Diablo 4 Performance Issues - Fps Loss & Frametime Degredation Over Time
I found a fix that works for me:
Disable Nvidia Broadcast. I induced an episode and then closed Nvidia Broadcast, this resulted in an immediate return to baseline performance. I then re-opened Nvidia Broadcast, induced another episode and resolved it by closing Nvidia Broadcast. Perhaps the GPU cores responsible for DLSS are competing with Broadcast and that results in the symptoms I get. I also uninstalled the ultra texture pack since I'm not using ultra textures.
The general symptoms are consistent degradation of both frametime and overall FPS that begins around 30-40 minutes of play, it gets progressively worse until I restart the game. The trigger for the problem seems to have to do with load screens or teleporting between town and the field or dungeons. It seems to happen to me more frequently when running Nightmare Dungeons.
When I first launch the game, I get relatively stable 140-164fps, I have my FPS capped at 164, I'll get minor stutters here and there in town, but nothing horrifying. My frametimes tend to hover between 5-8ms. After 2-3 dungeons, after a loading screen going to my next dungeon or returning to town, suddenly my FPS hovers between 80-100 and my frametimes have doubled to 14ms and I get a lot more frequent random frametime spikes which manifest in a horrible stuttering. The next load screen will worsen the problem and I end up struggling to get above 60fps.
I have had this issue flare up several times over the last few days, multiple times per session. The strange part is I can fix the issue by restarting the game, but occasionally, it will resolve itself if I just power through it, which can be seen in the video; I had just started a nightmare dungeon and didn't want to lose my elixir or sigil by relaunching the game.
At first I thought maybe it was a memory issue, but my 32gb of memory shouldn't be causing me any issues if I have only Diablo open and one tab of Chrome with a Youtube video in the background. I also tested with no browser open and the same problem occurred anyways. I did also notice that youtube stutters as well if I have a video playing when the game flareups happen. Shadowplay also seems to take a dump and closes itself sometimes and will refuse to function again without a full system restart which is also quite frustrating while I was trying to capture footage to demo the issue. RTX Super resolution is Disabled in the Nvidia control panel so it's not my GPU attempting to upscale background youtube content causing the issue.
My hardware:
I7 12700kf
RTX 3070ti
32gb 5600mhz DDR5 memory
1tb WD Black NVME SSD (30% of space available)
27" 1440p Display at 165hz
For graphics settings, I play at 1440p and use the ultra preset and then turn down the textures and shadows by one notch. I do have the HD textures pack installed. I use DLSS on the quality setting.