Discord might be throttling your Nvidia GPU's memory, but here's how you can fix it

[Daniel Sims]

In brief: If you frequently leave Discord open on your desktop and have recently noticed degraded game performance from your Nvidia GPU, a Discord glitch might be the culprit. Nvidia will release a fix soon, but also offers directions for manually rectifying the problem.

This week, Nvidia acknowledged that a recent update to Discord caused it to throttle the memory on Nvidia GPUs. This glitch could affect game performance as it prevents the VRAM from reaching its full clock speed while launching games.

The GPU manufacturer plans to patch the issue with a future update, but has also provided a roundabout solution for those who can't wait. The manual fix involves using the GeForce 3D Profile Manager to edit an SLI profile – a fairly complex operation.

Users who don't have the 3D Profile Manager can download it from Nvidia's website. After installing and opening the program, select "Export SLI Profiles." Once a file explorer window appears, choose a location to export to and save the Nvidia Profiles file, which should be a text file.

Then open the file in Notepad and search for "Discord." A section should appear starting with "Profile 'Discord'" and ending with "EndProfile." At the bottom, right above "EndProfile" and below "Setting ID_0x809d5f60 = 0x10000000," type "Setting ID_0x50166c5e = 0x00000000." The section should then appear like the screenshot above.

Afterward, save the profile as a .txt file, return to the 3D Profile Manager, and select "Import SLI Profiles." When the explorer window appears, select the file you just saved, click "Open," and then close the 3D Profile Manager.

Nvidia didn't clarify which update may have caused the problem. It may have been the recent Discord patch that added the ability for streamers with RTX 40 series GPUs to encode using the AV1 codec.

The new codec has shown significant efficiency gains over H.264, letting streamers and content creators encode clearer videos while consuming less bandwidth. Furthermore, AV1 is royalty-free, unlike H.265.

However, encoding H.265 through hardware requires the latest graphics cards like the RTX 40 series, AMD's RDNA3, and Intel's Arc Alchemist. Intel's upcoming Meteor Lake CPUs will also include hardware AV1 encoding.

Discord now uses this functionality to let Nitro subscribers encode at 8Mbps in 4K@60fps. It isn't clear when Discord might extend AV1 encoding to subscribers with RDNA3 or Arc Alchemist GPUs.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/97449-discord-might-throttling-nvidia-gpu-memory.html

 

[psycros]

Discord sucks.

 

[Kam7r]

Blasphemy ! only AMD have problems with drivers and applications, my favorite youtuber/streamer a.k.a nvidia salesman told me so , it must be true !!!

 

[Dimitriid]

Honestly is pretty far from the first time the discord client has HUGE issues like this: best thing I've done is just get into the habit of never actually running the client on my PC and just running it inside a browser only when I actually need it.

I don't get notified of incoming messages but if I want that I could still get that on my phone right next to me and there's also a few features that technically don't fully work on browser mode like screen sharing but if I wanted to ever use those I could just open the client if and when I need that.

But the default of just leaving it open all of the time in the background or worst opening on start up is just not a good idea given their previous and continued track record with just being an awful piece of software.

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll be closing Discord whenever I plan to game until it is fixed.

 

[Mariabliss]

Discord sucks.

And yet millions of people use it every day for a broad range of communications.

It would seem the facts do not agree with your statement of discord and its "suckage".

 

[Skjorn]

And yet millions of people use it every day for a broad range of communications.

It would seem the facts do not agree with your statement of discord and its "suckage".

It sucks a decent chunk of frames from my old 4790K. Just because something is popular doesn't mean it doesn't suck.

 

[anastrophe]

It sucks a decent chunk of frames from my old 4790K. Just because something is popular doesn't mean it doesn't suck.

They got a point there, ngl.

See also "Microsoft Windows". I'm using it right now. Doesn't mean there isn't constant suckage.

 

[texasrattler]

So is the issue just with Nvidia cards or just rtx cards?

 

[texasrattler]

I use Discord for ingame chat as most games have crappy in-game chat. Slight advantage for pc users but ps and Xbox are getting it soon. They have but it's a crappy way of doing. Once they get the app it'll be more like pc.

 

[trgz]

I really don't get the use of Discord, to use a pun, it's discordant at best. I don't get the love for it.

 

[Kam7r]

A good alternative for discord , is "Guilded" search for it on google

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Honestly is pretty far from the first time the discord client has HUGE issues like this: best thing I've done is just get into the habit of never actually running the client on my PC and just running it inside a browser only when I actually need it.

Discord works great inside a browser, it’s basically full featured that way. And yeah I also tend to keep it closed when I close my laptop, or at least mute my audio.

I really don't get the use of Discord, to use a pun, it's discordant at best. I don't get the love for it.

It can be, but what really sets Discord apart is how customizable it is. You can customize every aspect of notifications, you can customize every aspect of a server with permissions, and it’s a great way to gather and chat in communities of shared interests. Slack and Teams are similar but don’t offer enough in customization.

And yeah there are a few annoying things about Discord (like blocking people leaves a stub to unveil every message they send), but I don’t think there’s an alternative.

 

[m4a4]

I use Discord for ingame chat as most games have crappy in-game chat. Slight advantage for pc users but ps and Xbox are getting it soon. They have but it's a crappy way of doing. Once they get the app it'll be more like pc.

Xbox has it, PS5 will have it soon™.

And this'll be the main reason why I use Discord: they're breaking through the BS artificial walls between gaming platforms...

 

[texasrattler]

Xbox has it, PS5 will have it soon™.

And this'll be the main reason why I use Discord: they're breaking through the BS artificial walls between gaming platforms...

Xbox has it? Weird as I've never once have seen a console player on Discord yet. Is it not simple to use? Do they just install the app?
PC I know is simple to use.

 

[m4a4]

Xbox has it? Weird as I've never once have seen a console player on Discord yet. Is it not simple to use? Do they just install the app?
PC I know is simple to use.

I had my buddy set it up a few months ago (I was on PC, he was on XB1). Warzone 2 decided my mic audio just wasn't going to work that day. Discord was soooo much better than in-game voice.

Has an initial setup (linking the accounts), then it sounded pretty useable (he's ok with tech, so it couldn't have been too hard).

 

[texasrattler]

Dev announced that voice chat is having issues. Hopefully itll be before the weekend.

 

[ZedRM]

Discord might be throttling your Nvidia GPU's memory, but here's how you can fix it

Yes, DON'T use Discord!