551.31 WHEN THE 4080 SUPER WAS INSTALLED
- Geforce Experience has not been installed.
- Not using a custom game profile for Diablo IV. Global settings only.
- Image Scaling - Off
- Ambient Occlusion - Off
- Anisotropic Filtering - Application-controlled
- Antialiasing - FXAA - Off
- Antialiasing - Gamma correction - On
- Antialiasing - Mode - Application-controlled
- Antialiasing - Setting - Application-controlled
- Antialiasing - Transparency - Off
- Background Application Max Frame Rate - Off
- CUDA - GPUs - All
- CUDA Sysmem Fallback Policy - Driver default
- DSR - Factors - Off
- DSR - Smoothness - Off
- Low Latency Mode - Off
- Max Frame Rate - Off
- Monitor Technology - Fixed refresh
- Multi-frame Sampled AA (MFAA) - Off
- OpenGL GDI compatibility - Auto
- OpenGL Rendering GPU - Auto-select
- Power Management Mode - Normal
- Preferred refresh rate (MSI 32) - Application-controlled
- Shader Cache Size - Driver Default
- Texture filtering -Anisotropic sample optimization - Off
- Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias - Allow
- Texture filtering - Quality - Quality
- Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization - On
- Threaded Optimization - Auto
- Triple buffering - Off
- Vertical Sync - Use the 3D application setting
- Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames - 1
- Virtual Reality - Variable Rate Super Sampling - Off
- Vulkan/OpenGL present method - Auto
- PhysX settings - Processor - Auto-select (recommended) - This has been removed in my driver version.
Background running Applications while playing. Keep in mind, most of my programs are not set to start up or disabled from starting at boot.
- Malwarebytes Premium (startup enabled)
- OneDrive (startup enabled)
- Corsair Link for the PSU (startup enabled)
- Afterburner for the GPU along with Riva Tuner statistics (startup enabled)
- HWMonitor
- GPU-Z with Sensors active
- Battlenet with browser hardware acceleration enabled.
- Firefox with browser hardware acceleration enabled, and sometimes a few pages open, other times closed.
- Chrome is installed.
- Opera GX is installed.
- Office 365 is installed.
- iTunes, Amazon music, though its rare they are active while playing.
- GoG Galaxy and Steam are installed, but normally not active at the same time. (not running)
- Discord, but usually not running unless I’m actually using it.
- Skype, but same conditions.
There are a few other apps, and several different games from multiple platforms but none are active during gaming sessions.
Custom PC settings:
- Using a custom fan curve for ALL fans in the system case via the motherboard.
- Using a custom fan curve for the PSU via the Corsair Link App.
- Using a custom fan curve for the CPU fans and pump via the motherboard.
- Using a custom fan curve for the GPU via Afterburner.
- DDR 5 memory is using XMP Profile for 5600 speed, no other customization. Stock voltages and timings.
- CPU is not overclocked or running custom voltages. Running stock settings. THIS HAS BEEN ALSO POWER LIMITED AFTER THE RECENT INTEL CPU ISSUES
- GPU is not overclocked or running custom voltages. Only running custom fan curve via Afterburner.
In Game Settings:
Battlenet app settings:
- Using the live edition of the launcher (not the beta)
- App is set to stay open on game launch (not minimize or close)
- Use browser hardware acceleration is enabled
- Downloads are set to notify, not auto download
- No download limits are set (unchecked)
- Diablo IV game settings are at defaults
- Game has high resolution packs installed
Diablo IV Game settings:
SCREEN:
- Display - Windowed (Fullscreen)
- Adapter - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super
- Monitor - Generic PnP Monitor
- Resolution - 2560x1440 (16:9 Widescreen)
- Font Scale - Small
- Cursor Scale - Medium
- High Contrast Cursor - Disabled
- Cursor Color Picker - White
- HDR - Enabled
- Vertical Sync - Enabled
- Limit Cutscene - Disabled
- Lock Cursor - Enabled
- Peripheral Lighting - Disabled
- Color Blind Filter - Off
- View Distance - Far
PERFORMANCE:
- Resolution Scaling - NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution
- Quality Mode - DLAA
- Sharpen Image - 12
- NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation - Enabled
- NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency - Enabled
- Max Foreground FPS - 100
- Max Background FPS - 60
QUALITY:
- Quality Preset - Ultra (using full defaults for this setting which puts all subsequent settings to max)
RAY TRACING
- Ray Traced Shadows Quality - Low
- Ray Traced Reflections Quality - High
- Ray Traced Foliage - Enabled
- Ray Traced Particles - Enabled
GAME SOUND OUTPUT:
- Sound Output Device - Default
- Speaker Setup - 5.1
- Audio Mix - Studio Reference
- Play In Background - Disabled
GAMEPLAY:
- Screen Shake Effects - Enabled
- Combat Hit Flash - Enabled
- Reduce Strobing - Disabled
- Highlight Player When Obscured -Enabled
- HUD Configuration - Centered
CONNECT:
- Cross-Network Play - Disabled - Now Enabled
- Cross-Network Communications - Disabled - Now Enabled
ACCESSIBILITY
- Character Visibility Options - Additional Highlight
The result of all this?
The system plays this game near flawlessly. It will maintain the Ultra quality and stays at 100 FPS 99.9% of the time.
Its rare to see it dip down, and the most likely times it might are when teleporting back to a town, or clicking on a merchant once in a while. Even then, the disruption is a second at most then right back to 100.
Load times are quick, very little delays between teleports and practically no notice of zone changes.
It might be a tad more noticeable when around multiple players in a town, but even then its still smooth.
No freezing, no stutter, no latency (unless I play on Starlink) and can play for hours.
Temps never seem rise above 70C on any portion of the system. The GPU will average low to mid 60s across the GPU, Mem and hotspots, even at a vendor for an extended period.
I even played earlier tonight for an hour or so, and even took the risk on my Starlink connection. Had two instances where it had latency thanks to the rain storm we are having, but it was fine otherwise. Never lost connection, or crashed or froze.
Anyway.
I’m providing as much detail as I can to hopefully help some of you.
Any questions or something you want clarified, ask!
Good night and good luck. Those having issues, hang in there, I’m sure there is a way to resolve it, one way or another. 