NVIDIA's Game Ready GPU Driver For Diablo IV Is Causing Some PC Screens To Flicker
The big day is almost here—Diablo IV, one of the most anticipated games of the year, is opening up early access tomorrow, June 1, followed by a widespread release next Tuesday, June 6. To get your PC ready, NVIDIA is pushing out its newest 'Game Ready' GPU driver, version 535.98 WHQL, and with it comes key optimizations for Diablo IV, including day-1 support for DLSS 3 and Reflex. Unfortunately, a screen flicker bug appears to have hitched a ride on the latest release.
A growing thread on NVIDIA's community forum is filling up with various complaints related to the issue, on a variety of different configurations. Incidentally, one of the issues the 535.98 is supposed to resolve is that a "monitor may briefly flicker on waking from display sleep if DSR/DLDSR is enabled," according to the release notes.
"I have the same issue with flickering one monitor (MSI MPG321UR-QD) while I have connected with second monitor (MSI Optix Mag271R) to MSI Geforce RTX 3090 Gaming Trio GPU.
No matter of app, this problem occurs (but only when the mouse is used).
Reverting drivers to the v532.03 resolved the issue," one user wrote.
"Flickering issue on both monitors (LG 27GL850) with latest drivers. Never been an issue prior to this update," another user chimed in.
Yet another commenter said they're experiencing the same issue on their Samsung Odyssey G7 monitor with G-Sync support.
"I even reinstalled Windows today and when I installed again the latest driver, the issues started again. It's flickering like hell. Please fix this ASAP," the user wrote, adding that they're running a GeForce RTX 2070 Super graphics card.
There are other issues mentioned in the support thread, though screen flickering appears to be dominating the discussion. Complaints have also surfaced on Twitter and Reddit, along with a few temporary fixes. They include: reverting back to the previous driver release, dropping the refresh rate to 120Hz, or disabling G-Sync.
Fortunately there's still time for NVIDIA to figure out what's going and issue a fix before Diablo IV releases to the public at large. However, time is running out for users who pre-purchased the Digital Deluxe or Ultimate Edition, both of which afford access to the game on June 1.
Source: NVIDIA
Screen flicker aside, the 535.98 driver brings DLSS 3 to Diablo IV, which NVIDIA claims will multiply performance at 4K by an average of 2.5X.
"In our action-filled benchmark, performance on the GeForce RTX 4090 increased by 2.4X, enabling us to play at 229 frames per second with every single setting maxed out. The GeForce RTX 4080 hit 177 FPS, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti ran Diablo IV at 139 FPS, and the GeForce RTX 4070 113 FPS," NVIDIA says.
On laptops, NVIDIA says gamers can expect an average of 1.8X at 1440p with DLSS 3 enabled, with every mobile GeForce RTX 40 series GPU being capable of at least 80 frames per second. That number jumps to 120 frames per second at 1080p, and 280 frames per second for the GeForce RTX 4090 in mobile form.
The latest Game Ready driver also adds Reflex support for Diablo IV. Additionally, it's optimized for System Shock. There are numerous bug fixes as well, which you can see in the release notes (PDF).
