GPU Stuttering & Workaround

PC Bug Report
1

i9-13900k, 32GB RAM, RTX 3080 FE, nVME storage

Mostly high graphics settings, except medium textures. DLSS “Balanced.” 1440p Ultrawide.

Like many others, I’ve encountered stuttering in-game, even though my framerate runs 150+ fps.

  1. I noticed this doesn’t happen right at the beginning after first loading the game - only after playing a while.
  2. I noticed in the graphics options, the note indicating that “medium textures” should require 8GB VRAM, which should fit in the 10GB on my RTX 3080.
  3. The next time the stuttering started, I opened Windows Task Manager > Performance > GPU, and I noticed “Dedicated GPU memory usage” was absolutely maxed out.
  4. I noticed the stuttering seems to start mostly after changing from a play zone to a town, or from a town to a play zone. Might need to change zones a few times before it begins. (Open question as to whether towns are required, or multiple play zone changes will also cause it.)

Workaround:

  1. Go into the graphics settings, set the texture quality to Low, click save changes. Wait a few moments while the game engine loads the smaller texture set. (You can watch the Task Manager > Performance > Dedicated GPU memory usage meter drop and stabilize.)
  2. Change the Texture Quality back to Medium. Save changes. Again you can watch the Dedicated GPU memory usage meter increase, but it levels off around 8GB - no longer maxed out at 10GB.

You’ll need to do this whenever the issue comes up again.

Are memory leaks in VRAM a thing?

5 Likes
2

I have the exact same problem described by others in this thread. I’m playing with everything ultra maxed out and after 20min-30min of gameplay the game constantly stutters every other 5s-10s. I almost bet that this is a game bug streaming ultra textures to memory in the background. Check my linked thread where I show this problem happening in a capture with low ping (so no, this isn’t a network latency problem).

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/d4/t/stuttering-problem-video-evidence-with-low-ping-and-system-info-june-2023/31191

1 Like
3

There’s no way I’m going to play with medium textures with my high end PC. How about they fix the trash instead!

4

I can say that I’ve been noticing random dips and stuttering issues (fps drops for like a couple seconds, in successsion for like 2 - 3 seconds) happening lately ( 2 days ago), and yes it happens between zones and rarely during dungeons, other than that, the game runs smoothly. I’m running a fairly high end pc, and I don’t think that my hardware is the issue.
Hopefully, they’ll release a fix asap. Thanks.

By High End’ish pc, i mean this:

  • RTX 3070 EVGA FTW3
  • i5 13600k
  • 32 Go 5200mhz
  • NVME.2
5

Thanks. My VRAM was maxed at 8GB on medium, turned settings to low, it went down to 5.4GB then turned back up to Medium, it stayed around 5.7GB. VRAM just keeps climbing. Does this have anything to do with HD assets or internet connection which keeps dropping off. Something is wrong with this game on PC bigtime.